Children Who Do Not Care About Food

My almost 3 year old son has no interest in food. Unless I demand that he eat, which I very rarely do because I feel wrong doing it, he may go 2 days without eating anything. Then, he will typically eat a really good meal or two before ignoring his food again. He isn't a picky eater, he just wants little to do with food. I prepare 3 meals and a couple of snacks every day. He just doesn't want to eat. My pediatrician says that some kids are like this. As long as he is growing well, he is fine.

yes, my youngest is like that. She actually LOST weight when I stopped nursing. We were sent to a nutritionist who put her on PediaSure, which she drank 3x a day from age 1.5 until about age 7 when we switched to vanilla Carnation Instant Breakfast in 1% chocolate milk. She also gradually went from 3 per day to only having one at breakfast. It has lots of protein and extra calcium as well, plus vitamins. She still has that every morning and she is now 11 (and 69 pounds). She is ultra picky and would eat the same thing for weeks on end until she got sick of it and then she would switch. Very difficult when the food of the month is mac and cheese, which she would only like warm and not reheated or congealed. She got better and likes a lot more foods now, but is still full after a few bites, and therefor needs to eat many little meals. This is annoying when you just cleaned up the dinner mess and she tells me she is hungry! In my mind we "just ate". For lunch I pack her lots of little Glad containers with: cereal pieces (currently maple flavored shredded mini wheats), Cheez-its, some "trail mix" which is a few nuts and a few chocolate chips and a few cereal pieces, a Z-bar (organic high protein bar in the "world" section of our grocery store or at Target), popcorn, a pear fruit cup, a juice box and a frozen water bottle that melts by lunch time (we re-use the 8 oz Sunny D bottles a lot). Occasionally she will like a bread roll and a slice of cheese packed separately, or else corn chips with some sour cream for dipping, or an apple cinnamon rice cake. She nibbles a little at everything and I refill the little containers at night and re-freeze another water bottle. I give her real food when she gets home from school, not milk and cookies.
I ask all my mom friends what their kids like for lunch and ask for a taste to give to my daughter. That is how we found the Z bars. At home she is a big pasta eater, with just butter and parmesan. She loves broccoli and salads. If not Carnation Instant Breakfast or PediaSure, the Special K protein bars and drinks are high protein and vitamin filled too. Good luck.

PS:our doctor told me it is my job to put healthy foods in front of her and her job to decide how much to eat.

The 19 month old is more than likely still charting the waters with food, but your 7 year old is pretty set in his preferences. I myself don't care for breakfast until after 10:30 or so, it isn't appealing before then, so I eat brunch. I have a brother who didn't care to eat much and one of my mom's tricks was to make him an "egg nog" with an egg, milk, juice and fruit in a blender, our pediatrician suggested it. He would drink it and get some nutrients, so when she scrambled or fried eggs for the rest of us she made his egg nog. If he didn't want to eat lunch she'd do the same, but my dad was an enforcer and insisted he eat dinner, so she served him on small plates for years, he could handle the smaller portions and something was better than nothing.

With my kids I've adopted the rule "2 bites of everything, no dessert if you don't eat most of the food on the plate." Once the little guy (26 months) has taken 2 bites it's much easier to get him to take one or two more, too. And snacks are foods they would or should have eaten at mealtime, no junk food for picky eaters.

Since your son will eat a hot lunch at home why not send one to school or day camp with him? Thermos makes a great container that keeps food hot, the FUNtainer. They sell for around $15 at Target, and there's lots of different kid designs to choose from.

Also sit down with your son to figure out what foods he likes and will eat. You should be able to work a healthy, balanced diet around those things to encourage him to eat, and if he's involved in his meal planning he may be more willing to eat. Try different breads and fillings for sandwiches, veggies with dips, fruits with yogurt to dip them in, juices that have a full serving of fruits and veggies in them, smoothies, smaller portions, and talk to your pediatrician to get their advice.

Is you son on any medication that would cause his appetite to decrease? Do they give him a snack at camp that he'd rather eat than his breakfast or lunch? It does sound odd to me too, but maybe he's just so hot and worn out that food doesn't sound that good. In the end, you're right, he's probably just doing it now and will soon resume to "normal"! Until then maybe see if you can get him to drink some Carnation instant breakfast or something that has at least some protein or something in it! ;) Good luck, I'm sure in another 5 years that boy will be eating you out of house and home!

My 8 year old is like this with breakfast and frankly, so am I. I just can't stomach breakfast. Eating when I first wake up makes me feel nauseated so I stick to coffee, tea, or flavored water. Mid-to-late morning I might have some fruit, yogurt, or an egg but most of the time I just can't abide breakfast. My 8 year old picks at breakfast at school because I just can't force her to eat at home in the morning and I don't try. If she's home then I give her breakfast or a snack whenever she's ready to eat. I just don't force the issue since she has so many health and neuro issues already.

My youngest daughter could (and has) eat three breakfasts if she gets up early enough but then will have a light lunch and no snacks. My eldest is picky about breakfast but more often than not will eat. If she won't eat at home I encourage her to get a school breakfast.

