4 Year old fussy eater or something more?

[louiseee]

My DS has always been a fussy eater from as far back as i can remember but in the last 2 years its getting progressively worse.

He doesn't eat any meals, he used to eat mash potato but wont now any fruit or veg except bananas occasionally. All he will eat is jam/ham sandwiches, crisps and basically rubbish like chicken nuggets, spagetti. He wont eat anything with bits or lumps in and i'm losing the will to live and don't know what to do. He wont even try!

Even things he's always eaten ie sandwiches he has started asking for it then having one bite and saying he doesn't want anymore.

What should i do?! Give him what he asks for even if he wastes the majority or if he doesn't eat don't give him anything else? Help!

 

[londonangel]

Honestly I think if you just give in to him he will think he can just eat what he likes. I would go to the GP and potentially they may put you in touch with a dietitian or similar who may be able to advise on how to provide him with the right nutrition given his fussiness. I would stick with giving him things you know he likes once or twice a day plus something he is less sure of at other times whilst telling him there is no other option at those times. Obviously you don't want him to starve but I think you need to let him know you hold the cards and not him. Good luck!

 

[DCS]

Oh I feel for you. My DS Is a terrible eater. We have even been to see a dietition. Which i found to be a bit og a waste of time. He has really improved recently though. He would happily eat nuggets fish fingers etc but any real food was a huge nono. We have had to persist. And at times iv Felt awfull for refusing good. But since we ( me and oh) have stepped up our game and have been united, things have improved. So much so that iv had to fight back the tears during a meal when he has eaten and enjoyed something he wouldnt usualy touch.
A few things that have been suggested to us and that have worked....
1. Offer something he likes with ever meal. For ds It was potatoes. So every single dinner had some variation of potatoes.
2. This is your dinner, you don't have to eat it but you do need to try a bite of everything.
3. This is the meal, there will be no food until the next meal/ snack time.
4. Don't use food as a reward. So, don't say, you can't have any pudding if you don't eat your dinner. We have desert Wednesdays, and Sundays. If he chooses not to eat his dinner he still gets the desert. There have been times when he has decided to finish his meal after his desert because he realised desert wasn't going to fill him up.
5. Be consistent. We found with DS that when we tried a new method it would work but after a few weeks he would start pushing the boundaries again, so we switched. We should have continued.
6. Don't make a big deal about it. I told him the situation, and got on with eating and chatting about our day.
7. Stick to good food. But allow what they want. DS loves pizza. It used to be the only meal he would willingly eat. So we have pizza Sundays. Every. Single. Week. I'm so sick of pizza. The other 6 days we eat healthy good ffood all freshly cooked. This way he knows he still gets to have pizza.
8. Set meal times. We have our 3 main meals at the same time. Snacks often vary.

I'm sorry I went off on one there. But hopefully something in this post can help you. If he asks for a ham sandwich I would make him a 1 slice sandwich and let him know if he doesn't it, there will be nothing till the next meal. It sounds mean, and it took me ages to do it properly, but at 4, he knows when he is hungry and isn't going to let himself starve. He would usually make up for it during the next meal.

Might a food passport help? Ds had to create one for his dietition. We took pictures of the meals and new foods and he got a sticker for every time he tired it. Once he tried stuff 10 times he was meant to get a non food treat. Didn't work for my kid, he said it was boring.