My 5 year old has quit eating

[Mommie_Jen]

Relevant background - he's almost 6 and quite small for his age anyway. Very thin. Always a struggle to just keep him barely registering on the growth charts, but has always slowly but steadily been growing. Just a small kid with an apparent high metabolism. He has grown 2 inches since last summer, so now he looks really thin. I can see his collar bone, his ribs, he's just scrawny.

 

A few weeks ago we went through a round of the flu (influenza) which he did seem to recover from fine...until he got a stomach bug and spent a few days with the puke bucket. He's over that now, but won't eat/afraid to eat because he says his stomach hurts. I am pretty sure it hurts because he is hungry. He is lethargic and whiny and getting him to eat anything is a struggle. Yesterday he ate a piece of toast, 4 nuggets, 1 slice of cheese, and 2 glasses of milk. For the entire day. That's been par for the course since about Christmas.

 

He just doesn't want to eat, says it takes too much time, doesn't like to eat, says his body doesn't need food, etc etc etc. Anything he can come up with to say. I'm keeping a food diary for him starting today for a week then will evaluate talking to the Dr. I did manage to get a good breakfast down him, but I had to force it and there were lots of tears and screaming on his part. He just didn't want to eat.

 

We're headed to the store later for real butter, more (whole) milk, and anything I can get that he will eat. I've always balked against the Carnation Instant Breakfasts, but I just might get some of those.

 

He is my sensitive child, emotional, with some sensory issues. It's just frustrating because it shouldn't be a battle to get him to eat. He's back up in bed right now because he was so grumpy and crying and just wanted to go back to bed - after 12 hours of sleep already.

 

I'm just frustrated and worried.

[HomeschoolMamaOfTwo]

Hugs to you! :( That sounds super hard to watch your baby refuse to eat. I hope things change for you guys soon.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Been there, done that. My 12yo DD is still alive. Small, but healthy. And still not eating much.

[Mrs Mungo]

I would try making mini-meals and sit down at the table with him every two hours and have a snack together.

 

Start with a smoothie

1 boiled egg, half of a piece of toast and you can share a tangerine

4 crackers, an ounce of cheese and 4 baby carrots

2 celery stalks and a spoonful of peanut butter

 

Take an actual break, sit together and both of you have the snack. I would make them tiny and contain something with some protein, something with some carbs, something with some fat and a fruit or veg.

 

[PentecostalMom]

Would he try some of those flavored nutritional drinks for kids?

[elfgivas]

when dd was two, her doctor prescribed a milk shake a day. it turned out to be the most popular prescription ever. ice cream sundaes with chocolat fudge sauce (homemade) was another. it took several years to get her on the charts, but it kept her from not becoming permanently very small. that's when we started doing read alounds at meals, which is a habit which remains all these years later. having something to focus on that wasn't food helped.

[Mommie_Jen]

He won't eat hard boiled eggs, but will do scrambled. Won't do nuts or beans either. I've tried and tried. He's only been able to recently tolerate peanut butter. We are doing designated snack times today and for the week to see if it makes a difference. As much as I don't like those kid drinks, we're going to try them.

[Tiramisu]

Often, after a GI bug, people can become temporarily lactose and/or fructose intolerant. That can cause ongoing stomach pain and digestion problems. I also knew someone who temporarily lost their ability to digest fats after a stomach virus. You may want to try eliminating dairy for a start and keep a food diary. You could also ask your pediatrician about a two week stint on an acid reducer to help heal any lingering irritation of the stomach.

 

I hope your ds feels better soon. :grouphug:

[amo_mea_filiis.]

You could also give him pediasmart drinks. I think they're 240 calories per 8 oz. they're healthier than pediasure. Possibly more protein than the carnation breakfast drinks.

 

A couple years ago my son lost 7lbs and was sickly thin. He had 1200 calories a day pediasure and picked back up quickly. By spring he looked so much better.

[BrookValley.]

I agree with the others to try some sort of yummy drink--be it a homemade smoothie or milkshake or something pre-packaged--but if I remember correctly, the Carnation breakfasts don't have all that much in the way of good calories. My skinny kiddo likes Orgain shakes that we get at our local health food store, but they are too pricey for me to buy on a regular basis. Mine likes smoothies...a typical one would be full-fat, high-protein Greek yogurt; frozen fruit, usually strawberry, and maybe half a banana; some sort of oil, like flax; and maybe a bit of whey protein powder if I have it on hand. For the liquid, I'll use whole milk or almond milk, whatever we've got on hand. If it needs sweetener, I add a bit of maple syrup. You could easily do a milkshake by subbing some ice cream for the yogurt, if that makes it more palatable! You can even hide some avacado in a smoothie or milkshake to up the calories and fat even more.

