Let me begin by saying that this will be written on the premise that your child is under the age of 6 or so where it is not an eating disorder (that tends to present itself when the child is older and has self confidence issues), for that type of refusal you will probably need to seek professional help on the issue, it is not something you want to let go too long.

Now back to if it is a younger child and you are going through the stages that we all have to look foward to of subborness, autonomy, and just plain picky :)

If they are just refusing to eat to be stubborn then they are just like I was as a child. My mother tried everything to get me to eat. She even took me to the doctor because she did not feel I was getting enough and when she would try to force me I would literally make myself throw up before she could get anything in my mouth (I was a very stuborn child!). The doctor told her that no child had ever starved themselves volentarily, and when I was hungry I would eat.

He also told her to keep an eye on me when I did not think she was watching. Sure enough I was snacking through the day, which is why my weight had not dropped over this time period.

Quite a few children I know have gone from the not eating to only eating one thing. (Usually butter noodles or mac and cheese for some reason.) This is something that my husband and I have talked about because of my history with eating we wanted to talk about how we would address this if it happens with our own daughter. The solution was actually pretty simple when we thought about it for a little while... don't buy that food when you go to the store. Eventually the child will want food, and if it is not there they will eat something else.

Studies have shown that children will crave what is good for them when they are very young it is when they get older and have the habits from us as parents that we need to worry. When children are young they don't like the processed sugar, trans fats, preseratives, etc. We teach them that through our own eating habits. If you have healthy food in the house then the child can eat anytime and you won't have to worry if they aren't eating much because everything will be good.

Another thing you may want to make sure of is that you are not filling the child up on coke/water/or juice right before meal time. If they are drinking too much and espically if they are getting too much sugar it will decrease the body's natural response of thinking it is hungry. (I just came off a diet where I had no solid foods for 10 days, and was never hungry through the whole thing, so it can be done, but not healthy for a child.)

As a parent it is very hard to determine when there is a real problem and how serious it is when the child is young. We worry A LOT! In reality if you have food in the house, when the child is hungry they will eat. The only thing to watch is that you don't have too many fluids to fill up those little tummies, but with their equally little bladders it really isn't too much that. It is a control issue (it definately was with me), but when I realized that I could either eat what was there or be hungry it didn't take long to get on band wagon!