My son eats the same thing every day... wont change

[Clarissairene]

Is this going to hurt my son in the long run? I think I already know the answer but I dont know what else to do. My son was a great eater up until the age of 2. He is now five. This is ALL he will eat, breakfast- waffles, cereal, milk, wheat toast. No eggs or meats. For lunch he eats a peanut butter jelly sandwhich with yogurt covered raising (only fruit he will eat, if you even consider it a fruit), he will eat a cheese sandwich. For dinner, its a cheese sandwhich or chicken nuggets, macaroni, and I just won the battle with spaggetti by putting it on a piece of bread and telling him it was spaggeti pizza.

Now- with this limited selection, I DO use whole wheat bread, omega 3 wheat pasta, low fat everything.

He eats NO fruits, vegtables and drinks no pure water. He does drink flavored water with. So he had a constipation issue and I started giving him fiber one bars, ever heard of them? 9 grams of fiber. That has been a miracle. He now poops on a regular bases and no more straining!

My question is....

1- how can i get him to eat other foods like chicken that I make ore meat? His doctor said to pretty much feed him what we are eating and let him starve if he chooses not to eat. I just cant do it. He went a whole day with nothing.
2- the fiber one bar that has really helped his bowel issues- the first main ingredient is chicory root. Is this bad for a childs health to eat every day?
3-If he keeps eating like this... wont he hurt his heart or arteries in the near future?

By the way- he is a good size boy... 5 years old... 50 pounds and off the charts on his heighth. Not too skinny, not to big.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[katgates]

I could have written your post almost word for word.  The things your son eats are almost identical to the short list we have with my six year old.  I didn't see where your son would eat oatmeal but I have been adding 1/2 jar of baby sweet potatoes to my son's oatmeal every day.  I also have him on a vitamin a day.  I alternate Flintstones with extra C and Flintstones with iron (every third day).  I do get him to eat fruit (applesauce and bananas only) but only if his 'dessert - cookies' depends on him finishing a fruit.  He even told me the other day when I insisted on a banana 'Umm, you're right this does taste good'.    

Good luck!!

[Junies_Cousin]

if he is healthy other wise dont worry about it too much I have two very picky nephews, one 17 who eats fine now and one who is 6 my niece is even worse!  we just make a big deal about him trying new things like this is dinner and if you dont like it you have to at least try it and it takes three real bites to try it....sometimes it works ok most times not...the 17 year old ate eggs for breakfast with apple juice, tuna sandwhich with white milk and chicken nuggets or fishsicks with corn for dinner...occastionally pizza...he ate this for almost two years! he looks fine now...he'll add more stuff eventually ...so if he's not sick dont worry about it (my sister inlaw was taking the 6 year old to all kinds of doctors and they all said the same thing he's healthy dont worry about it....she got him to try ovalteen so now he gets that twice a day....but he'll only eat oreos or goldfish with it for breakfast...alll three of them are not big snackers or big on candy so you cant take away desert since they didnt want one anyway, my neice pretty much only drinks water.......good luck

[Clarissairene]

Thanks for your ideas! I did do the 1/2 and 1/2 juice thing from age of 1-4 because of all the sugar in juice. Now I try and give him a full serving of V8 fusion... but still lots of sugar. I like the idea of pureeing a vegtabale to put in the cheese sauce.... sneaky! I tried sneaking small pieces of peas, or chicken or fish, even soy chuncks, but tiny in his grilled chesse sandwhich... put he inspects it like a hawk and always finds things. Like this new 7 grain bread I tried. He picked of every single nut on it. I am also going to try the homeade chicken nuggets.
thanks again and if you can think of anything else post it, it will be put to use by me!
-Clarissa

[mum2beagain]

Instead of flavoures waters try 1/2 juice and 1/2 water using 100% pure fruit juices, that should get a couple of fruit servings a day into him. The juice should help with constipation issues too. Perahps add a vegetable to the macarroni, say cauliflower or carrot, puree it up and add it to the cheese sauce, he may not notice it. Does he like yoghrt? I add wheatgerm and ground almonds to add roughage and protein to my sons yoghurts, you could also add wheatgerm to his breakfast cereal. Peanut butter or nutella and banana sandwiches are yummy too. Try making home made nuggets, use skinless boneless chicken thighs (they have more iron than breast) cut into pieces, dip in flour, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs and shallow fry, much healthier than the boxed variety.

[Renee Radenberg]

From what you have mentioned about your son’s weight and height, he appears to be healthy despite his eating habits. I suggest a children’s daily multi-vitamin (one tablet daily) since he is not eating that much fruit or vegetables. Have you tried soy products (soy milk, soy yogurt, soy ice cream, etc.) as a protein source? Introduce fruit in initiative ways, such as, blended fresh strawberries with yogurt to make a smoothie or with ice cream to make a milkshake. Sometimes children will eat food they normally do not like when combined with foods they like, for example, peanut butter sandwich with apples or bananas on it. Children love to be involved preparing their food and it may help them to eat different foods, however, introduce new foods slowly. Try not to get upset if he refuses them because there are numerous children who are picky eaters and you are not alone. Thank you for asking a question on this forum.

[Clarissairene]

He wont eat cheese either. No cheese, meats, chicken (besides nuggets) fish, no rice, beans, no veggies, fruits.