[KungFuPanda]

Does he like eggnog? A cup of that stuff is about 350 calories! I have a tiny child. Now, at 15, she's normal human size, but she was six before she hit the 30 lb mark . . .very small bone structure. She ate so very little until she was about 10. She's healthy and active.

 

TRY to visualize how very small his stomach is. Isn't it about the size of his fist? (Will someone who knows give an adequate comparison?) I know after a stomach bug it takes my kids over a week to resume their normal appetite level.

 

 

[Alexigail]

Im reading a book right now called "What's eating your child?" and it has some examples in it that sound exactly like your son. I really like this book as she addresses a lot of childhood eating issues and some things that can cause them. I hope things get better for you soon!

[Scarlett]

The list of what he ate in one day will sustain him. Appetites come and go and most kids will eat eventually.

 

Mrs. Mungos suggestion of designated snack times is good. Also be sure he sits for the entire meal even if he doesn't eat but a bite or two. And be sure that he gets no junk food at all. Every bite needs to count while he is not wanting to eat much. And if he gets junk he will want real food even less.

 

 

[Katy]

If he says his stomach hurts and was recently sick, I'd believe him and switch to a bland diet- back to bananas, white rice (with butter if he can tolerate), broths or homemade chicken & veggie soup, pudding, applesauce, etc. I'd avoid gluten if possible, even if he wants it.

 

I would also write every reason he can't eat in the food journal too... It will hopefully help suss out whether this is stemming from physical issues or completely emotional ones.

[Scarlett]

Sometimes I think making too big of a deal out of food makes those issues worse. I did know of a boy....my cousin about 6 at the time...who ended up in the hospital because he wouldn't eat. But that is rare....he is the only one I've ever known that got to that point.

[J-rap]

I'm sorry -- that's scary. I had a daughter like that. She was born very small, and was at the 0 percentile for several months. At age 2, doctors wanted to put her on a feeding tube. (We didn't.) She was happy though, and looked healthy (doctors would always say that her hair looked very healthy, which apparently was a good sign), she was just really tiny and skinny. (Never, ever had baby fat.)

 

She did have a tiny appetite. I did everything I could to NOT make eating an issue. (Of course it WAS an issue for me, but I tried to hide my feelings about it in front of her.) The minute I found something she liked, I'd make sure to always have it. I had those frozen hash brown patties on hand which she loved, and would fry up one of those with some eggs. She liked smoothies. I'd try and sneak Pediasure into everything, although she could usually taste it and then not want to eat it. Really, I didn't worry too much about eating healthily, I just wanted her to eat. I'd layer 1/4 inch of butter in her sandwiches. Some things worked, some things didn't.

 

Someone recommended taking your son off dairy for awhile; that might be worth a try! For some people, dairy can make their stomach just feel more uncomfortable. Can you make meals fun, by watching a fun TV show while eating lunch?

 

Another thing my daughter liked was pasta. We had a lot of pasta. I kept a journal of everything she ate, and all of her illnesses. She did seem to get sick a lot, and her sinuses were congested a lot which took away her appetite.

 

I used to long for a vision of some kind, so that I could see her as a healthy teenager!

 

This daughter is now 17 years old and weighs 100 pounds. She is a HUGE eater. She does have a sensitive stomach, even now. She still gets colds easily, and they hang on forever when she gets them. Other than that, she is perfectly healthy, has a great appetite, and is not a picky eater at all. She'll eat almost anything.

[AKshanmar]

There is so much helpful advice on here! My kids are all little. My second child was in the -5% most of his childhood. As a 19 yo, he is only 5'5" but now weighs about 165 all muscle! The items you listed that he ate yesterday actually seemed really normal to me. Sigh. My dd used to eat 3 cheerios and be full. When those size kids get as sick as your kids sounds like he got sick, their stomachs must shrink to nothing. Bit sized pieces of fruit used to tempt my kids. I'd even through out some goodies to get him in the habit of eating again. Cookies, chocolate chips... you know. Maybe mini sausages. Yougurt. Icecream.

 

I have a great picture of my boys stuffing their faces this weekend, but I can't figure out how to get it off of my facebook, and then onto this site, using my ipad. I was hoping it would give you hope for the future!

[lailasmum]

It could still be the stomach bug. I had a bug at the beginning of December and am only getting my appetite back now and I had the same thing last year. Took weeks to want food and I've only really fancied fresh clean tasting foods, nothing heavy or fatty.