8 year old's diet

[woollencats]

DS 8 loves pasta or spaghetti but not many other carbs. He has a fast metabolism and is lean and sporty.

Mash potato - only a couple of bites
Chips - only if smothered in gravy
Rice - only half a portion
Bread and butter - not with a meal as 'there's nothing in it'
Yorkshire puddings - yes
Garlic bread - yes

Veg - will eat anything whizzed into a smooth pasta sauce. Only solid veg is baby sweetcorn, broccoli and carrots.
Doesn't like the skin on fruit and veg so peas, pepper, courgettes, green beans etc are a hard no. I can whizz these up into the pasta sauce though.

Fruit - Doesn't like skin on fruit so he has smoothies, raisins and sometimes peeled and chopped apple.

He is now refusing sausages, burgers and chicken so he has a lot of baked beans!

I'm stuck in a rut with his meals.

I have an 8 year old who also doesn’t like potatoes!
Today she’s had:

• two bananas for breakfast (random but that’s what she fancied)
• roast chicken, baguette and cherry tomatoes for lunch
• small chocolate bar
• dinner is bbq and she’ll have a mountain of sausages and more baguette then as much watermelon as she can eat

He’s eating what’s known as “ safe beige carbohydrates “
Sounds like it could be ARFID. Google there’s a support group on FB
Follow any advice from Dr Gillian Harris and Dr Elizabeth Shea, Clinical Psychologists experts in this area
They have a book Liz is about to bring another book out aimed at teenagers.

Ive always put what I’m serving in front of my children and they have to eat it or starve.
This includes my special needs child.
no excuses, no making a fuss and pandering to their difficult little issues like skin on fruit.
my children all eat absolutely anything including smoked salmon, olives. Watercress, onions, meat on or off the bone, fish, wild rice. Doesn’t matter.
don’t let your son walk all over you and manipulate you with food.

Thanks all. I will look at that 24Dogcuddler.

I put a tub of hummus in front of him yesterday with no comment (along with some carrot sticks) and went back into the kitchen. Came back in and he was munching away saying he loves hummus!

We all had the same meal last night. He ate a large portion of lasagne. He eats better the less you talk to him about it so I try and keep the chat about something else.

He also tasted one pea and said I don't like it but at least he tried. He loves broccoli.

That’s brilliant keeping calm and pressure off helps. May not meet criteria for ARFID diagnosis but chatting to other parents and looking at strategies might be reassuring and helpful.

Worth nothing that we all eat together most nights (we WFH) which is lovely but DH finishes his meals in about 3 mins. DS eats just as fast when he's at the table with him so gets full quite quickly. He often gets the hiccups.

In fact the evening meal can be full on but I don't want to cook 2 meals every night.

I'm sure it's all normal but the DS are a similar age so they are often in fits of giggles talking to each other with their mouths full.

The one time I separated them into different rooms for misbehaving at the table, they both finished their plates!

With his high metabolism, DS is also hungry after school as it's been 3 hours since lunchtime so it's a fine line between giving him something and it not filling him up too much for tea. Tea is normally around 5:30pm or 5pm if he's really hungry.

More success after school today. Put a plate of strawberries out with some cubes of cheese and left the room. Came back in and he's eating them!

If he likes pasta what about filled pasta with meat in - tortellini/ravioli, or pierogi? Does he like gnocchi?

What about jacket potatoes with the endless beans? Changes things up a bit.

For other pulses - chickpeas? Other beans? Does he eat humus?

Refusing sausage/burger/chicken - so does he eat minced meat? If so you can get turkey and chicken mince which he might accept. Making little bitesize meatballs can be an change-up from just "sloppy mince" meals.

What about fish? Even fish fingers and that slightly odd white fish in sauce in a bag is non-threatening and not too fishy, but is a different protein. We used to have tuna pasta a lot as kids, a cheap and easy meal. And skinless and boneless tinned sardines/mackerel in tomato sauce is pretty approachable, no weird bits in it, we'd have sardines on toast.

Great ideas 😀 I forgot about the filled pasta.

He loves spag bol with mince and stews as well. He likes fish fingers and fish fillets in breadcrumb. He doesn't like tuna but seeing as he's up for trying things at the moment, I'll mix a small amount in with his pasta and sauce.

He's now eating hummus and he loves scrambled egg on toast. He's a great breakfast eater and loves cereal, toast, porridge and croissants on rotation.

Thank you.