"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
...
> You're asking 2 different questions: the one about a fussy child and the one about
> the right diet for a diabetic. I'm qualified to answer the one about fussy eaters:
> Have only healthy, nutritious food in the house, no junk or non-nutritious food
> anywhere. She's only 6 so she should have no access to anything that's not healthy
> anywhere else. (She can't exactly drive down to the local outlet of the chocolate
> factory for a 7 course feast consisting of candy.) Present well-prepared,
> delicious, healthful, nutritious meals and snacks with no emotional investment.
> It's just food that you and everyone in the family has the option of eating or not
> eating. If she doesn't care for what's offered, insist on good manners in the form
> of saying no thank-you. That's it. If she doesn't feel like eating what's
> offered, all she has to do is say "no thank-you," not eat it, sit politely at meal
> time and see if she likes what's offered at the next meal better. For your part,
> you take no particular notice of what she eats or doesn't, no yelling, no begging,
> no rewards, no lying, just offer the food as you would to any guest and stop
> thinking about it. (Remember, it isn't a matter of having to eat dinner or not
> getting dessert. Dessert isn't even in the house. No one is eating it.)
>
>
> That's the advice for non-diabetic fussy eaters. Check with her doctor on whether
> it is O.K. for her to skip meals. I'm guessing it isn't. The rest of my advice is
> sure to be contraversial, and I'm not sure of this, but I'd say to go ahead and
> follow the above advice even if it promises to land her in the hospital if she
> doesn't eat. That way, you're sending the message that she's responsible for her
> ultimate good health and well-being. It would only take once, and the power
> struggle would be over.
>
>
> --Lia
>

Lia,

The problem with that last part is that it may not be just a hospital trip. Not
everyone who has a severe bout of hypoglycemia recovers. It would be better to find
out how long she can go without eating and still be relatively safe. Then make sure
to have juice on hand to keep her levels high enough to avoid insulin shock and make
her drink it. Continue to offer the foods that she can safely eat. The odds of a
child that age going hungry for too long is pretty slim.

kimberly