So fed up with my kid who won't eat anything

[Anonymous]

Pack school/summer camp type lunches in a lunchbox and go eat at parks/playgrounds, etc. We did that a lot in the summer and all of the running around made my tiny kid hungry. At home, he barely ate anything and complained about being hungry.

[Anonymous]

OP, I wouldn’t necessarily put the bean purée into her Annie’s Mac and Cheese. When I tried to hide things in my picky eater’s favorites, he didn’t like it, and then decided that that formerly favorite food was permanently suspect. So I’d try it with some regular pasta of some kind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I wouldn’t necessarily put the bean purée into her Annie’s Mac and Cheese. When I tried to hide things in my picky eater’s favorites, he didn’t like it, and then decided that that formerly favorite food was permanently suspect. So I’d try it with some regular pasta of some kind.

Well, I did it and it went well. I added it to the sauce before the pasta, just enough to thicken up the sauce a little without ruining consistency, and she liked it. I am not a huge fan of the mac and cheese because I consider it to have pretty low nutritional value, but it's the only pasta she will eat these days (I make a really good from scratch mac and cheese that we add prosciutto and peas to... she won't touch it, even without the additions). So being able to beef it up a little is a big win for me!

[Anonymous]

Check for lead poisoning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I wouldn’t necessarily put the bean purée into her Annie’s Mac and Cheese. When I tried to hide things in my picky eater’s favorites, he didn’t like it, and then decided that that formerly favorite food was permanently suspect. So I’d try it with some regular pasta of some kind.

Well, I did it and it went well. I added it to the sauce before the pasta, just enough to thicken up the sauce a little without ruining consistency, and she liked it. I am not a huge fan of the mac and cheese because I consider it to have pretty low nutritional value, but it's the only pasta she will eat these days (I make a really good from scratch mac and cheese that we add prosciutto and peas to... she won't touch it, even without the additions). So being able to beef it up a little is a big win for me!

I actually think this is brilliant and I’m going to try it. It sounds awesome. White beans have so little flavor I bet it just made it very creamy. Way to go OP! I will typically say there’s a little extra protein or something when I do this in case my kids notice any tiny difference.

[Anonymous]

+1 to the running around, how much is she outside? When my kid exercises, she gets hungry!

Also, what is your relationship to food? Sounds like you are putting a lot of energy into this.

What if you just put this down for a couple of weeks? Put out 3 healthy meals a day and 2 snacks.

If she eats, she eats, if she doesn’t, let her know when the next meal will be served (I know this is hard to do!)

But, eliminate all of the control you are giving her over this, and see how she responds when you increase the structure, increase the exercise and drastically reduce any pressure/emotion from you.

[Anonymous]

What helped me is ordering from a meal service, then if they didn’t like it, I could just toss it without being angry about all of the time and energy I spent to make it.

[Anonymous]

In terms of saving your sanity, your DC is getting to be the age where they can make a PBJ sandwich on their own. So if they complain about dinner or anything else, the options of "make your own PBJ" is always available. I'm like you, I wasn't about to make a custom dinner for each person. If they didn't like dinner, they could make their own sandwich. Perhaps you could have a drawer of the usual favorites (yogurt, fruit, cheese) that she could also select from if she doesn't like dinner. If she complains - "Go look in the drawer."

I realize this goes deeper than just "I don't like dinner even though I loved it last week" but maybe giving her some independence can take some burden off of you. Also, I think I saw that you said she is in the 50% range for weight. If your ped is not overly worried, then I think managing your own frustration is more of a priority at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid eats:
PB&J
Pasta that he dips in hummus
Bacon
Yogurt with granola
Apples (2-4 per day)
Chicken nuggets
Raw baby spinach
Quesadilla
Cheese and crackers
Pizza
Cantaloupe
mango
cucumber slices
Muffins
Toaster waffles

That’s pretty much it. No burgers or hot dogs. No sandwiches.
No sauces on food. No dipping sauce except hummus.
Ped says he eats too many food for feeding therapy. We just let him eat from his rotation. On the bright side - he can and will eat the same thing every day. When we were home for the early pandemic, he ate PB&J, apple slices, and milk for lunch every day from mid-March until the end of June. 7 days a week. When he was 3 or 4, I made him Annie’s Mac and cheese every day for 6 months.

