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Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Can a 4 year old be anorexic?

I love food. Hubby loves food. It appears that our 8 month old loves food. So how can it be that our firstborn son, the illustrious Logan, can have ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST IN FOOD WHATSOEVER?!

If I had a nickel for every time I have had to say "Logan, eat," I'd be living in an oceanside mansion in Bar Harbor, Maine, with a maid, masseuse, cook and gardener.

Every meal with the child is a struggle. Meals can take, literally, hours. Just yesterday I made his lunch at 12:30. Lunch was all things he likes--crappy dinosaur chicken nuggets (because dinosaurs are just so awesome), some raw green beans, a handful of chick peas and a glass of calcium-fortified orange juice (because the kid won't touch milk, cheese, yogurt, or any other dairy that is not ice cream).

By 1:30, two of the five nuggets and maybe two green beans were gone. And the juice.

As 2 p.m. approached, I got antsy. I HAD to get to the store to get a couple things, get home and get some dinner made before karate at 4:30. We HAD to go. Finally, I resorted to putting the rest of the nuggets and green beans into a baggie and informing Logan that he would be riding in the cart and eating his lunch instead of running around the store like a crazy man. He screamed. I told him too bad.

Well, he did end up eating the food while we were at the store (yeah, 2 1/2 hours later), except for the half a nugget he dropped on the floor. Then it was time to come home, go to karate, and start the dinner battle.

I am not kidding, it is exhausting spending whole HOURS of your day trying to get a SUPER SCRAWNY little boy to consume some calories.

The pediatrician tells us not to worry, because "kids will eat when they're hungry." HOW can I not worry when the kid almost never wants to eat, and he is nothing but skin and bones? At this rate, Jordan will be bigger when he's 2 and Logan's 6.

I am at a loss.

When Jordan was about 5 weeks old, Logan got a nasty stomach virus. He was throwing up for a week and ate almost nothing for that whole week. He looked like a concentration camp victim. Jutting bones, purple circles under his eyes, very pale. It was so scary. Then that virus went away and he actually got an appetite. For a few months, even, it was no chore to get Logan to eat three decent meals a day, plus a snack. I was thrilled. He even put on a pound or two (but was still painfully skinny).

Now all of a sudden, he doesn't want to eat anymore. Doesn't want to eat so much that when you ask him what he wants to eat, he tells you he doesn't want to talk about it.

WHOSE KID ARE YOU?!?!?!?!

I won't do the whole thing where I make him a completely separate dinner just to get him to eat. For one thing, I think that's ridiculous. It spoils kids, and makes them think we are their slaves. Plus, I know he likes most of the food I make, when he's of amind to. If I make something he really, truly does not like (and he has to TRY it) then sometimes I will make him another option, but most of the time he's expected to eat what we're having.

I just don't know what to do to get this kid to EAT!

1 comments:

Mellissa said...

I was a horrible eater as a kid, I remember being at the table for hours! I hope he grows out of it, and just starts chowing down one day.