5 1/2 year old niece only eats hot dogs…

[Anonymous]

Immigrant here. Honestly this kind of behavior does not occur in my country. One dish is prepared for each meal and the WHOLE family must eat whatever is served. Don’t want to eat it because of ‘pickiness’ then fine, go hungry. They eventually will eat some of what is served.

We don’t coddle the children like they do in the US.

[Anonymous]

Oh honestly, not EVERYONE in any country does the same thing. I bet the people with kids who would rather starve than eat certain textures just hide it bette4 and live in shame.

Because even here there is shame around it. No one WANTS ago feed their kid five foods or less. Or spend money on books and specialists to be told don’t worry - they might outgrow it.

It sucks. It is embarrassing. But I also can’t fight 3 meals a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are picky kids, and then there are kids who will, in fact, starve themselves rather than eat the "wrong" foods. If you've never had a severely underweight kid, I don't think you can understand that anxiety -- it's primal.

This. Unless you've had one of these kids who Just. Won't. Eat. Anything. You do not understand. It's an incredible amount of stress and you're thankful if your kid will eat anything with protein to grow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Immigrant here. Honestly this kind of behavior does not occur in my country. One dish is prepared for each meal and the WHOLE family must eat whatever is served. Don’t want to eat it because of ‘pickiness’ then fine, go hungry. They eventually will eat some of what is served.

We don’t coddle the children like they do in the US.

It’s amazing how you know exactly what is going on in every single household in your home country. I’m impressed!
Now tell me what’s going on in my household right now…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me guess: "Kids don't starve themselves! If they just served her healthy food at every meal they would eventually break her and she would eat!"

A kid who only eats one food needs medical followup (and maybe she's getting it) but I'm on team parents because at least they are keeping this child alive.

A boy in the UK went blind because of his avoidant restrictive food intake disorder. If she isn’t getting medical attention, she should be.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49551337


“ Experts are warning about the risks of extreme restrictive eating after a teen developed permanent sight loss after living on a diet of chips and crisps.

Eye doctors in Bristol cared for the 17-year-old after his vision had deteriorated to the point of blindness.

Since leaving primary school, the teen had been eating only French fries, Pringles and white bread, as well as an occasional slice of ham or a sausage.

Tests revealed he had severe vitamin deficiencies and malnutrition damage.

Malnourished


The adolescent, who cannot be named, had seen his GP at the age of 14 because he had been feeling tired and unwell. At that time he was diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency and put on supplements, but he did not stick with the treatment or improve his poor diet.

Three years later, he was taken to the Bristol Eye Hospital because of progressive sight loss, Annals of Internal Medicine journal reports.

Dr Denize Atan, who treated him at the hospital, said: "His diet was essentially a portion of chips from the local fish and chip shop every day. He also used to snack on crisps - Pringles - and sometimes slices of white bread and occasional slices of ham, and not really any fruit and vegetables.

"He explained this as an aversion to certain textures of food that he really could not tolerate, and so chips and crisps were really the only types of food that he wanted and felt that he could eat."

Dr Atan and her colleagues rechecked the young man's vitamin levels and found he was low in B12 as well as some other important vitamins and minerals - copper, selenium and vitamin D.

Shocking findings


He was not over or underweight, but was severely malnourished from his eating disorder - avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder.

"He had lost minerals from his bone, which was really quite shocking for a boy of his age."

He was put on vitamin supplements and referred to a dietitian and a specialist mental health team.

In terms of his sight loss, he met the criteria for being registered blind.

"He had blind spots right in the middle of his vision," said Dr Atan. "That means he can't drive and would find it really difficult to read, watch TV or discern faces.

"He can walk around on his own though because he has got peripheral vision."
Nutritional optic neuropathy - the condition the young man has - is treatable if diagnosed early. Left too long, however, the nerve fibres in the optic nerve die and the damage becomes permanent.

Dr Atan said cases like this are thankfully uncommon, but that parents should be aware of the potential harm that can be caused by picky eating, and seek expert help.

The lesson here is take your doctor-prescribed supplements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like, only hot dogs. My sister and BIL literally are ok with it. The kid controls them and they gave up long ago. I’m so repulsed by how they let her literally eat hot dogs for every meal as it’s so bad for her health. Part of the problem is that she’s severely underweight so at this point they think the hot dogs will at least provide calories. It’s just gross to watch. I wish I could change things for her but the family won’t listen. They’re to exhausted to put in the work to fix the issue.

I knew someone who worked in a meat processing plant and he told me what went into hot dogs. That was 20 years ago and I have never eaten another hot dog or served them in my home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like, only hot dogs. My sister and BIL literally are ok with it. The kid controls them and they gave up long ago. I’m so repulsed by how they let her literally eat hot dogs for every meal as it’s so bad for her health. Part of the problem is that she’s severely underweight so at this point they think the hot dogs will at least provide calories. It’s just gross to watch. I wish I could change things for her but the family won’t listen. They’re to exhausted to put in the work to fix the issue.

