Only eats hot dogs

My 5 yr old refuses to eat anything but pop tarts, chips, hot dogs and cheese. He dosen't drink milk because he gets sick (chest cold or ear infection) whenever I give him more than a glass a week. But he will drink water and any Juicy Juice flavor. Can I say "you have to eat what I make or you are not eating this time?"  know he is eating enough he eats breakfast just fine and eats all his lunch when at school, it's only supper time at home that there is an issue!

[resinedtolife]

I'm a mam of 4 grown up children and had a problem with my second son when he was younger with the issue of food i have to say that it was more to do with OCD than food itself. If you are asking the question then i feel you should try it. It won't do any harm to try it and see if it works i suggest you give yourself a time limit to try it out so that it won't be too traumatic to yourself or your child and talk to your child calmly to avoid conflict. Good luck

[April2]

It's pretty common at this age to get fixated on one particular food or food group. When my daughter was in kindergarden she would only eat bologna and ketchup sandwiches for lunch. This lasted all year. She eventually got sick of the bologna sandwiches and stopped eating them! The next year it was egg salad sandwiches.
He really should have the calcium since he's growing. Does he have milk at breakfast and lunch? Experiment with some recipes. Sometimes you can "hide" vegetables in baked goods like breads and cookies or casseroles.
Keep trying to introduce new foods by offering them beside the ones he likes. Ask him to just take one bite. If he refuses, don't make a big deal, just keep trying. Chances are he will outgrow a lot of this. Just keep encouraging him to try new foods.
You also might want to invest in a good children's vitamins for awhile too. Hope this helps!

[April2]

I don't think you should make a power struggle out of this. You want him to think of sitting down and eating with his family as a pleasant thing. He's more likely to dig in his heels if you force him to eat something. And really, how much forcing can you do? You can't physically force him.
I think it's better to just put a variety of foods on his plate and sit down and talk to him about his day, etc. Sometimes they get so distracted when you're talking to them that they might actually eat everything all up before they realize it!
Like I said, You want eating to be a pleasant experience. The more you fight him on this, the more he will push back. That's just my opinion!

[flutts]

if he won't eat what you make, then he does'nt eat.

If you get him hungry enough, i'm sure he'll eat whatever you have.