My 9 year old son is eating less and less.?

Question

My 9 year old is eating less . He wont eat any fruit or veg and is now refusing foods he used to eat (pizza, bacon, chips). He says he is not hungry, eats a little then stops. He is a normal child although a little small for his age. We are going to see the doctor next week. But any ideas will be welcomed!!!!

Answer 1

Reward him if he eats more. "If you eat everything on your plate I'll let you watch on extra half hour of television." that sort of thing. Never punish him for not doing what you ask, because he will rebell. Just reward him for good behavior.

Answer 2

Well of course he's kind of coming off the kid-rampage where their metabolism is so fast they can handle all the sugar and stuff. But if he's not hungry he's not hungry. There's nothing you can say about that. But see if there's a special vitamin or something like it that he can take to replace some of the nutrients that he's missing from his body by not eating right. Definitly get it checked out a doctor, and he/she may then refer you to a nutritionist who can sort out the problem from there. Until then you're going to have to put up with his strange eating habits.

Plus, don't tell him that he's going to the doctor's until the day he has to go. Telling him sooner could alter his thinking and make him panic and then eat a lot so that it wouldn't look like anything was wrong at all. Keeping this strange pattern going will help the doctor out but if he somehow recovers from this before the appointment then don't forcefully cut his eating back to what it is now.

Answer 3

Id obviously go and see the doctor, but its probably his way of controlling a situation, kids know how to play us! Eating is a huge thing to parents as they want their kids to be happy and healthy, often kids pick up on this and try their hardest to see how far they can push us.

My daughter is only 17 months and she was getting onto the fact that I got upset if she didnt eat her tea or dinner so she played on it and didnt eat anything but nibbles of food for a few days, she played as normal but woke during the night for a bottle, something she's not done since 8 weeks old!

So I knew she was testing me, I just made her the food, left her for 20 minutes and if she still refused it I took it away, I offered no desert and only snacks of fruit during the rest of the day, then offered a fresh evening meal and did the same, just made sure she had lots of calories in full fat milkshake etc or gave her ovaltein before bed, which contains lots of vitamins.

She gave it up after a few days and is eating normally now.

Good luck, your gonna need it! Remember once the dooctor has checked him out, for any physical problems and he's still refusing to eat, he WILL NOT starve himself to death! Just let him have plenty of fluids and ignore the behavior.

Answer 4

Ask your son if his friends discuss what they eat and are any of his pals overweight. It could be that some one has suggested to him that eating things like pizza, chips and bacon are fattening foods (which of course they are) and it is playing on his mind. Try letting him decide what he would like to eat for short time. I think you will find that he will soon get fed up with that and revert back to what the rest of the family eats. Alternatively could be that the rest of you get into a healthy eating regime. Children these days are driven by what they hear and see, so just be patient.

Answer 5

what i would do is first get him checked by a doctor to be certain that there's not a medical problem that's preventing him from eating and then talk to him because it might be something emotional(bullying at school)or a worry hes got if its none of these and your sure its not to seek attention then id let him eat what he wants a healthy child wont starve itself the worst thing you can do is to make a big issue out of it or get into a battle of wills getting food forced down you causes eating disorders(i know i had it done too me)maybe you could try leaving a longer time between his meals and not letting him snack in between anyway hope you find the right answer and don't get yourself all upset and stressed it doesn't help

Answer 6

You can try using Rosemary aromatherapy oil, get him to sniff it just before you give him his dinner, about 20 seconds later his stomach will rumble.
Don't hassle him at the dinner table about what the matter is, just let him eat. Discuss it away from the table and mealtimes. Explain its a problem, and that everyonw needs to eat well to stay healthy.
Include soft wet food like yoghurt, fruit and soup in case he's having trouble eating because of stress. Serve small portions that he can finish, don't overface him with massive portions.
There might be something wrong at school or whatever, so give him an opening to talk to you.

Answer 7

you can try a rewards system where if he eats some of whats on his plate, for the week you will take him swimming/bowling at the weekend. try not to use food as a reward. but what worked really well for my friend was to let her 7year old help her to prepare dinner, and have little tasters of what was being prepared. this actually increased her girls appetite, and made her eat more than she was previously. vegetable pizza was a good one,as you can eat all the veggies raw, also try making bread rolls with different colourings, salads with chopped ham/chicken/boiled eggs. hope this helps, love tina.

ps you are right to go to the doc's but try not to discuss this problem too much in front of your child, he will only get more anxious about the situation, also try to treat it as a phase, thinking to yourself 'this is the way things will be for now on', will not do you or your son any good. good luck.

Answer 8

You need to talk to the Dr. My son started this and I just had to force him to eat. He has since started to eat again and even eating foods that he would not before. I think kids go through phases and then have a hard time getting out of them if they go to extremes. Is your son taking medications for ADD/ADHD? That affects the appetite too. We also started my son on vitamins to increase his appetite. Good luck.

Also, remember eating disorders is not just a girl thing. Kids are so cruel at this age. If they think someone may be a little over weight, though they are skinny, they will pick on and ride them hard. They love to knock down each other.

Answer 9

Sometimes when kids feel pressured they control the one thing that no one can force on them and that is eating. Many an anorexic patient began this way. I don't mean to frighten you but think about things and how your son may be seeing them. Is he under to much stress from school? home? peers?

Taking him to the doctor's is a good first step. Do not let this get out of hand as he is so young and needs so much!

Answer 10

the only light I can shed for you, is myself, I did that when I was very young also, I remember I was taken to the doctor and I was given a big bottle of medicine, it was suppose to give me an appetite, it tasted disgusting, but I can say since then I never stopped eating since.
so you could say it must have worked, there was nothing wrong with me then, no depression or anything like that.
so I hope it's just as simple for your lad.
hope it works out ok for him.