Would you let your child eat nothing but chocolate?

I watched an interesting program on the Lifestyle channel last week titled, My Child Won’t Eat. I’ve been there, done that and have thankfully crossed over the other side, with a child who will now eat most of what is offered to him.

But I remember clearly how frustrating it was when he didn’t, so I watched hoping for some tips to offer those parents still experiencing the nightly dinner battle.

The previews had shown a 12-year-old girl whose parents let her eat nothing but chocolate for every meal, so naturally I was watching expecting to harshly judge these neglectful parents that would allow such a ridiculous thing.

However, rather than this being a case of lazy parents who were overindulging their child’s desire for junk food, they were actually encouraged to take this course of action by controversial child psychologist Dr Gillian Harris, from the Feeding Clinic at Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital. According to the program Dr Harris takes on the hardest cases, children that fit in the category of extreme food refusers. And Dr Harris believes that these children aren’t just being fussy - they have a food phobia, which needs to be properly treated.

In the case of the 12-year-old girl, she had never moved passed the fussy toddler stage and her aversion to food had grown steadily worse until she was terrified of putting anything, except chocolate, in her mouth. Her parents, after years of trying every possible tactic to get her to eat had taken Dr Harris’s advice and let her exist on a diet of chocolate, so that she was at least eating something, before they began to gradually introduce new foods.

How can a child exist solely on chocolate, you ask? Well apparently quiet easily. This girl wasn’t extremely over weight (in fact she was smaller than her family who all ate ‘normally) and some how her body managed to get the calories it needed to survive from the chocolate. Probably best not to let your kids know that though!

Interestingly this girl wasn't smug and satisfied by her parent’s acceptance of her unusual diet. In fact, she was self conscious and embarrassed by it, and was keen to find a solution to her food phobia so she could fit in with her peers.

There was also the case of the two and a half year-old who has never eaten a hot meal in his life, with his mother terrified he’s going to end up hospitalised. This little boy refuses all solid food and lives on a diet of yoghurt and custard. His mother is at her wits end, with meal times being a massive source of stress in their household.

The advice of Dr Harris? Let him eat yoghurt and custard, stop offering other foods, let meal times become a relaxing and enjoyable experience and then start slowly introducing new foods one at a time.

It certainly is controversial to let a child ‘win’ in this way, and not something I would have been able to do easily, but I guess if things are that bad you would be prepared to try almost anything. I remember letting my then 2-year-old eat fish fingers every night because it was all he would eat for a while. This was despite my pre-motherhood swearing that no child of mine would EVER eat fish fingers! I had one friend who served nothing but party finger food to her fussy eater and another who had to throw out all her lovingly prepared home made organic purees because her baby would only eat the horrible canned stuff!

There is no doubt that food issues can cause huge stress in a family, with a child’s refusal to eat dominating every meal. I always took the attitude that it was a control thing and if you let your toddler have a little control in what they were eating they would be happier. But, on the other hand, giving them too much power, and choice, can have a detrimental effect.

As Dr Harris asked one mother, “If you went to a restaurant and the waiter asked you what you wanted and then continued to present 10 different options to you before you could even consider the first you would probably get annoyed and leave.” Good point really.

The other advice I always took on board, which Dr Harris also suggests, is to limit their milk intake. A child who is full of milk will always be less likely to eat, so too many bottles is a big no no.

Thankfully though, for most of us, the fussy eating stage is over relatively quickly and our kids move on to eating normally, while still refusing to eat the vegetables they can see and preferring chips to fruit. But that I can handle. Chocolate for every meal, however? I’m not sure I could do that!

Do you have a fussy eater? How have you handled it and do you have any advice to share? And could you follow the Dr’s orders and let your child eat only one food? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Comment on Amity's blog.

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