Underweight 3 Year Old

[loulou111]

Due to being a very fussy eater my niece is very underweight. She cries when she sees a meal put in front of her. She prefers to pick at little pieces of fruit cheese carrot sticks etc. She wont sit still is always and i mean ALWAYS on the go. Do you think a building up drink may help ?,shes only 3. If so what do you recommend? She does drink an awful lot

[Sqad]

She sounds quite normal to me............the experts will be along later with ideas of various psychological developmental syndromes such as ADHD, but i would recommend........nothing, certainly not "building up drinks."

[loulou111]

She just has a very poor attention span but clever can hold a conversation recognises all the letters of the alphabet knows her colours numbers etc but will not sit at a table to eat. Closes her mouth and if you encourage her with a spoonful she spits it out crying. She grazes and picks. But the health visitor says she is underweight .

[Sqad]

I have given you my opinion, but if you are still worried...then see your GP.

[hc4361]

She's full of energy and healthy so I wouldn't worry at all.

[Mamyalynne]

With a bright 3 year old I'd stop all the encouragement and coaxing and put a platter of nibbles for her to munch on , make meals a big deal and she'll rebel even more.

I shouldn't think she would take to a build up drink either - as Sqad says if you think medical intervention is needed see GP.

[loulou111]

Thankyou all for your opiniond

[Peter Pedant]

yeah I agree with sqad's second opinion
try a GP consult

[Sycamore3House]

If she will only eat what you describe give her that at every meal and therefore it is not a performance at every meal. It sounds a better diet than crisps, chocolate, biscuits which lots of children get. Once she starts school she may change her opinion on food when she sees other children eating meals without fuss.

[B00]

She's eating fruit and veg, so same as others are saying, leave her to it. The time to worry is she wasn't as active as only 3 year old can be! Don't make meal times a battle, it just leads to everyone being miserable.

[CupBuster]

My friends had such a problem with their daughter. Underweight and so forth. Don’t worry! Everything will be all right. Their daughter came to kindergarten and started to eat normally. She looks at other children and eats too. Now she is 4 and her weight is normal. She eats everything: porridge, meat, veggies, etc.

[mrs_overall]

My daughter was similar and at one point when she was about 3, all she would eat was spaghetti hoops and whole lemons! If you could see her now (age 20) you would laugh at my worries all those years ago.
Just for the record, I have never heard of any child starving themselves to death

[loulou111]

Whole lemons at 3 ? Wow

[Mamyalynne]

Try (gently and only if she is willing) to get her involved with you in the kitchen, as she likes cheese and fruit maybe cheesy scones, add in some chopped fruit to the mix.

Getting them used to handling ingredients may spark an interest in some little ones.


Plus plenty of praise for the end result.