Help - DD1 afraid of restaurant food

[Twoboos]

DD1 (7yo) has decided she does not like food at restaurants. She says she gets a stomach ache each time she eats out. Usually she gets chicken nuggets/tenders/cutlet or similar, or possibly a hamburger. Of course with fries, but we always take some off the plate and also get a veg (usually broc) that she eats, too. She does NOT eat pasta in any form, except the Annie's Mac & Cheese I make here.

Now, this is all well and good. I'm not going to force the girl to eat out if she's afraid of getting sick. And we only go out to eat maybe one night a week, so really no big deal.

Except, we're going to Disneyland in a month. We are staying in a hotel room at the Grand Californian, so no kitchen. All our meals (except maybe some breakfasts/snacks) will be at a restaurant.

I am already panicking about how this will pan out. I can't have the girl not eating for 4 days! Or only eating treats. Do I just bring a slew of granola/energy/kashi bars (which she may or may not eat)? She is also off PB sandwiches - which I still cannot believe, she ate them daily for YEARS. Won't touch one now.

Her pickiness is getting worse by the day, I swear.

Thoughts? Help?

[ilfaith]

What type of food does she eat at home? Perhaps instead of ordering from the kids menu, you could order her something more like what she would typically eat from your own kitchen. Would she share your entree? If she sees you eating the same food, maybe it would be more appealing to her. How about buffet-type restaurants where she could see her choices and then pick and choose the items she wants? Can you request a fridge for the room so you can at least keep some food (yogurt, fruit, cold cuts, etc) there, maybe make her a turkey sandwich or something like that?

[KpbS]

Does she ever complain of not feeling good after eating at home? Has her diet (at home) changed--other than pbj? Is it always her stomach that hurts? Does she have any other gi problems or stomach bug illnesses? It sounds like to me she could be having a problem with wheat/gluten possibly.

[Twoboos]

Does she ever complain of not feeling good after eating at home? Has her diet (at home) changed--other than pbj? Is it always her stomach that hurts? Does she have any other gi problems or stomach bug illnesses? It sounds like to me she could be having a problem with wheat/gluten possibly.

This (gluten/wheat intolerance) has come up before. She had a horrible time with constipation for about 4 years. We went to a ped gi dr and she was tested for celiac (put under, they checked her stomach/intestines) but everything was fine.

Occasionally she will complain of stomach ache at home, but she eats her fair share of wheat products (she's a cereal addict) without complaints.

She does eat school lunch sometimes, I should ask if she gets a stomach ache there, too.

[MamaKath]

Does she ever complain of not feeling good after eating at home? Has her diet (at home) changed--other than pbj? Is it always her stomach that hurts? Does she have any other gi problems or stomach bug illnesses? It sounds like to me she could be having a problem with wheat/gluten possibly.
This was my thought too. My dc had major eating changes in the last year and is now being tested for allergies and sensitivities (corn or wheat come to mind). I would be checking with the dr as it seems like you could be dealing with allergies, tolerance issues, or anxiety issues.

FWIW for Disney we usually bring stuff for the room (cereal, milk, bars, bread and PBJ) so we are sure the kids eat something. When we are out, they get something. Usually they will at least try something while we are out.

Hope things go smoothly on your trip and you sort the tummy troubles out quickly!

[lil_acorn]

Not the healthiest, but disney does have uncrustables PBJ as one option. I would also pack cereal you know she will eat & just order milk

[wellyes]

I'd eliminate wheat for 30 days.... it's common for those with wheat intolerance to test negative for celiac. Or perhaps a form of IBS? I would take a serious go at an elimination diet.

Poor kid. I'm sure she'll have fun at Disney no matter what.

[Twoboos]

I'd eliminate wheat for 30 days.... it's common for those with wheat intolerance to test negative for celiac. Or perhaps a form of IBS? I would take a serious go at an elimination diet.


Yeesh, this would be hard. It's confusing b/c it's not across the board w/the stomach ache. Definitely will think about this.

I was thinking more on the restaurant side - eating stuff more processed than at home? Even though she does it some processed stuff here, ex: Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange chicken (minus Mandarin Orange sauce). She loves these things.

Maybe Disney restaurants are exempt, espeicially if Mickey, princesses, etc., eat there, LOL.

