5 yo refusing food, losing weight

[Purl]

My 5 year old is refusing just about EVERYTHING I make, cooked or raw. My instinct is to say that no child would intentionally starve and sooner or later he will cave in, but it's been days since he's had a meal. He's living on bananas, pears, and cantaloupe. My house rule has always been that they need to eat what is served. If they choose not to eat, they can snack on fruit til the next meal. This child is a picky eater. He will not try anything new. He just pushes his plate away and sits there, often pouting. Do you think I should change my rules and allow fruit and *nuts* between meals? He's even been refusing his FAVORITE food -baby spinach salad with tomatoes and Annies French dressing. The *ONLY* thing he wants is peanut butter and raw honey sandwhiches....

[mbf]

Hi, my mom and raw foodist opinion is to give him what he will eat as long as it's acceptable to you. I think he probably needs the fat from the peanut butter now but is there anyway you can swop out the peanut butter for raw almond butter ? Will he eat it on bananas ?

Will he drink a smoothie made from his choice of fruits ? and then you sneak a little protein into ;) .

MBF

[Rawkinlocs]

Purl,

There is a mindshift that needs to take place here. As a raw fooder, fruit IS a meal :) See, the rest of our society thinks of meals as a full-course deal with protein (meat) starch (potatoes or rice), veggies and whatever else.

But the main concept of eating raw and living foods is realizing that fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds are our "true" foods...our true meals. It can be whatever we need it to be, breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks. We've been conditioned to look at fruit as a snack between meals.

Your son may be desiring just what his little body needs to heal from within. As MBF suggested, is there a way to switch the peanut butter with raw almond butter? But give him the bananas, pears and cantelope...just give him enough to MAKE it a meal where he is full and satiated rather than giving him "snack-sized" servings. He probably won't eat this way forever...it's just for now and again, it very well may be what he needs at this time, I don't know for sure. But the great thing is that the foods he desires are healthy...could have been worse where all he wanted was chips and cookies! ;)

[Purl]

actually I am phasing out the peanut butter and phasing in almond butter. I bought a large jar of almond butter yesterday. I guess I worry that he get enough protein and fat. Yes-the fruit is great, but he can't LIVE on those forever, right? I also want him to get enough calories. Maybe I'm wrong....

[Rawkinlocs]

He very well could live on those forever...give or take a few veggies :)

But seriously, again, this is probably not something he is going to do forever. Each day, you can offer his favorite spinach salad (the GREENS are the source of protein because of the amino acids) and one day he WILL accept it and eat it. And if he's eating peanut butter (hopefully soon to become raw almond butter) he is also getting protein from that. Also, fruit DOES have protein in miniscule amounts. Nature (God) has put everything we need in our perfect food...fruit.

Just see how long this plays out and keep monitoring him. But again, just make sure that those foods he's eating, that he's eating enough of them (to get the calories)...he's going to be fine Mom!

[Purl]

Thanks. :)

[.: jennifer :.]

hi Purl -

i have two boys ages 10 and 6 and we have gone through moments when they decided they were only interested in eating one or two things for what seemed like weeks at a time... i thought i'd share what i do when things like this happen so maybe it would help you a little... or at least know you're not alone. :)

I give my kids lots of control over their environment and food and clothing choices and really anything they can do for themselves or decide for themselves i let them... i also make everything a choice "do you want to take a bath or a shower?", and "do you want to take a bath tonight or in the morning" or "do you want to walk to the bathroom or ride on my back or fly like an airplane?" Giving the kids lots of options and choices makes them feel like they are in control... even though you are still encouraging them to do things they need to do - get clean! or eat good food... or go to sleep... "do you want to eat red foods today or green foods? crunchy or soft? sweet or salty?"

I feel like sometimes kids feel like they have so little control over their own lives because their parents decide everything for them - when they eat, what they eat, when and where they go to sleep, when and where they take a nap, when they go to school, where they go to school, and getting lugged off against their will to shopping trips, doctors, errands, etc... that sometimes kids will refuse things or act out in such a way because they are simply trying to regain some control over their own lives.

i noticed just last year while we were travelling my son decided all he wanted to eat were taco bell burrito's. seriously! he would not eat anything else, and after hours of him refusing to eat i started to get really worried. ugh!

but i sat and thought about it... and realized that i was rushing the kids around, here and there... and we were travelling so things were hectic and we were off our home schedule. i was having to be bossy with them "be quiet on the plane" "be quiet at grandma's" "be quiet in the car" and i was just constantly telling them what they needed to do... and so i realized i was making my kids feel miserable and like they didn't have any control over their lives at that moment while we were on a supposed "vacation". lol

Once i realized that, i made an effort to loosen up and let go and pretty soon the kids were even eating raw salads with all their meals again and we never had to go to taco bell again. we were all eating well again and having fun and finally enjoying the vacation!

So... anyway... how is it going now?