anyone know how to get a kid too eat a proper meal. my son is nearly five and he is skin and bone.?

Answer 1

I've got the same problem with my son, we've made his meal portions smaller so that he is now actually pleased with himself to finish his whole meal and thinks we are happy with his efforts.

What he doesn't realise is that we are also gradually making the portions larger!!

In the 3 months this has been going on, his physique is looking a lot better than the "skin & bone" look he had and his energy levels are sky high.

Answer 2

Omg.

You are not alone. I have a 5 year old son who is also VERY picky. We recently took him to see a dietition. After a few visits we learned that my son has an eating disorder. He has a problem with sertain tectures, smells, etc... We would ahve NEVER known. I thought it was just a typicly child act. Being picky. But when a child is getting older and still not eating well I would sugest looking into a dietition. You may have the same problem with your child. My son is now in ocupational theropy and doing much better.

If you don't think you need a dietition try theese:

1) Make rewards for each time he eats a proper meal (Example - He ate all his supper so he gets to rent a movie of his choice tat night) You can even do a reward chart. You can print them free at www.junglecharts.com

2) Cut shapes and patterns into the food or out of the food. We make puzzles out of his sandwitches. Use a cookie cutter and cut out a shape in the middle. Then place it back in place and cut the remaining into 4 sections.

3) Give them options. Kids dont feel like your trying to make them eat if you give them options. They feel like *they are picking what they want to eat. Always try to bring 3 or 4 different things to the tabble. My son HATES veggies. But now we bring 3 or 4 kinds ot the table and tell him "would you like me to put some peas on your plate, or would you like to pick something else?"

4) Whatever he doesn't eat at supper, put in the fridge for breakfast. Dr. Phil taught me this one ........lol As he says "A child will NEVER starve himself" Serve him the same thing for lunch if he doesn't eat it at breakfast... and so on and so on. Dr. Phill garentees by day 3 he WILL eat it. No matter what it is. This one worked on my youngest son SOOOOOOO well!!!!!!! Only took me till the next morning. He ate every drop. And now he eats whats for supper or I say "Well you can have it for breakfast then" LOL ;)

Hope some of that helps.
TCT

Answer 3

Some kids who drink too much milk or juice during the day and or eat too many snacks don't eat much at meal times. Could that possibly be it? The only other advice I could give would be letting them help you prepare the meals. Some kids love being a part of it and then like to try what they helped make.

Answer 4

Some kids are texture eaters and only want to eat what you will let them get by with. We had a deal in our house where you had to try everything once, if you didn't like it you didn't ever have to eat it again, I found that this no pressure eating, lead to the kids liking more food variety than most of their friends. I also didn't prepare foods I knew they would not eat, and concentrated on variety. I would add things like broccoli with cheese sauce.
Green beans with cheese sauce.
Remove large chunks in foods and go for plainer sauces and
add mushrooms and other vegetables so chopped up the kids barely noticed they were there.
My mom had a favorite called Eggs inside of toast, we all love.
Cut the hole out of the center of the bread and pour the egg with the yolk in the center and cook on both sides until egg is cooked , yolk will still be runny. Great alternative to fried eggs and works well cooked with pam and whole wheat bread.
My kids also enjoyed it when once a week we had breakfast for dinner or theme nights, Mexican, Italian, etc and they could pick what they wanted for theme night, like Tacos, or garlic bread.
You do have to watch out for something called Failure to Thrive syndrome, which happens when kids don't get the proper nutrients. Take a multivitamin and see your peditrician for any other issues, also cut the junk food and coke so they don't just want to eat that crap.

Answer 5

when food is never an issue because theres plenty around for the taking , why sit down for a meal when you could be playing ?

make his tea and if he doesn't eat it throw it in the bin and make damn sure he doesn't get anything else to eat until tomorrow .

it will do him no harm whatsoever to go to bed hungry for one night and i guarantee he will eat his tea the next day .

give him a week and he'll try to shy out of it again , just do it again and he'll get the message . discipline during meal times goes a long way to ensure discipline everywhere else and so by doing this you are giving your son the best hope for the future .

Answer 6

Enticing a child into a meal they do not want to eat can be very hard to do. Scaring the child does not tend to work in these scenarios. If you know what your son enjoys eating, it is best to first plan meals that he likes. Stay away from sugary foods, as they may speed metabolic processes. Ease him into more diverse foods after this and he should be a healthy boy in no time!

Answer 7

Hi, I work ina pre school and the best advice we can give to parents is not to make a big fuss about it, ur health visitor and doctor will tell u exactly the same thing.
Let him eat what he wants as it will fill him up, if he likes yoghurts and milk this will be gud for him as the dairy will fill him up.
Obviously try not to give him too much of what he wants cause he would prob eat sweets all day long if you let him!!!!
If he is 'on the go' all of the time, he is obviously getting what his body needs from what u are giving him already. x

Answer 8

Yes. YOU are the parent. He will eat what you give him. Make him a "proper" meal. If he refuses, then fine. I guess he'll go hungry. TRUST me, he won't do that for long. He'll eat what he's given.

YOU have to stop giving him what HE wants. That's the problem. The whole "No, I don't like that. I want a ______" whatever it is you are letting him eat instead of a good meal that the rest of the family eats. That's BS. YOU are the one in control of this, not him. He WILL eat what you give him. It never fails. Parents have been doing this to kids for generation after generation because it works.

Answer 9

with children and tea time, it turns into a game. take him shopping and let him choose his own tea. instead of chips get smilie faces. and instead of chicken nuggets, buy turkey dinausaus.

make his food on the plate colourful with lots of veg and make out faces with the food.

kids love pizza. buy a pizza base and tomato puree. sprinkle grated cheese on it. let your son put his own toppings on by giving him choice of toppings such as sweetcorn, chicken, pineapple, mushrooms, ham etc. ask him to make you one.

let it cook for 20-25mins and let him eat it. why dont you sit by him and eat the pizza he made for you and tell him how nice it is.remember everythigs a game.

also create a food chart for the week and write down what he eats in the day and give him stars gold being good, blue being not good, silver was ate most, and green was tried it. tell him that if he gets more gold stars than blue, you'll treat him at end of week. stick to your rules and if he doesnt do good, dont get him anything, it'll help him to learn next week.

Answer 10

If his pediatrician has no problem with his growth then neither should you.I use to worry myself something terrible about how my kids dont eat good.Their pediatrician said relax,she would be the first to let me know if something was wrong.Just Explain eating good food is good for him and dont tell him to eat because he is skinny.He will rebel against you.No koolaide,sodas,candy,chips or snacks until he eats better.Dont use these foods as a reward or bribe to make him eat either.Just tell him these foods and drinks is not healthy.Im sure he is fine and healthy.