food obsession

Vivien - posted on 03/01/2010 ( 2 moms have responded )

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26

My 3 year old is completely food obsessed. We adopted him 14 months ago along with his younger brother and as far as we are aware he was in a loving foster home. At the beginning he had a very limited diet but now eats everything. He talks about food all the time. While still in his bed he talks about breakfast, when he's had that he asks about lunch and similarly at dinner time. He asks why our portions are larger than his, watches us intently when we are eating, eats really fast and then stares at us (even though we get him to count to ten between mouthfuls), plays with the kitchen toys at playgroup, hangs around the snack table at nursery, always asks for seconds (we don't give him it), has eaten till vomiting on two occasions. Coupled with this he blanks us when we say 'no' to him in regards to food and cries rather than speaking to us. In the last two months he has eaten an apple (grandmother's), stolen grandfather's sweet, stolen grandparents chocolate and eaten 1/4 box of chocolates hidden in a cupboard in the kitchen. He has pinned the blame on his brother and sister saying he saw them do it. He hides the wrappers (but not very well). He watches cookery programmes with great interest. When we watched a nature programme he pointed at the animals and said 'I like that- meaning he likes to eat it'. How can we change this behaviour?

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2 Comments

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Samantha - posted on 04/07/2010

14

23

After meal time you could try giving him an activity to do such as play dough time, puzzles, or another activity to take his mind off food. Rather than telling him he can not eat more try giving him more healthy food. "If you are still hungry you can have: apple slices or carrot stick". He may feel like he needs to eat all he can because of a past experience that you are unaware of. It could also be an oral sensation, and not truly being hungry. Also try giving him gum to chew in between meals this should help to tire his mouth. Try something like extra that is not filled with sugar, and that has many flavors you can keep on hand for a variety.

Ronnie - posted on 03/29/2010

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1

theory1: sounds like you have a masterchef in the making :D...develop his talents and help him explore different food textures, taste and sensations :)



other theory: could be a late developer..(since he was in a foster home) - he might have suppressed some normal toddler behaviour till now - you know how babies like to put everything in the mouth as part of the world exploration. He might grow out of it (could also be insecurity issues) you might just have to patiently try to pace his eating habits and re-assure him that these food wont run out :)