Friends son is a fussy eater?

Question

My friends son is a really fussy eater and if she trys to make him have something that he doesnt like he will make himself sick or cry histerically till she gives in. She has tried lots of things like,getting him to help with dinner prep or ignoring it or just letting him have his own way. What should she do???

Answer 1

He will change in time, your friend should let him eat what he likes as long as he’s eating healthy foods, if not she should give him vitamin drops. She can hide other foods and serve with his favourite food. My 20 month old son is a picky eater as well, he loves noodles, I mix this with peas, carrots and corn and he eats it all. I add fruit purees to his cereal. I must say it’s quite hard as I have to be creative all the time thinking of fun ways to make him eat. He used to eat noodles only come rain come shine, nothing would make him eat anything else. Now he eats chips with vegetables, bread and baked beans, cereals with fruits. I'm still trying to add some more foods to his list but it takes patience which is something I'm learning to have loads of.

Answer 2

How old is the child and what does he want to eat? If he never wants a certain type of food, lets say bread, cookies or things with flour he could be allergic and he knows that it makes him feel bad. Same thing with milk and other food allergies. Children also can also crave a certain food because there body tells them they need a certain vitamin. Now if the child is just being difficult you can give him small portions of what you want him to eat.Have him sit down and give him a some time to eat it. Don't make him sit there til he finishes it all. It will become a battle of wills and everyone will be miserable. If he doesn't want to eat at that time then do not give another snack until it is time to eat again. Let him know there is a consequence if he doesn't eat when and what he is suppose to. But please do not make him eat things that you know kids don't like. They do have the same taste for the foods that adults do. Also if he only likes one thing and it is healthy for him, give it too him. Give yourself a break. Kids move on and he will be on to another food soon enough and you can slowly add to what he will eat. You can also do the, if you eat one bite of the carrot you can have a more minute on the computer. It all depends on the age and the child.

Answer 3

Maybe his not hungry enough just put the meal in the fridge and try again 10minutes later.
IF he makes himself sick take away something he likes and make him stay inside with out toy es.
Have a reward chart for eating new foods.
Just introduce one new food at a time. If the food he like is healthy serve a mixture of new and familiar foods
And no desert if he don't eat some of the foods.
My friend told me that fuss eater (like me)should go to a third world country for a short term trip.
today I am less fuss but still on the fuss side so he may grow out of it when he older.

Answer 4

I went thou this same thing with my daughter. I know this might sound mean to some people but I had tried everything before and nothing worked. What I did was make it very clear to my daughter that if she doesn't eat what I put on her plate then she won't eat anything. I would NOT make her something different! She tried to pitch a fit a few time's after that but I'd just tell her okay fine you don't have to eat but don't ask for anything until dinner or what ever meal was next. It didn't take long for her to realize that if she didn't eat just because she didn't want what I made then she wasn't going to get anything. It worked really well with her. Now she'll at least try anything that I put on her plate and if she doesn't like it then it's no big deal she doesn't have to eat it and I'll get her something else but only if she tries what I gave her and I KNOW that she probably doesn't like it. She can't sit there one night and eat all her noodles and then next week say she doesn't like them and get something different. I hope some of that helps your friend out!

Answer 5

This is easily made into an issue which could go on for years. Instead of forcing the child to eat things he doesn't like, encourage him by serving food he does like & eat at the same time. My daughter disliked some foods, but I think thats normal. Just make sure he's getting the vitamins he needs from other foods, try serving the disliked foods to him in a couple of months.

Answer 6

Get her to ask her son what he would prefer to eat. If it isn't sensible or he is akward offer him interesting meals from other countries and award him treats at the end. He could have a star chart for everytime he behaves well and eats at dinner, at the end of the week a small gift could be awarded like a ball or whatever hes into. Get him involved with making the star chart and this might get better results. Hope this helps!

Answer 7

My son was like this for a few months, but everynight i put a meal in front of him, not what he wanted, the meal the rest of the family were eating. If he didn't eat it, he went without.

Also i never shouted or made him feel bad about it. I praised my other kids for eating so well and ignored the fact that he didn't eat, i didnt get angry with him, but he didnt have any pudding/sweet after.

Did this for 2 months, now he eats anything i put in front of him!

She shouldnt try to forse feed him, just leave it on the plate in front of him.

U dont mention how old he is, so i am guessing about 2-4 years old.

Answer 8

I have four children myself, and they all like different foods. If he is still really young, say three. Have her cook ONE dinner. Tell him he doesn't have to eat it. No child will starve themselves. I was able to trick my younger son into more foods. He really likes chicken. So I served breaded fish one day and called it, "chicken fish". My kids are now getting older, and if it is green two of the four will not eat it. If he is a little bit older, he might have developed his own taste buds. I make my kids try everything once. She also needs to look at where else he might be going. The grandparents of my kids will be a short order cook for them. This has caused most of my troubles. If I were to cater to my kids all we would eat is fried foods. They have learned that I make one dinner, they don't have to eat it, but that is all there is. Hope this helps.

Answer 9

let him eat what he wants without making a fuss. The problem is usually made far worse by the parent getting stressed out and angry. Children will , if left to themselves, over a period of days, actually eat food that gives them a reasonably well balanced diet. My eldest daughter used to insist on making her children eat what she didtated and sat over them and now has a teenager who looks like developing an eating disorder. My second daughter used to put the food in front of them and let them feed themselves . if they left it or ate it she didn't make a fuss and now has 3 children aged 14 to 6 who will eat absolutely anything.

Answer 10

Get her to watch nanny or that other program when they have loads of families together with children that have problems. Maybe take the child to the GP and see what they say, im sure they will have some helpful info for your friend.