4 year old boy won't eat.

[Jigger]

My four year old won't actually sit down and eat a normal meal.  He is very limited in what he will actually put in his mouth.  He may eat mac & cheese, brocolli, toast, peanut butter, ramon noodles, choc milk, crackers, and candy.  He eats these things sometimes but not everyday.  He can go for days without eating much but little snacks.  He won't try new things and everything is always yuckie. He will drink pop but you have to force him to drink juice or other things.  He was a good eater when he was a young toddler but this struggle with food has been going on for almost 2 years.  He was drinking a bottle until he got sick with the flu at the first of the year. He hasn't touched it since.  I feel that the bottle was the one thing that was keeping him healthy.  He eats icecream everynight and sometimes that is the only food he will have ate all day.  I have taken the icecream away and he is not eating hardly anything now.

This is of course a major struggle and I don't know if it is a power thing or if something is medically wrong with him that makes him not want to eat.  We end up making several meals for each meal time and I know that is wrong, but I am so worried about his health.  PLEASE HELP!!!

[cat248]

A related discussion, my 4 years old son was started.

[clairebearball]

A related discussion, My 4 Yr Old Daugther Wont Eat! was started.

[Pamela Copley]

My son does the same thing.  One thing I do is make him take vitamins so I know he is getting some of the vitamins he needs.  But we all sit at the dinner table and I put everything on his plate.  He wont eat furit or vegies but I still put them on his plate.  Then I put a bite on his fork of meat or whatever the main chourse is and say don't you dare eat my food.  He laughs and thinks it is a game and he eats every time.  Yet though I haven't gotten the furit or vegies down yet.  He is also four years of age.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Your son is very likely fine from a medical standpoint, but the only way to be sure is to address this with his pediatrician, who may want to do some lab work to rule out any metabolic or endocrine problem. If everything is OK medically, you'll have to take the bull by the horns and make some changes in the way you address your son's diet.

Now, many young children are particular about their likes and dislikes, and for the most part this poses no problem. But diets can be too restrictive, resulting in children failing to receive adequate nutrition. You can help your son increase the range in his diet by stopping your practice of making alternative meals, and by reserving certain foods (e.g., ice cream) as dessert items, to be eaten only as a follow-up to regular meals. To the extent that you can change your behavior your son will also change.