To be really unscientific, I think from my personal experience that my son doesn’t actually get hungry. I think there might be a problem associated with Noonan’s about feeling hunger. My question is around my son—he’s got a peg, he’s 6 so all he has is his nutrients, his pectorin milk, and water that we give him. Now, should we be thinking of supplementing that with anything else now he’s getting older and older and there doesn’t seem to be any coming future in actually eating different food and fresh fruit and vegetables? Should we be thinking about supplementing his diet with anything else other than this milk and water?

I probably don’t know enough to say how common not feeling hungry is although you definitely see that in some children because just like adults, we have variable appetites. I think the most important thing with regard to diet and calories and vitamins is to be under a good dietician who can add up the number of calories and know what vitamins and things to take. The other thing I would say is once you’ve got a good dietician who’s making sure your son or daughter’s getting the right number of calories is to not actually make the food too much of an issue. What you don’t want is for food to become a battle every mealtime because once you know they’ve got good calories in; you want to make food a pleasurable experience and that’s what you focus on. I think the other thing is they say that most children will need to taste a new flavour at least 15 to 17 times before even thinking about liking it so when you introduce anything new into the diet, I wouldn’t expect too much too fast. That would be my main advice – not to make it too much of a battle and ensure you’ve got a good dietitian who can help you.