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We have an 9 year old boy placed with us. We have had him for roughly 1 week, but he has been removed for 3. He's very tall for his age, but also overweight. Parents mentioned that he is not anemic but has had low iron in the past and takes OTC supplements. What we know about his meal situation prior to removal is, that he was not fed on a normalish schedule, it was at random times, he stated he was sometimes fed "when the moon comes out". He said his father ate a lot of their food, but he always has snacks. He says they bought bulk ice cream and other snack foods and he had unlimited access to them and any other snacks for the home From what we're understanding, and what was confirmed, is he ate potato chips and ice cream repeatedly throughout the day, along with marshmallows, chocolate, etc throughout the day. The only actual meat he's talked about is chicken nuggets, and a few other meal items. He said one night for dinner, he ate marshmallows with chocolate sauce, chocolate chips, nutella and extra sugar on top, and his whole family ate that for dinner. He doesnt seem like our other kids who had food insecurities, as he always had something to eat to keep his belly full, but i dont know any more specifics of the situation yet. . But he is obsessive over food, mostly snacks and sweets, to the point where he talks about them every 10 minutes or so all day every day. Even at school. He says he's starving at all times. We have finally gotten him to eat meals to an extent, and he eats MASSIVE amounts of food, but immediately reports that he's starving afterwards. If we didnt have limits, he would probably eat himself into throwing up. Then immediately afterwards, he's on his roll about ice cream, etc. Daily example would be - 0830 =He had 2 waffles, a banana, milk, cheese stick and peaches for breakfast 1145 -Ate lunch at school and had pizza, milk, carrots, a breadstick and juice 230- Had a snack at school. 4p-After school he ate 2 string cheese sticks and a small apple While making dinner (we eat at 530pm) he says he is starving, and obsessed over when it will be done for entirety of cooking the meal. 530- We made beef, cheese and bean burritos for dinner, he ate 3 LARGE ones and a glass of milk, and requested 3 more. My 6ft 2, 280 pound husband was stuff full after 2. He ate probably roughly over a pound of meat plus the extra items. Bed time snack 8pm - The same evening he ate a bag of popcorn, a granola bar, and still requested more. We would never withold but we're worried about the situation. We've had kids in growth spurts before as well many times but he's above what we're used to there as well. We're just concerned about him stuffing himself so full, the frequency he begs for food, and the obsessiveness behind talking about food. We have a dr appointment scheduled to get bloodwork done, someone said to double check his iron and possible thyroid. Big question -- Have you guys experienced this? How did you handle it? I never ever want them to feel as if they can't have food, or that they're being refused it, and i dont want them to feel hungry, but it's so extreme its concerning. We do have our set meal and snack schedule, but we've always added extra of our healthy snacks as needed if they're hungry, but with him we can't tell if he's hungry or it's more of a comfort issue, insecurity, etc. Would you guys continue to let him eat as much as he wants, or try to stick to the schedule and the healthy meals? We have a drawer in our fridge with the healthy(er) options, which is cheese sticks, sugar free pudding, yogurt, yogurt tubes, sugar free applesauce, fruit cups, whole grain pretzels, granola bars, etc and then we have his fave fruits, apples and bananas, along with carrot sticks. We have unhealthier options, foods that he begs for, and he is allowed to have them if he eats a reasonable amount of protein, carbs, etc for dinner, but he still asks for it after every meal, including breakfast, as his "dessert". I just feel awful keeping our food schedule and saying no to food all day, but if we gave in each time he would eat non stop all day.
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