Our daughter is 4 and is really struggling with her dinners in school, we are giving her stuff she likes but her lunchbox is coming back often barely touched. We have tried different things including having her sit with the teacher at lunch which worked well but when she went back with the rest of the children she just went back to eating nothing. She eats her tea slowly but will eventually eat it, we are worried about her getting sick. We have tried allsorts even telling her santa won't come if she doesn't eat up like a big girl, but it doesn't bother her. Any ideas?:confused::confused:

You are in the UK. Right ? You can't tell her Santa won't come, birdy, that isn't fair. Some children don't function properly in an open environment as this probably is. Can you afford to put her in a separate school?

I know what you are going through without explaining. I put my son in a separate school and he thrived, but that was many many years ago. I live in Canada if that is of any explanation.

Telling her Santa won't come is just cruel. Children go through eating stages. Sometimes they eat more than us adults, other times they just pick.

I have had this problem with all 4 of my children. It's just a stage. If you are concerned, take her to your pediatrician.

She is a kid. She is just trying to assert her control and do what she wants. If she is hungry, she'll eat. Its pretty simple really. Our son is almost 3 - he wants to assert himself by not eating. That's fine... but he still has to sit at the table with the family and he doesn't get snacks later.

Yeah, one of my friend's daughters would not eat her dinner. She'd throw a fit for having to sit at the table while her parents ate. She was somewhere between 3 and 4 at the time. I guess I shouldn't judge because I don't have kids, but I did notice that when I was over at their house, their daughter would fill up on cheetos while watching TV. She would be sitting there with the whole bag (honestly I couldn't believe they did that. Give her a little bowl or something if she's going to be eating garbage before dinner at all.). I'm 100% positive that's why she wouldn't eat dinner but I didn't know if I should say anything... I guess that was kind of a rant. I'm sorry. And I'm not saying that's your situation at all. I guess I kind of went off on a tangent.

I'm not a mother at all but I think I know why your daughter might be doing this. I used to have the same problem when I was a kid and it was because I had a hard time eating in places that was wasn't completely comfortable in. Maybe you should just give her some time to get more comfortable in the classroom. Or maybe since eating is a more sociable time in school she socializes more than eats?

My niece went through this but eventually she grew out of it. How long as she been doing this? As mention already, if you have any concerns you can always expressed them to your doctor.

First, I'd make sure that there's nothing physically wrong with her that is making her lose her appetite. If she's perfectly fine, and is just doing this to throw a hissy fit, then I suggest you let the phase just pass.

My brother went through this phase when he was 5.. . what did my parents do?. they just stopped feeding him.

Wait three days... the kid was about to cry, he wanted to eat so badly. Problem over.

Granted, the method in which my parents used is a bit harsh, but, to each his own...

Has this just been since she started at school? Has the teacher noticed any problems she may have with other children? Is she just too busy talking with her friends that she runs out of time to eat? Any other changes in behavior? Does she snack much at home, for example when she comes home from school? Does she eat breakfast well? Has she voiced an complaints of feeling poorly? Has she remained active and behaving as her usual self?

If there are no other issues going on, maybe let her pack what she wants to eat at school. Eating her tea slowly is actually a better way to eat anyway, within reason of course. Maybe she isn't very hungry at school... if she is getting what she needs at home, I wouldn't worry too much. Keep a record for a few days and see just how much she is actually eating... think portion sizes, a serving size is actually pretty small and most children, as well as adults, eat more than they really "need" to. For a little insurance, have her take a good children's vitamin.

If you feel, after several days, that she really isn't eating as she should, maybe take her to the gp for a check up for the peace of mind if nothing else.

I think she is just probably too excited with the new social aspect of being around other kids her own age and a few probably have the same problem, talking, laughing and running out of time.