[Twoboos]

Not the healthiest, but disney does have uncrustables PBJ as one option. I would also pack cereal you know she will eat & just order milk

I may have to go the cereal route. I'm sure I won't be the first parent at Disney with a wacko request for dinner. "Just milk and a bowl, please." :tongue5:

She would never touch an uncrustable with a 10 foot pole - besides the fact that she now does not eat PB sandwiches, they have jelly in there!! HORROR - jelly!! ;)

[LMPC]

See reading your post, I was thinking more about anxiety/phobia. Obviously you know your child waaaaay better than I do....but that was my first thought, especially when I heard that some medical conditions had been ruled out.

[Snow mom]

See reading your post, I was thinking more about anxiety/phobia. Obviously you know your child waaaaay better than I do....but that was my first thought, especially when I heard that some medical conditions had been ruled out.

:yeahthat: I was wondering about this too. I'm assuming she's at least school aged, and kids start internalizing food issues from their peers pretty young. Or did she ever get sick after eating out? Food is one thing where aversions can form with events that are not closely linked temporally (and may be completely unrelated).

[lalasmama]

I get sick when I eat out too.... And I've come to realize it's because of 2 things, more or less. The first one is that no matter what I eat, I end up with heartburn. And the heartburn is nearly always paired with feeling bloated because I ate too much (and eating too much causes heartburn--but it the food tastes soooo good when I don't cook!). Could either of these things be a reason she doesn't like restaurant foods?

[Raidra]

Restaurant foods are often so much richer than food we cook at home.. that might be the culprit.

For a while (maybe 6 months), Colwyn would throw up every time we went out to eat. It was so strange.. he wouldn't feel sick at all until we were almost done, then he'd puke either in the bathroom or in the parking lot, and then feel fine. It went away on its own, so I think it was more of a behavioral/emotional thing, rather than an actual issue with the food.

As far as vacation goes.. does she like fruit? There was a lot of fruit available when we were at Disney World. We also packed a ton of stuff like animal crackers, peanut butter crackers, Teddy Grahams, granola bars, cereal, etc, etc. All stuff that they eat at home. We did it to save money and to save us time waiting in lines for snacks (the kids were starving all the time, probably from all the walking).. but it would work really well for a picky eater, too. We rented a fridge and had ham, cheese, milk, yogurt, etc delivered. We would make ham and cheese sandwiches and pack them in a little insulated bag, with a ziploc baggie of ice from the ice machine. Even if we had an unlimited food budget, I think we'd still do that again.. it was so convenient.

[MamaMolly]

...snipping...
I am already panicking about how this will pan out.

Her pickiness is getting worse by the day, I swear.



See reading your post, I was thinking more about anxiety/phobia. Obviously you know your child waaaaay better than I do....but that was my first thought, especially when I heard that some medical conditions had been ruled out.

I think there may be a couple of things at play here. I'm wondering if your DD may be picking up on some of your stress? It is only natural to be concerned when our LOs have food/eating issues, but in our case the focus and stress I felt compounded our problem.

Lula had food issues (extreme pickiness, etc, etc, etc) that we are resolving, and I found this book to be really, really helpful. I learned about it from the mamas here. http://www.amazon.com/Child-Mine-Feeding-Love-Sense/dp/0923521518/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1300155999&sr=8-3 Maybe it has some insights that would be helpful in this case, too. :)

[ohiomom]

I'd personally be taking her complaints seriously. Almost all mainstream fast food and mid-level chains (thinging along the lines of TGIFridays) have meat products that are "enhanced" with sodium or potassium phospates, full of preservatives/benzoates, etc. She very well could have intolerances and I 2nd the motion to try an elimination diet. It is also quite do-able to take food in to Disney. Simple sandwiches, cut fruit and veggies, cheese and crackers, etc. I also agree asking about school lunch is a great idea. I'm just learning all the intolerances my kids have that I didn't recognize as such... rather thought they were just driving me crazy. Oops!

[WolfpackMom]

See reading your post, I was thinking more about anxiety/phobia. Obviously you know your child waaaaay better than I do....but that was my first thought, especially when I heard that some medical conditions had been ruled out.

:yeahthat:
I also second the thought that if she knows you're stressing each time you go out to eat, that could project on her to act a certain way. I wouldn't jump to doing an elimination diet if the dr has already ruled things out and its only happening when you go out to eat - if it were happening more than once a week with what she eats at home etc then I could could see taking more steps to see if there is some kind of digestion issue, but to me personally this sounds anxiety or psychologically linked.
I would pack lots of snacks, cereal bars like you mentioned, does she eat mac n cheese? Annies makes the individual packets, you can also buy small packs of fruits and veggies if you can get to a grocery store.