Ds (3.10) and food... Argh!

[Idbeloveandsweetness]

My ds has been fussy with eating since having a really nasty sickness bug when he was about 2 and a half. He was so sick he ended up in hospital. Before then he had a good diet. Now he's stopped eating most of the foods he ate before.

If I encourage him to try something new he will often try but then he gags and is sick. Pasta makes him sick, rice does, mince does, spaghetti the list goes on.

This is what he will currently accept:

Toast with peanut butter
Yogurt
Home made pizza (no other sort won't eat it when out)
Apples
Bananas
Broccoli quiche (only this sort)
Jacket potato with beans or cheese (but not cheese on it's own)
Beans
Peas
Sweet corn
Carrot
Waffles
Small amount of fish if with beans (loved fish before was ill)
Small amount of scrambled egg if with beans
Bread - on its own with no spread or anything!
Tomato or parsnip soup
Chips, crisps, cake obviously

What on earth is he going to do at school?! What can I put in his lunchbox? I'm not attempting school dinners for fear they make him eat it and he's sick!

I kept hoping he'd grow out of it. If anything he's worse! What should I do? I keep encouraging but not pressuring because it's horrid when he's sick. It's definitely more than just being stubborn.

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

My DD is similar..she doesn't throw up though. She's just turned 5 and has always been this way. She's basically a vegetarian and we respect that and accept that she doesn't eat meat at all.

She doesn't KNOW she's a vegetarian but she just is...we don't discuss animal welfare with her or anything.

She does however eat a little fish like your DS....as I see it, this is a good diet...like your DS she has beans, (loads of protein) she has peas and cucumber and sometimes she will eat sprouts and broccoli and runner beans..she has scrambled egg and peanut butter...all excellent foods...she also has cheese and toast etc and will eat potato wedges.

I think this is a good diet..she's on the 75th percentile for height and weight and looks healthy and has lots of energy..oh she also drinks milk and eats oranges and yogurt.

What are you so worried over? is your DS small or thin?

At school, DD has a packed lunch...she has a sandwich...always peanut butter...some sliced cucumber or raw carrot sticks, she also has a yogurt and some grapes or orange slices and I add crackers or pretzels too...now and then I pop in a muffin for a treat.

If DS won't eat pasta or rice, try him with things like wholemeal pitta, toast, wedges (tell him they're big chips that's what I do)

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

I see your DS likes peanut butter so he can have that on a sandwich for school...plus a yogurt and an apple or banana and IO bet he'd have a cereal bar or a wholemeal muffin with a couple of chocolate chips on the top? That's a fine lunch

[ConstantCraving]

You have NOTHING to worry about. My 3.6 DD will only eat oatibix, toast (really healthy multi-grain bread luckily), fromage frais, raisins, croissants - occasional hummous and bread sticks and homemade banana, carrot and honey muffins (thank god!!)... and that's it! Had been eating beans and pasta and pesto but has refused them for the last month, fishfingers have also gone by the wayside. Won't eat pizza anymore... (sob)... I'm trying to stay cool about it and not make it into an 'issue' but am getting desperate...

[mummy2benji]

That's actually a good diet, although I do appreciate that the limited foods make it hard when cooking family meals or eating out and about. My ds1 (4 1/2) only eats Nutella sandwiches, sausages, sausage rolls, homemade sausage pizza (have you picked up on the theme yet?! ), chicken nuggets, 2 flavours of baby fruit jars - has to be the same brand, in the jar, crisps, cake etc. My plan for lunchboxes is to alternate between Nutella sandwiches and sausage rolls! The teachers will think I am a terrible mum. From your list, I would start with peanut butter sandwiches, carrot sticks, a yoghurt (will that last till lunchtime out of the fridge??) and crisps. Come and join our resistant eaters support thread! You might find some useful tips and advice.

[mummy2benji]

Meant to say, ds1 used to gag and vomit a lot on foods. He still does it occasionally but now I've learned to stay calm and appear relaxed and have turned it into something light-hearted, as I tell him that if he feels a bit choky, he needs to "make like a train and chew chew chew!" (In a silly singsong voice accompanied by some daft train movements). I've no idea how / why I came up with that but it made him laugh and distracts him when he does gag a bit, and reminds him that he can help himself by chewing his food properly. Might be worth trying something similar? I used to panic and flap getting cloths and generally exacerbating the situation

[SunshineandShandy]

I feel your pain. I have posted many times (and been given great advice) about my DD's diet. She is also 3. She has to take a packed lunch to nursery and in it I put a jam sandwich (no peanut butter allowed due to children with nut allergies), some fruit, one of those Ella smoothies, a yogurt and a biscuit. Will he eat Philly or Laughing Cow? I am working on her having that on her sandwich. She eats this 3 times a week. Not very interesting but really don't know what else to do.