Is he too skinny?

DS2 does not eat much & it is really hard to get a balanced diet into him. I hide veg in his favourite foods when I can get away with it. He loves pasta meals with red sauce like spaghetti & chicken on the bone, fruit & water. He does not like sides like rice, potatoes (unless chips) sauces, milk, yoghurt, butter...& the list goes on. I always put veg on the kids plates & fruit in lunch boxes.

Last night I made a favourite meal of his & he only took a couple of bites & that was it, he hardly ate anything yesterday. He likes toast for b'fast & wont eat cereal as he does not like milk.

He is 125.7cm tall & weighs about 26kg...is he under weight? DS1 is tall, not fat but not skinny. DS3 weights the same as DS2 but he is on the chubby side.

How do I get food into him? Should I be worried? I was thinking of taking him to the Dr's to get a blood test.

Sounds the same as my skinny child, she's super active though.

I really struggle to get her to eat lunch at school but least she eats when she gets home.

What I've done recently with potatoes is sliced them so they look like potato chips, the crisp style ones, and then bake them in the oven.

She also doesn't like milk on cereals so if she has weetbix, we just use hot water & we put a bit of sugar on the top, well a lot tbh so that she'll eat them, also eats ricies without milk She's just discovered the little packets of porridge so she's had porridge two morning in a row. I make it with water & don't add milk to it later.

hope that helps a little bit?

Hi Jazzy

Just for my '2 cents worth' I have a mate who's 3yo doesnt eat much food & she's always worrying about it - but as her mum has pointed out on a regular basis, kids wont starve themselves - when they're hungry they'll eat.

I was the most fussy kid when it came to food as a kid and I was always on the go. One thing my parents did wrong when it came to me is they tried to force me into eating and it didn't work, it went the other way. And I was worse than your son. I would only eat junk food, potato, bread, jam, apples, cheese and thats about it. And I survived on that from about 2-17 years. So don't stress out too much, he's doing better than I was at that age!

I hated cereal with milk.. in fact I still do. I have it dry which DH thinks is totally gross but I like it that way.

Can you ask him maybe twice a week or something what he would like for dinner and make that so at least you know hes getting a couple of really good meals as in size wise

Hi jazzy - sorry to take so long to get back to you, got caught up with baking

I just googled children's BMI and on the American website I found his BMI is 16.7 which is in the healthy range.

I thing these days we are getting so used to seeing overweight children and adults that we are forgetting what a 'healthy' child should look like. If you look at old film footage from the 1950s, 60s and 70s I bet your boy would look quite normal.

Have you tried keeping a food diary for a few days to see what he eats over all - the holidays may be a good time to do it as he is home. WIth the food - just go with it. If he likes pasta sauces great - you can hide HEAPS in there My little girl prefers her cornflakes dry too - hates them soggy *rolls eyes*

Thanks ladies, wow it seams common, lol.

I am going to try your ideas, thanks for them.

Funny thing DS1 was really skinny, one of those babies that did not thrive that easy & had to have tests done on him, but now he is 10yrs & we have to make sure he is getting a balance & not eating too much crap as he has a tendency to put on. When younger he never ate meat only veg & loved it, as he got older he chewed meat but did not eat it & now he will eat anything & is very adventures, eats things I wont, lol.

I had GD with DS2&3. I was in a study with DS2 when pg & we have a follow up appt next yr. One of the things they are looking at is weight as I was told he will be prone to be overweight that might upset there study lol.

The kids have Centrum vits daily...wonder if they need something else.

Think I will take him to the Dr just for piece of mind for the GD thing.

Now to work out what to put in his lunch box

eta..DS3 is the one who will eat everything & he weights the same or a bit less than DS2 but shorter & a yr younger...so need to watch him

Edited by jazzy

He won't starve himself and teaching him to eat only when he's hungry and eat what he needs is important for when he is an adult.

I think we are so conditioned to finishing everything on our plates even when we don't need it.

It's better to eat till we're full and then stop.