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16yr old son that eats very little

my 16 yr son eats very little ex. 1/2 grilled cheese, 3 to 4 bits of a burg, one time he ate ice cream & dount one day the next day a apple pie refused to eat anthing else. he is a pickie eater. he is a good kid easy to get along with. but i feel this is the one thing he has picked to control. he is not worried obout getting thin, he wishes he was bigger as he is small for his age. if i push him on it he shuts down more but is i don't do anything we end up with days like i noted above ice cream and dounts. he will drink alot at times fills up on that instead of food. if i let him he eats junk food all time and never a good food. i bought the protein drinks that worked for a week. now he won't drink them. i've taken him to the store and let him pick out what ever he wanted to eat (good food) didn't work. his favorit tag lines are "i don't feel like that"  "i am not hungry"  i make food i know he likes eaten many times and he sticks his nose up at it. vitamins are a 1/2 hour fight till i get so mad he finaly takes it gagging on it the whole time i (can't do this daily) yes i tried finstones too he did like the taste suprise ugh...does the body get use to not eating so the hungry just goes away? will this effect his growth?  development of the brain? we have appoinment with dr. this week
thank you!
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693390 tn?1227592931
is it ok for a teenager to ba a pickie eater her sister get mad because she is a pickie eater what case it and my other child is picker in clothes is the ok write me back please.thank you diana fitzgerald
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Avatar universal
Anorexia is a possibility.  As far as him having a junk food diet, that may be mostly your fault for purchasing it. You are the one that buys the food. If he won't eat unless you buy junk food, then he is blackmailing your guilt complex.  Don't buy what you don't want him to eat.  If he gets hungry he will eat whatever you have in the house.  If he doesn't eat alot of food, then make the food he does eat healthy choices. Yes, eating a bad diet as well as not eating at all may become a habit and will eventually effect his overall health, his growth pattern, his bone and muscle health and his memory and learning. Have your doctor give you a referral to a nutritionist to set up a healthy diet that he will eat.  Get a referral to see a psychologist who specializes in teenagers to make sure he isn't suffering from Anorexia. Please realize that this may not be as bad as you fear.  People can eat a perfectly healthy diet without it seeming to be.  Y
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Avatar universal
You can lose feelings of hunger overtime from not eating, just like you can always be hungry if you overeat.

Since I am not a doctor I can't tell you what is exactly wrong with him as it could be just part of growing up, him being fussy or bullheaded, or an organic medical condition.

You may even want to consider anorexia (it can occur in males even though it is much more common in females)
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