I knew someone who worked in a meat processing plant and he told me what went into hot dogs. That was 20 years ago and I have never eaten another hot dog or served them in my home.

*applause*
Well aren’t you fantastic. And totally helpful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Y'all realize that such kids wouldn't be coddled in other cultures right? Children in other cultures have much wider palates.

You mean the sensory issues they have remain unaddressed and they are shamed to eat? Oh right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Immigrant here. Honestly this kind of behavior does not occur in my country. One dish is prepared for each meal and the WHOLE family must eat whatever is served. Don’t want to eat it because of ‘pickiness’ then fine, go hungry. They eventually will eat some of what is served.

We don’t coddle the children like they do in the US.

I'd like to know where you're from and how broad your experience is - or are you just another uninformed, judgmental @55hole like OP?. I've worked in several developing nations as a pediatric occupational therapist primarily working in hospital and orphanage settings. I can tell you that in every country I've been in, there have been kids who have refused to eat all but one or two foods. I struggle to understand why people can't understand there are very real medical/neurological/psychological disorders behind this.

No, not every kid will eat when hungry. In fact, some kids don't feel hunger at all. In fact, look at the problem with anorexia in this country. Why do you suppose people with anorexia restrict their eating so much?

[Anonymous]

Okay, I get that there are children with neurological and genetic eating issues. And I get fixating on bread or potatoes, noodles or something that would be realistically served with some frequency in your home as part of a balanced meal. But hot dogs? Let’s face the fact this family has some trashy eating habits for a child this young to have the degree of exposure that would result in a preference. Someone is purchasing those hot dogs again and again. It find it very sad and I am not above the occasional Costco dog.

[Anonymous]

I mean …. If they’d never offered hot dogs in the first place she wouldn’t be only eating hot dogs. I get it, kids have anxiety, sensory issues, but if you don’t the crap they won’t eat it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh honestly, not EVERYONE in any country does the same thing. I bet the people with kids who would rather starve than eat certain textures just hide it bette4 and live in shame.

Because even here there is shame around it. No one WANTS ago feed their kid five foods or less. Or spend money on books and specialists to be told don’t worry - they might outgrow it.

It sucks. It is embarrassing. But I also can’t fight 3 meals a day.

I’m the PP. No need to fight with your kid three meals a day. My mother would just calmly put the meal in front of me and basically that was all that was offered until the next meal (besides the occasional fruit.) If I didn’t eat any of it, that was fine….no one would get upset, shame me or flight with me to eat. I would just be hungry until the next meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Immigrant here. Honestly this kind of behavior does not occur in my country. One dish is prepared for each meal and the WHOLE family must eat whatever is served. Don’t want to eat it because of ‘pickiness’ then fine, go hungry. They eventually will eat some of what is served.

We don’t coddle the children like they do in the US.

I'd like to know where you're from and how broad your experience is - or are you just another uninformed, judgmental @55hole like OP?. I've worked in several developing nations as a pediatric occupational therapist primarily working in hospital and orphanage settings. I can tell you that in every country I've been in, there have been kids who have refused to eat all but one or two foods. I struggle to understand why people can't understand there are very real medical/neurological/psychological disorders behind this.

No, not every kid will eat when hungry. In fact, some kids don't feel hunger at all. In fact, look at the problem with anorexia in this country. Why do you suppose people with anorexia restrict their eating so much?

We are taking about young children. OP is referring to a 5 year old. Kids that young are not anorexic. A 15 year old? Sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Immigrant here. Honestly this kind of behavior does not occur in my country. One dish is prepared for each meal and the WHOLE family must eat whatever is served. Don’t want to eat it because of ‘pickiness’ then fine, go hungry. They eventually will eat some of what is served.

We don’t coddle the children like they do in the US.

I'd like to know where you're from and how broad your experience is - or are you just another uninformed, judgmental @55hole like OP?. I've worked in several developing nations as a pediatric occupational therapist primarily working in hospital and orphanage settings. I can tell you that in every country I've been in, there have been kids who have refused to eat all but one or two foods. I struggle to understand why people can't understand there are very real medical/neurological/psychological disorders behind this.

No, not every kid will eat when hungry. In fact, some kids don't feel hunger at all. In fact, look at the problem with anorexia in this country. Why do you suppose people with anorexia restrict their eating so much?

We are taking about young children. OP is referring to a 5 year old. Kids that young are not anorexic. A 15 year old? Sure.

And of course I don’t recommend using this method with kids who have medical or neurological issues. I thought that’s obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MYOB

+1,000