Im at the end of my tether with my almost 4 year old refusing to eat 
When he was younger he was so picky with his food and evening meal times would be such a battle and they would usually end up with me in tears out of sheer worry because he just wouldn’t eat.
But then when he turned 2.5 years old it all sort of resolved and he became a really good eater.
Over the last month though he’s been wanting to eat less in the evening again, picking at it, saying he’s not hungry, only eating if really cajoled etc but over the last 6 days he’s pretty much refused to eat at all.
No matter what we do he just screams at most mealtimes and says NO whenever we try and encourage him to eat. He seems to get so angry about it.
I’ve gone through all the reactions of anger, anxiety, upset, frustrated and currently my emotions are split between being so fed up of it but also worried.
It’s now 5.15pm and all he’s had since 7am is two yogurts.
We make him sit with us at the dinner table each evening, which he goes mad about, and then when we’ve all finished our own meals we just throw his untouched dinner away.
He’s gone to bed three times in the last week with having had absolutely nothing to eat since about midday.
We’ve tried ignoring the behaviour and we’ve tried telling him off and we’ve tried bribes and nothing makes any difference. Sometimes he ends up hysterical over the matter, even if all we’ve done is put his plate down on the table.
We don’t know whether to offer him an alternative when he refuses what we give him? We don’t know whether to give him a side of toast so at least he’s not going to bed hungry At the end of my tether with my almost 4 year old refusing to eat.
When he was younger he was so picky with his food and evening meal times would be such a battle and would usually end up with me in tears out of sheer worry because he just wouldn’t eat.
But then when he turned 2.5 years old it all sort of resolved and he became a really good eater.
Over the last month he’s been wanting to eat less in the evening again, picking at it, saying he’s not hungry, only eating if really cajoled etc but over the last 6 days he’s pretty much refusing to eat.
No matter what we do he just screams at most mealtimes and says NO whenever we try and get him to eat.
I’ve gone through all the reactions of anger, anxiety, upset, frustrated and currently just so fed up of it but also worried.
It’s now 5.15pm and all he’s had since 7am is two yogurts.
We make him sit with us at the dinner table each evening, which he goes mad about, and then when we’ve all finished we just throw his away and it’s always untouched.
He’s gone to bed three times in the last week with having had absolutely nothing to eat since about midday.
We’ve tried ignoring it and we’ve tried telling him off and we’ve tried bribes and nothing makes any difference. Sometimes he ends up hysterical over the matter, even if all we’ve done is put his place down on the table.
We don’t know whether to offer him alternative? We don’t know whether to give him a slice of toast so at least he’s not going to bed hungry, but then we worry whether that teaches him he can refuse to eat and then have what he wants (he loves toast).
Sometimes when we go to throw his untouched dinner in the bin he’s completely nonchalant, but on other occasions he starts crying inconsolably and screaming that he wants his dinner but if we we do give it back to him he then refuses to eat it for about another 15-20 minutes and it ends up in the bin anyway.
I’m just so worried. He’s only tiny (15th percentile) so the thought of him barely eating concerns me.
We don’t know whether to give him consequences for refusing his dinner, like no story before bed for example, or do we just act like his behaviour doesn’t matter?!
We just don’t know what to do.
I know this post is erratic but that’s how my thoughts are.
Can I really send him to bed tonight with only having had two yogurts since 7am?
Any advice, support or solidarity is much needed.