eating

[MYNANNY]

my grandson will not eat anything his mum gives him he goes for day without any food at all what can we do ,

[dancecaller]

How old is he? Will he eat for anyone else?

Make sure he has plenty of fluid available and avoid making a fuss and turning it into an attention grabbing battle if he's a toddler, I think.

[SaxyJag]

I agree with dancecaller. Make sure fluid is available to him and that suitable food is offered. By suitable, I mean anything that he'd normally be expected to eat.

Smaller children will eat soon enough if you leave them to it. Healthy children have an inbuilt survival mechanism that stops them starving themselves. Obviously if the child seems ill in other ways, then a visit to the doctor is in order.

If a teenager, possibly a little more serious. He or she may be eating elsewhere, in which case no problem. If not eating at all, ie deliberately starving him/herself, then I would investigate further and get some help.

[unruliejulie]

My son is 2 1/2 and he has become incredibly fussy in the last couple of months only eating Ham, sausage rolls and pasta. Very frustrating but i let him get on with it knowing that he'll enter a different phase before too long. If he is little, don't make a fuss, it'll make it worse. I had the same with my other son who is now 14 and was very concerned but my health visitors advice was, if he's putting on weight and healthy, then don't worry. She was right. Good luck x

[squiperly]

my son was ill quite a lot when he was small and he seemed to have no interest in food. The best way I found was to have lots of healthy snacks eg yoghurt, cheese, fruit, cooked cocktail sausages etc in the fridge, and just let him eat what he liked whenever he liked. I'd lay a place for him at teatime, and put the food there for him, but if let him decide whether he wanted to eat or not. It did seem to work, but I know it's incredibly frustrating and worrying if you're the parent!

A doctor once told me - children eat as much as they need. And if you just make sure the kind of food around them is nutritious, they should be fine.

He's now a strapping 20 year old, with a gigantic appetite! (But no fat on him - unfair!)