5 year old becoming a very fussy eater...

binxeo

Hey,

Ok so I have a 5 year old boy who had always loved every kind of food. He loved a wide variety of veg esp. He was never big on meat but loved roast meat ie pork, chicken, beef and the usual sausages and chicken nuggets/dippers. He loves chorizo also. I was always so pleased with what he ate esp his fruit and veg. He loved brocolli, carrots, courgettes, parsnips, avacado and so on and would eat every type of berry going. He was always excited over eating new foods and would try anything without much persuasion but now things are very different. I should add here that he gets no sweets or biscuits or junk as we call it unless it is a special treat. So essentially he could go from one end of the week to the next without any form of junk food and never even asks for it.

In recent weeks he has just gone off his food. He seems to not want any thing I cook. When we do insist he has his dinner he starts to gag on it. Even got so bad as he started to gag on Ready Brek the other day, now this was always his favorite breakfast so I wouldn't expect this reaction from him at all. Also it is taking him longer and longer to eat now too and I can't figure out why. He will take about an hour to eat a ham sandwich. He is in school now so obviously this slow pace eating means he rarely gets his lunch finished in time so he is missing a good bit of that meal. He has even gone off some sweet food like homemade apple tart. A dessert he used to love when I baked it. Now he starts gagging before the spoon even gets to his mouth.

Myself and my partner are really at our wits end at this stage, we have a 9mths old and she is eating better then our son. We even thought that by using his baby sister we could get him to eat, we would ask him, "Show your sister how yummy your dinner is" and " You're sister loves her food because she sees you eating it all and she is learning from you" and other stuff like that. But that is not even working right now.

I am really worried because I was looking at pictures of him when he was three and he just looked so much healthier then he does now. His eyes look draw and he has lost weight. At this stage I would almost just give him junk food and crisps and fizzy drinks jusy get some weight on him. I tried so hard to give him a healthy diet and set him up right in life and it did pay off, he is rarely ever sick, but now what do I do!!

Anyone have any advise. Is this just another stage kids go through at this age, he is my eldest so I am still learning as I go!!

The Lovely Muffin

I would say take him to your GP and have him checked out for any underlying medical problem, of which this new eating problem could be a symptom.

BostonB

+1 Dr.

Fittle

These types of behaviours rarely tend to have an underlying medical condition (however I second that you should bring him to your GP). Gagging before even putting the spoon to his mouth seems to me to be more of a psychological issue, than a medical one.
Perhaps he has seen someone in his class do this at lunchtime - perhaps that child gets attention from the teacher for doing this?
Perhaps it's his way of getting attention now that he has a 9month old baby sister who possibly gets more attention than him?
Perhaps his tastebuds are changing and he genuinely needs different foods...

If he gagged when he eats the food, then yes, it would most probably be a medical issue...but before the spoon even touches his mouth? My thoughts are that it's his way of seeking attention from you...(I'm in no way suggesting that he's not getting it btw, but kids tend to 'act out' in peculiar ways!)

binxeo

Fittle wrote: »

These types of behaviours rarely tend to have an underlying medical condition (however I second that you should bring him to your GP). Gagging before even putting the spoon to his mouth seems to me to be more of a psychological issue, than a medical one.
Perhaps he has seen someone in his class do this at lunchtime - perhaps that child gets attention from the teacher for doing this?
Perhaps it's his way of getting attention now that he has a 9month old baby sister who possibly gets more attention than him?
Perhaps his tastebuds are changing and he genuinely needs different foods...

If he gagged when he eats the food, then yes, it would most probably be a medical issue...but before the spoon even touches his mouth? My thoughts are that it's his way of seeking attention from you...(I'm in no way suggesting that he's not getting it btw, but kids tend to 'act out' in peculiar ways!)

As per the highlighted, there is actually a child in his class that has caused a lot of issues. Basically this little boy, bless him, was very sick as an infant and because of that has devloped very slowly. He is over 7 yrs old and is in my sons senior infants class. He is not potty trained yet and wears a nappy which he doesn't use and wets and soils on the floor in the class room, he also has very bad speech development and throws massive tantrums in the class when he doesn't want to do what the teachers tell him. He has actually hit boys and girls in the class when having these tantrums. He won't eat anything either, he only eats sweets and whatever he wants really. His mum has no real control over him and as he has been check for adhd and other issues and does not have them. But he is a major disruption to my sons class. There are only 15 in the class and that is juniors, seniors and first class, so the littlest thing tends to cause a major issue in the class. Other mums have said to me they have noticed a change in the their children's behavior and when asked why they are doing what they are doing they have said because this boy does the same.

