My son is a very picky eater. He says he's scared of food and screams. If food has any imperfections or dark spots he won't eat it. What he will eat changes from day to day. He mostly eats cereal, gogurt, granola bars, and pasta. He was always a slender kid but is now borderline underweight. Every meal ends in tears. Please help!
I think we had someone from Ashley not long ago, ask a similar question.
If he's so scared of food he screams, see a professional.
therapist. nutritionist. pediatrician. they all need to be involved in your childs health and well being.
Does he scream like this for anything else? Or just food? Is it a scream of fear/panic? Or is it a tantrum, the sort of thing he does in other circumstances if he doesn't get his way?
The way to handle it varies depending on the cause. Tantrums we ignore and we don't feed into them. Kids will eat if they get hungry if they are just picky. My stepdaughter's son got everything he wanted - bagels, only certain pizza ("Papa Gino's, but no bubbles in the cheese!") and so on. They gave in all the time. He had weight problems from age 4 on - still does (overweight). I have cousins whose 5 year old bitches and moans about everything, and doesn't take no for an answer. They beg and bribe him to eat, and he gets what he wants. However, I have 2 friends whose children have legit food aversions and also have problems with stomach motility - food doesn't move out of the stomach fast enough, so eating causes nausea and pain. They get therapy from a specialist (psychologist specializing in food aversions & nausea), work with Children's Hospital in Boston, and one uses a medication too. Some kids have sensory issues to texture, and some have visual sensitivities and are concerned about what food looks like.
I think you have to get to the bottom of this if this is not a tantrum and if it doesn't occur in other areas of his life (non-food related). What's odd about your son is that the foods he will eat change from day to day, which might indicate an issue around controlling his environment. However, he's getting relatively little nutrition, and I think that should concern you a great deal. Don't bribe or cajole, but do look at 2 things: 1) hiding nutrition in foods he eats and giving him the best possible version of them (e.g. absolutely no junk cereal or white pasta, and put some high quality supplement in the yogurt and homemade granola bars vs. the high sugar commercial variety), 2) working with a pediatrician to find a therapist to identify the underlying problem. He deserves to feel better and happier around food, and he needs a good team to get to the bottom of the problem and help develop coordinated therapies for you to implement. Unless this is a full-blown tantrum that occurs in other areas (in which case, this is on you and requires a change in parenting style), you cannot handle this alone.
I think someone who is scared of food needs to be seeing a therapist and a nutritionist.
Talk to your pediatrician and get some referrals.
You need to find a child therapist who specializes in food therapy. My son is slightly picky (14 now), but he wants to like new foods and there is no screaming. I have always just tried to keep meals stress free. I always had something he likes and gave him very small portions of foods he thought he didn't like. He always had to take a bite. From 5th grade to now he has learned to like many more foods. He is kind of embarrassed about his pickiness when he's with his friends. My nephew is an extreme picky eater---sounds like your son. He has a short list of foods he will eat and he has always been this way. He is in 7th grade now and is very overweight. He will eat vanilla yogurt, cheese pizza, peanut butter and jelly on white bread and baked sweet goods. And that is IT. Not a single vegetable or meat. He's been this way his whole life. I really wish his parents would have taken him to a therapist who specializes in food disorders. I feel bad for him. Your son has a phobia. Please get him the help he needs.
Have you talked to his dr? If so what did they say? There could be different reasons for this. They may need to do some tests and possibly with a theorist.
What does his doctor say? If my child claimed to be "scared" of food I would be looking for a recommendation for a therapist immediately. I also wouldn't be making him cry by trying to make him eat, that just leads to serious eating disorders.
picky eaters are one thing, and there are appropriate ways to handle them (mostly involving having firm rules about how much short order cooking you're willing to do, and introducing the PE to the shopping list and how to cook.)
a kid with a food phobia that involves screaming and genuine terror is another.
one requires sensible handling and consistency. the other involves professionals and the family reorganizing itself to handle mental health issues.
khairete
S.
Please, please take him to a feeding specialist. Your ped can make a referral. You have waited too long to address this.
Try putting gummy worms and spiders on his food. See what he does.
Being scared of food and screaming in fear is not 'picky' but a sign of a bigger problem. Have you had him evaluated? He needs specialized therapy.
This is not picky eating, people should not be afraid of food. I would consider counseling or intervention to see if there is a sensory or processing issue going on.
