My kid forgets to eat

[BookishVonLiberal]

Has anyone else had to deal with this and if so, how did you approach it?

DD is almost 7yo, is naturally slender, and a semi-picky eater. Lately though she has been going long stretches without ingesting ANYTHING at all. I have to practically force her to drink and if I don't summon her to the kitchen and insist on eating, she does not eat and then gets that sick feeling in her stomach and is weak and miserable.
Is this a precursor to an eating disorder? Is there a physiological reason why a child would not get the sensation of hunger until they are so weak they can't act on it? She does not drink nearly enough water and I can tell because her lips dry out and look hideous. Why doesn't she feel the symptoms of dehydration and hunger???

Thus far my only idea is to insist on her eating SOMETHING every two hours and making sure she has a drink with her at all times. I feel like a dictator, but I don't know what else to do.

[LisainCalifornia]

I don't know about every few hours, but most kids will not think to stop to eat unless a meal is placed in front of them, I think. I have a child who is so "busy" with the business of playing that it never occurs to her to eat, but then later she will complain of a tummy ache of an empty stomach. This is easily fixed by serving her breakfast, lunch and dinner (by serving--I call her, she comes to sit down and the full plate is there with a beverage, and she sits and eats) and also setting up an afternoon snack. I plate up the food before calling her, so there is no waiting around.

Is this what you do as well?

Some kids are just very food-focused (always looking to snack) and others just have zero interest in it and would become nutritionally deficient if you let them. There is a wide range inbetween as well--but if you have the latter, then you need to have some talks about nutrition and how the body works (there are some great children's books on this subject) and talk about how you are going to help her remember. Encourage her to be a part of the process of keeping herself healthy.

Take care,
Lisa

[BellinghamCrunchie]

Originally Posted by LisainCalifornia

I don't know about every few hours, but most kids will not think to stop to eat unless a meal is placed in front of them, I think.

I agree.

When DD is engaged in playing, she doesn't stop to ask me for something to eat. Actually, when I'm really engaged in what I'm doing, I forget to eat, too, until I suddenly realize I'm a little shaky and my stomach has been growling for a while.

For DD, I put out a snack near where she is playing every 3 hours or so. With the food in visual sight, she is likely to remember she's hungry and eat.

[lotusdebi]

My eldest forgets to eat sometimes, and I have to push him to eat regularly. He has sensory processing disorder, and doesn't feel or can't identify the feeling of hunger, just as he doesn't feel or can't identify the feeling of a full bladder. If your child doesn't have sensory issues, though, then I imagine it's just an issue of being distracted by playing and not thinking about eating until she feels really hungry.

[BookishVonLiberal]

She doesn't have a dx, but yeah, there's definitely some sensory issues at play.

[mags]

I have a child like this. He has always been like this, ever since he was a newborn. I had such a difficult time BFing him, b/c he was sleepy and was just never really interested in nursing. Even by the time he weaned at 15 mo old (milk dried up during my 2nd pregnancy), he still was never a very good nurser. I did not realize how poor of a nurser he was until I had baby #2, who was a natural at it and who loves to eat. Now my oldest is 4.5 yrs old and when he gets hypoglycemic, he can be a terror to deal with. It takes a lot of effort to coax him into eating and after he starts to eat, you can tell that he starts to feel better. However, for some weird reason his brain seems to be missing the sensor that indicates hunger to him. He rarely ever tells me he is hungry. Maybe only a few times in his entire life. He is also very busy and doesn't want to stop to eat. I think he has some mild sensory issues, and I also think that part of this is hereditary, b/c my youngest brother was JUST like this when he was a kid. He was just never interested in food and even now as an adult, he isn't that interested in food, which probably explains why he is so skinny. My 4.5 yr old is so small, he is JUST starting to fit into 3T clothing and even then, it has to be adjustable waist or else they will fall right off of him.

[OakBerry]

My ds is 6 and goes through phases like this. Once every few months he'll go on an eating binge, where he finishes everything in front of him, 3 meals a day, for about 2 weeks. Then he's back to his normal, barely eat anything, self!

I tend to just hand him things, or place a bowl of snacks near him and sooner or later he will eat it.
I have a tough time getting him to eat before school, he just is not interested, and I know he is probably starving an hour later on the bus.

He is also very thin, and tends to get hypoglycemic. I have to be sure to get protein into him, if he just eats carbs, he crashes/has tantrums. Just like me, lol! I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

[columbusmomma]

DS is this way frequently! It drives me insane half the time! The biggest issue is when he is playing, never once does he say he's hungry when I ask! I've been known to follow him around giving him bites I try to give him healthy choices and little snacks as much as possible. He will outgrow this I remind myself, like many other things lol!