'Fussy eater' boy taken by social services..

[Emma.lou 10]

wow this story is shocking, I have a 2 year old who's a fairly fussy eater, however she is still growing so not worried at all. I just give her plenty of the things she likes. I'm sure it's just a stage they go through.

[missflirtuk 10]

My daughter is a very fussy eater. Just recently she is teething, and sometimes she will eat loads of food on day 1 and then day 2 she will not let a thing pass her lips. She loves chips, sausage rolls, loves fresh cooked chicken. So like Emma I give her stuff I know she likes. I know it's not the healthy stuff but she loves them and eats them and she is walking, running, saying loads of words for her age. She's 17 months old. And currently screaming at the top of her lungs, so she is very healthy and she's very active so I am not worried about her becoming obese.

[Pinkmiss 10]

disgusting!

[Strix 11]

Whilst I find the powers of social services somewhat disturbing, would anybody here refuse to feed their child something if they were concerned enough to be taking them to see a doc?

 

I lost a stone and a half through not being able to eat when I first got pregnant. I usually try to eat healthily, but as chocolate cake was the only thing that wasn't giving me a problem, chocolate cake was the best thing to eat for a short period of time

 

All too often some parents seem to think their principles are more important than their children

[duckweed 10]

I have heard of some parents that in their drive for healthy eating forget that growing children have different needs from adults. A low fat high fibre diet for a small child would be detrimental. Perhaps this was the real argument about what the toddler was eating? Having said that, this wasn't their first child so presumably the other children were healthy and thriving on the same food. There seems to be a lack of communication between parents and professionals which is certainly alarming.

[Mathom 10]

I have heard of some parents that in their drive for healthy eating forget that growing children have different needs from adults. A low fat high fibre diet for a small child would be detrimental. Perhaps this was the real argument about what the toddler was eating? Having said that, this wasn't their first child so presumably the other children were healthy and thriving on the same food. There seems to be a lack of communication between parents and professionals which is certainly alarming.

 

An interesting item I read in a baby mag was by a woman who confessed about her big mistake in allowing her kids to share the parents' 'interesting' diet. They'd decided to eat nothing but vegan, raw, whole foods. And their toddlers shared this diet which would be quite healthy for an adult - alas, their teeth blackened and dropped out, they were malnourished, painfully thin and got brittle bones.

 

The woman admitted this was deeply embarrassing for her as a traditional middle class 'earth mummy' type, and learned the hard way that little kids need things we wouldn't dare eat much of, like full fat milk, butter and cheese. And things like white bread - wholegrain foods and things with a low GI score fill them up before their little tummies are actually full enough. So does only having drinks with meals, another thing HVs try to drum into you which can make them not eat enough.

[Saff 10]

I'm not saying their kid should have been taken a way by any means and they should have been given support, but if my child was not eating anything at all I wouldn't hesitate to give them junk food. I'd then very slowly introduce other healthier things. It's more damaging to allow your child to starve, surely?

[Mathom 10]

What was bad about this was the message it sends out - that you might seek advice over a simple problem and end up with your child in care yet have done nothing wrong and only followed what's generally expected of a parent. There obviously was something wrong with the child as even when he was taken away and presumably force fed Mars bars he didn't put weight on.