 [ Symptoms ] how should i treat cold or flu symptoms during pregnancy [ Disease ] there could be many reasons first off kids experience increases in their appetite around school age and they also start to lose some of that fear of food they had that research shows peaks between 2 and 6 it could be that because he has always been told to eat that once he got more of an appetite he did not know how to listen to his body in his mind more is better this happens often as parents worry their young child does not eat enough or even doctors tell parents to get in as much food as possible at school age children also become more influenced by their food environment and often want to eat what their friends are eating food advertising also plays a role the key is to get on track now structure balanced meals at the table and encourage him to listen to his body    using hunger and fullness to guide eating regular activity of an hour a day is also recommended as is good sleep at night avoid restrictions or making a big deal of his weight    the whole family should have healthy habits also see 10 ways to raise food smart kids a lot will depend on why he did not like to eat in the first place if he did not want to eat because of a neurotransmitter imbalence for example maybe it reversed itself too far the other way like he always felt full before but now he always feels hungry