I never thought that the issues I am having with my son would be related to this. He is very confident and spends a lot of time with us so I didn't think he would follow behavior like this esp around his food which he loves so much.

As for feeling like he is not getting as much attention because of his little sister. I don't think that is it. We have made a point of giving him his time with us and getting to do stuff with us separately without his sister their but at the same time giving him time with her. It might be something to do with it though.

If the issue is this little boy in school or his sister how do I find out. My son is quite smart and when you ask him a question he tends to give you the answer he knows you want to hear rather then the truth, ie, If I ask him....why did you colour on the wall...the answer would be....because it is not nice to colour on the wall.

byhookorbycrook

Don't make an issue of it, once you have medical stuff ruled out. Children that age seem to realise that food is a thing they can control to a certain extent,so I'd say, very well, you don't want it,but you must wait until we are all finished before you leave table. There will be nothing else later.
Hard to do, but he is obviously cottoning on to your worry,so try that for a few days.

binxeo

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Don't make an issue of it, once you have medical stuff ruled out. Children that age seem to realise that food is a thing they can control to a certain extent,so I'd say, very well, you don't want it,but you must wait until we are all finished before you leave table. There will be nothing else later.
Hard to do, but he is obviously cottoning on to your worry,so try that for a few days.

Well we tried that at dinner today and it seemed to give us an insight into why he is doing this. We just talked normal at dinner and never asked him to hurry up or eat quicker we just ignored it and he kept asking " Am I eating quickly" We didn't respond to it we just continued on and when we were done I started clearing up and asked him for his plate to do the dishes. He wasn't finished but he gave it any way. There was no fuss and no giving out and he seemed very confused and I could start to see that maybe he was doing this for control or attention. So from now on I think we will just ignore anything around food. Going to get him checked out with the Doc too, just to be sure!

Fittle

Kids mimic other kids behaviours when they see them getting attention - as we all know by now, even negative attention to a child (a parent or teacher shouting at them or scolding them) is STILL attention. You may never find out why your child is acting like this but I'd almost bet its him mimicking the behaviour of the boy in his class.

We have a boy in our class who regularly tells the teacher he has a sore arm/leg/ear/eye. He has been doing this from Junior Infants. In the early days, alot of our boys copied him - my own included - because they got attention from the teacher, sent to the school 'nurse' (she's not a medical nurse, but a lovely older lady who puts plasters on their cut knees etc:D) and so on. A few of us were a bit concerned about his behaviour and it didn't take us long to figure out that our own kids were trying to get the same attention he got, every day.

Anyway, 6yrs on (he's in 4th class now) and that behaviour still continues from that boy (not as often, but enough for it to be an issue for the teacher). However, by about 1st class, the teacher/school had copped on also and stopped giving him the attention, and hey presto, none of the other boys bothered after that.

My guess is that your childs eating habits are down to what he sees in the classroom. But bring him to your GP just to be sure..and continue with your dinner time routine and I'd say it might have an affect. Best of luck OP;)

binxeo

Thanks for the help folks. The dinner routine seems to be working, done it for dinner and lunch and breakfast today and he seems to be figuring out what he needs to do...eat and not take and eternity to do it. I think us telling him to hurry up was going in one ear and out the other, but he is figuring it out slowly he needs to go quicker. I have also stopped making a fuss about his food. Just trying to make it as plain and ordinary as I can. Kinda like brushing his teeth or getting dressed, it is just part of the day and should induce a big discussion on massive amounts of praise or critisims, just making it very run of them mill, so hopefully he will see that it is not a way or a thing to use to get attention.

Also we had two new dinners yesterday and today. Turkey stir-fry yesterday and meat-balls with a steak-house sauce, both of which he has never had before and there was no gagging when eating....result. He just ate it. Granted he didn't get it finished in time, but there was none of this gagging business or I don't like this I never tried it before talk. So YAY!!!

Anyway...Thanks folks...will keep ye posted!!!:)