OP here. My kid is similar but the list is similar. It's more like:

PB&J
Mac & cheese (sometimes, only if from the box)
Yogurt with fruit and/or granola
Apples
Berries
Cheese and crackers (sometimes won't eat the cheese)
Muffins (any baked good really)
Toaster waffles
Corn (sometimes)
Mangos (in a smoothy)
Bananas (in a smoothy)
Citrus fruit (definitely in a smoothy, and sometimes also on its own)
Rice
Beans (sometimes)

No veggies, no pizza, no quesadillas, and the proteins are soooo limited. She does drink milk so that helps a bit, but I have been getting worried that she may have lactose intolerance issues because she complains of digestive issues frequently.

Not sure if this is limited enough for intervention. But still interested to know what an intervention would look like.

Honestly this does not look that limited to me, especially for a 5 year old. It looks pretty typical.

People actually don't need as much protein as you might think. Most little kids eat a very carb-heavy diet. When she complains of being hungry, give her a smoothie with almond milk, fruit, and put some protein powder in there. My kid is 9 and she basically lives on smoothies, pasta, cereal, and toast.

Her diet looks fine OP. Stop making special things, that way you are not angry/frustrated when she refuses. Make the family dinner, leave it is adaptable to her if you are able to (leave some pasta plain, etc.), but don’t make special things. If she doesn’t want any component to dinner, she can have cheese and crackers and an apple. Or yogurt and a mango.

[Anonymous]

I’m the one that suggested the white beans originally. Yay!!! So glad it worked! A few more ideas: mix peanut butter and warm (soy) milk to make a creamy sauce to mix into spaghetti. Stir an egg into oatmeal or pastina to make it creamy (https://www.framedcooks.com/2009/07/pastina-with-egg-and-cheese-otherwise-known-as-comfort-food.html). If she likes rice, try brown rice then other high protein grains like farro, quinoa, kamut. Not all of these will work for your kid, and don’t sneak it in, but they all worked for mine at various points. And a lot of keto friendly foods are high protein.

[Anonymous]

I would give one warning then empty the unwanted plate straight into the garbage can and tell her no food until breakfast. Or wrap it and it becomes breakfast. Stop battling with her. If doing this causes her to lose weight then she has an eating disorder. Healthy kids will not starve themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would give one warning then empty the unwanted plate straight into the garbage can and tell her no food until breakfast. Or wrap it and it becomes breakfast. Stop battling with her. If doing this causes her to lose weight then she has an eating disorder. Healthy kids will not starve themselves.

You don't actually do this. If you do, then you'll be at fault when YOUR child starts binge eating later in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What helped me is ordering from a meal service, then if they didn’t like it, I could just toss it without being angry about all of the time and energy I spent to make it.

They aren't cheap. I'd be pissed if my kids refused to eat any of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would give one warning then empty the unwanted plate straight into the garbage can and tell her no food until breakfast. Or wrap it and it becomes breakfast. Stop battling with her. If doing this causes her to lose weight then she has an eating disorder. Healthy kids will not starve themselves.

You don't actually do this. If you do, then you'll be at fault when YOUR child starts binge eating later in life.

Lol. Please. This was what was typical when I was growing up. Parents worked hard all day and then made dinner. They weren't going to cater to each kid and if you didn't eat it, you must not be very hungry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would give one warning then empty the unwanted plate straight into the garbage can and tell her no food until breakfast. Or wrap it and it becomes breakfast. Stop battling with her. If doing this causes her to lose weight then she has an eating disorder. Healthy kids will not starve themselves.

You don't actually do this. If you do, then you'll be at fault when YOUR child starts binge eating later in life.

Lol. Please. This was what was typical when I was growing up. Parents worked hard all day and then made dinner. They weren't going to cater to each kid and if you didn't eat it, you must not be very hungry.

This is child abuse you sick lady