My sister's 3 yr duaghter will not eat. she has had tests runned but, no answers!

My sister's 3 yr duaghter will not eat. she has had tests runned but, no answers. hasn't ate since 6-16-07

My niece has been in the hospital since last monday. they have ran every test you can think of. She is about to have a mri done. But, other than her having a tube down her throat she will not eat. We have gotten her to lick food but, when she bites it she spits it back out. Nothing has come up on the test results but, when the doctors take her off the machine her sugar level drops way below normal. She likes to play with food and she makes sure everyone else will eat but, she refuses to eat herself. The last time she ate on her own was over a week ago. please if anyone has heard of this behavior of a three yr old and has some sort of answers please let me know.

Hmm..around that age kids copy the people around them. Maybe there is someone in her family that does what she is showing you. Look at her mother for that because girls usually copy their moms. Or even more extreme she has a friend who does it because their mom does it. Ask her in a subtle way where she learned to eat like that. Ask her if she is hungry. I wouldn't force those on her. Make it silly I guess. Tell her the teddy bear in your tummy is hungry so you need to feed him. Ask her if her teddy bear in her tummy is hungry too. That'll get you somewhere more than "Are you hungry at all?" Now I could be totally wrong and something is physically wrong with her to make her not want to eat. Just wait for the doctors though.