Worried about my daughter's eating

My gorgeous girl's just turned 5. For the past 3 yrs or so, she's been the most horrendous eater! We make a joke of it, saying that we only need to put one potato, one pea etc on her plate but to be honest, it does worry me. She does ok some days but other days, she hardly had a thing off her plate. I've come up with a system which has worked ok for now

Little Effort - Only acceptable if she's poorly

Medium Effort - Has eaten half to 3/4 of her food, or if not, at least eaten all her veggies. For a medium effort, she's allowed pudding.

Big Effort - She clears her plate or just about. She's allowed a pudding AND a treat before bed.

I've noticed tho that she's asking to go to the toilet halfway through her meal. I make sure she goes to the loo beforehand. I've noticed that this has become an excuse for not wanting anymore of her dinner as she doesnt want to come back to the table when she comes back downstairs. She says she's full.

I'm not worried about her growth, she's a naturally tiny dottie anyway, was only 5lb 3oz when she was born and she's now 3ft 4 and weighs 2.4 stone at the age of 5. She's got bags of energy, on the go for 12 hrs straight, sleeps well and looks a picture of health. But i do worry she's not eating enough. Give her a pudding and its wolfed down in secs! Is she still going through the 'faddy' eating stage and will it improve? I've noticed she's got better since starting school and having dinners there, i think its seeing other kids eating. She's an only child and divides her time between me and my ex husband, he's just as frustrated as i am.

Any ideas or reassurance would be great!

Thanks!!

I'm sorry but have absolutely no advice here as my 5 year old is exactly the same!! I wait with baited breath for some really good advice
x

I personally wouldnt be concerned. Josh as he has gotten older has got more fussy. Some days he will eat something, and other days it is disgusting!! (apparantly!)

Im a bit more harsh than you, and it does seem to work. (although my son also does the i need the toilet, in the hope he can just do a runner when he gets back!)

If i catagorically know that Josh likes the food on his plate then if he doesnt eat it he doesnt get pudding or any snacks untill his next meal. If he doesnt quite eat all of something i know he isnt so keen on then thats good enough. And if it is new food then i give it a few meals to establish whether he is not eating it because he really doesnt like it or just being a pain! So far the only things he absoloutly wont eat are beans/lentils, corned beef and mushroom!

xXx

Meggie's a bit lazy to be honest.. if its spag bol, she eats it all up, not just cos she loves it but its not exactly a huge effort getting it on her fork and into her mouth! I'm still sort of cutting her food up, not as much as i used to as she needs to learn for herself. She still tends to use her fingers which she does get ticked off for, we say that its good manners to use her knife and fork. When she does clear her plate, i have to admit to going really over the top with praise, like sitting at the table giving her a clap. She loves getting praise and says to me ' are you proud of me mummy'...

I'm just a bit worried she's not getting all the vitamins she needs daily. I do make sure she eats fruit and i'm quite lucky in the fact that she likes it. She suffers from asthma and she also picks up colds like there's no tomorrow and part of me thinks its due to her not getting the daily vits but i have to realise that she's at school now and its like germ warfare!

Why cant food manufacturers invent fruit and veg and other healthy stuff that taste like chocolate! She'd have no probs then!

i dont tend to do it so much now, but when i was really struggling to get good food into josh i used to make magic sauces! lol

if you are doing a bolognase, anything witha sauce really, i used to blend the veggies into the sauce and then add the meat. if they cant see it..they cant complain about it!

:suspect:oh hun i know how you feel i dread dinner time with Vic.He is refusing any kind of food, all he has is mac and cheese.No vege's no meats.I have him on multi vitamins because im so worried that he's not getting enough thru food.Like your LO he is a ball of energy he doesnt stop all day.He doesn't eat junk food.He always complains of a tummy ache half way through dinner so he doesnt have to eat.Good luck i hope her hunger returns soon hun.

im having major eating probs with my son. he will only eat fromage frais and wont eat solids. will just gag if he gets a lump in his mouth. wont feed himself either and hes 3. all ppl keep telling me to do is persevere. its getting ridiculous now

I have found a fab way of getting veggies into my kids - though not as healthy as eating them properly!!

In Aldi they sell packs of vegetable crisp things. They have parsnip in them and all other sorts of veggie (cant remember them all at the moment) Think they are about 99p a packet.

My kids love them and dont know they are eating veggies
x

They say young children will never starve themselves and the fact you say you child has a lot of energy and looks so healthy is a good sign.
You also say she splits her time between you and your X, dose she do the same thing there or is it more of a power struggle thing between you and her??

If she eats the treats and puddings so fast then it might just be a case of food she dose not like and shes holding out in hopes of a pudding.

You could try involving her a little in the dinners, give her a choice between 2 different meals you could have for dinner (not to many choices, you don't want to give her to much say over it) and get her involved with the cooking, whether it be the preparation or the actual cooking.

Hmm your describing my daughter! She will dissapear to the toilet and then say shes full.

I would honestly say that George eats more than she does! Charlotte seems happier to 'graze' than have 3 meals a day.

I think the main problem with meggie is the fact that she doesnt like to be missing out on anything.. ie.. playtime! We have a rule that the TV is always off during mealtimes, all toys are tidied beforehand too. Its not that she doesnt like what we've given her, i think she's just too darn lazy sometimes to eat it Its the same at my ex husband's so its not just me thats getting frustrated. When we go out for dinner, its not worth us buying her a dinner for herself, we basically ask for a plate and give her bits off our meals. I've also cut down the amounts on her plate to see if that works and it does to a certain extent. I had a feeling she felt overwhelmed a bit by the amount on her plate. I've also bought her nice plates like Disney Princess and Dora the Explorer which she loves.. i then say, if you eat some more, you'll be able to see the picture on the plate.. etc...

Her growth is fine and she's a whirlwind! She's a strong little girl too.. so much so that we're enrolling her in martial arts. She was play fighting with her 20 yr old stepbrother the other day and she hurt him! If she was lethargic i'd really be worried but she's fine in that respect.. just wish she would eat more but it seems she's doing ok on what she has at the moment. I'm just a typical parent worrying about everything