We're on the reduced lunch program so my girls get whatever they want that's not part of their restricted diets (well, for my 8 yr old anyway).

Anyway I know that if my girls miss a meal somewhere they make up for it later with a snack (they're all sent in with a snack) and one good meal. G (my middle) usually only eats one good meal a day if that, and one great supper a week. That's why I don't force things with her. She already has disordered eating due to Sensory Processing Disorder and I grew up with disordered eating (anorexia) so food battles are just something I'm hyper aware of.

I also have two very picky eaters. (One is only 11 months but is already showing signs). They are both super skinny kiddos and I feel guilty and often worry about if they are getting enough food to eat. It is always a struggle to get them to eat anything! I used to fight and argue with my older son till I was blue in the face and stressed out. I dreaded the dinner table because it became a battle ground between my husband and I and my son. I took my concerns to the pediatrician and he told me that my son's weight is in the normal range and that I shouldn't worry. He told me that most CHILDREN WILL NOT STARVE THEMSELVES TO DEATH and I just need to set some rules for them. Here are my rules:

1. I will not argue with my kids about food. I do not fight. I simply tell them our rules and that's that. If they choose to fight they get sent to their rooms so the rest of us can enjoy our meal.
2. When it is mealtime, they must remain seated at the table until they are dismissed...wether they've eaten or not. When my son refuses to eat, it is fine with me but he must at least sit with the family until meal time is over.
3. We eat dessert after we've eaten our healthy meal (I always give my son a small amount of m&ms or a cookie.)
4. He does not get a dessert if he did not finish his plate (I put a reasonable amount of food on his plate and not overload it.)
5. Whatever is left on his plate gets covered and put into the fridge and stays there until our next meal. If he says he is hungry I offer it back to him. (This was hard to start enforcing at dinner time. A few times I had to let him out of bed at 9 to go finish his dinner. He got smart and decided this was a novel way to get me to let him stay up later. So I started giving him one last chance for dinner before bed and if he still chose not to eat he went to bed hungry...I only had to do that a few times and he got the hint that I was serious)
6. I always offer him a snack inbetween meals. The type of snack he gets is dependent on what he ate for his prior meal. If he ate all his healthy food he can have a granola bar, string cheese, fruit snack, goldfish, etc. If he did not eat his meal he can have carrot sticks or fruit.
7. No whining at the dinner table. He says he does not like something I simply say, "That's ok you don't have to eat it." Usually he miraculously likes it once dessert is brought to the table ;) He gets a time out if he starts complaining too much. He knows that dinner is a peacefull time and if he disrupts then he gets sent away.
8. No TV or toys at the table.

One of the biggest things we have changes is my husband's and my eating habits. We are the models of good eating habits. I've always disliked green beans, but will eat them with my family. I share my feelings about them with my son. I tell him "Mom doesn't really like the taste of green beans, but I know how healthy and good they are for me so I'm going to eat them."

I can honestly say I've found a little peace at mealtime. We still have bumps when eating something new. My son really hates having to eat something he has never tried before, and I still sometimes feel I have to do a little coercing to get him to eat it. I've also tried some of the sneaky chef methods of using purees in some of our meals. He still sometimes does not eat (and doesn't get rewarded) and that is ok with me.

Hope this helps.

The most important things to keep track of are these:

a. Is the child growing at a normal rate, and within a normal weigh range?

b. Are the foods they eat "real" foods, preferably fresh, and do they eat a variety of foods?

If these answers are both affirmative, then you have little to worry about. My grandson (now 5.5 years) has gone through long, long stretches where his metabolism apparently slows down, and he has very little appetite. Yet he is strong and always has energy to play, is mentally alert and positive, and grows at a normal rate. His weight has always been a bit on the skinny side, and if he gets a tummy bug, it's a bit alarming to be able to see the loss of a couple of pounds on his ribs and legs, but he always bounces back within a month or two.

Different people have different metabolisms, and some have remarkably efficient metabolisms that simply require less fuel. This is probably a good thing health-wise, as long as the fuel that goes into those systems are high-quality foods. Trying to get a naturally skinny kid to plump up is not good for their long-range health – once a fat cell is created, it's for keeps, and by middle age, even those skinny types tend to start packing on fat in unfortunate places.

If your concerns are serious, as in, your children are not growing or gaining weight normally, or they are dragging around listlessly, this is a concern to take to your pediatrician. But kids stomachs are about as big as their fists, and what seems like a healthy portion to an adult may simply be more than they can comfortably contain.

I have an 8 year old just like this the breakfast conversation every day goes like this " please eat 4 bites and drink your Juice" I make sure he takes a vitamin everyday and his school lets him take a "recess snack" because their lunch is later so I send apples or grapes and crackers and cheese to make sure he makes it through. BUT there are days he will scarf down three pancakes at breakfast, an entire hamburger for lunch and then have seconds for Dinner. So I just make sure there are healthy snacks for him on the days he doesnt feel like eating. My oldest boy is 15 he is just hungry all the time.