DS is 4.5 years old and has always been quite fussy with food. However, recently the list of meals he'll eat has shrunk considerably and even reliable old favourites like pizza and nice quick options like sardines on toast are being refused.
He's very slim and seems to have lost weight recently, so I hate the thought of sending him to bed hungry. He's also currently being assessed and it's looking like he has some issues including a sensory processing disorder. We know that being hungry affects his mood and behaviour, so leaving him to go hungry would have quite a large impact on that.
For this reason we've always offered him fruit and a yoghurt or drink of milk after a meal, even if he's not eaten much, so he's at least had a bit of food. I was happy enough with that approach, but recently it's evolved into giving him something like peanut butter on toast after a meal, even if he's left nearly all of it, so he doesn't go to bed hungry.
I think I'm so terrified that denying him food will cause a meltdown, affect his behaviour at school the next day or cause him to lose more weight, that I daren't go down that route. However, I realise that if he knows he can have something else after the meal, he's got no incentive to eat it.
In an ideal world he'd have nothing after the meal and then we could give him some supper later on, before bed. But we try to get him in bed at 6.30ish, so there just isn't time for a separate supper later.
So, for any parents of fussy eaters, especially those with additional needs... Did you find an approach that worked? Did you continue to offer food even if a meal wasn't eaten, or take the hard line of going to bed hungry?
Thanks very much, any advice will be much appreciated 