Our 3.5 year old son has never told us he's hungry

A few months ago we were out an event, and I saw a child, younger than my son, tell his parent that he was hungry. It struck me how normal it seemed, and made me start realizing how not-normal our situation seems to be. Our son turns 3.5 next month and he has never told us he is hungry.He’s extremely skinny and has dropped percentiles at his 3 year check up. His pediatrician, who largely phones it in, said he would ‘keep an eye’ on his weight. He was somewhere in the 10-20 percentile and is likely dropping since. If I’m being generous, he’s gained 2 lbs in the last year. He’s a bit over 31lbs. He’s otherwise a healthy and happy kid with normal energy levels, except he has no interest in eating.If we ask him if he’s hungry, he’ll usually ignore us, or deny it. Very rarely will he admit it. If he gets really hungry he’ll sometimes tell his his stomach hurts, but he’ll never describe this feeling as hunger. If I ask if his tummy hurts because he’s hungry, he may admit it but more likely will not.It’s as if hunger is not a motivator to eat. He’s been this way since day one. When he was an infant, we had to keep track of every three hours to feed him because he would not ask to be fed. When he started daycare (at 6 weeks old), I had to go in every day to make sure he was eating enough. They wouldn’t feed him every three hours as we asked, because he wasn’t asking for any food.He doesn’t eat much at school either. His school is well known in the area for the quality of food, yet they say they often have to prod him to get him to eat even a bit or two. He is clearly often famished by the time I pick him up. He's been to multiple schools and he has never been an eater at school (or home or anywhere).This is not a ‘picky eater’ situation. I will often ask what he wants for dinner and cook it for him. He will maybe eat 2-3 bites, tell me how yummy it is, then insist he’s done despite being obviously hungry.The internet repeats ‘your toddler will not starve themself’, but if he doesn't eat enough our happy, fun kid becomes a hangry monster, usually at bedtime. Hangry monster just refuses food all the more insistently.I have dozens of anecdotes of him being clearly hungry and denying food, even delicious toddler friendly food, but I’ll just give a recent example. Last weekend we went over to a friends house for a cookout. Despite being hamburgers, hot dogs, as much ketchup as he wants, potato chips, his favorite fruits, etc, he never considered eating a bite. It was 8.30pm by the time we got home and he hadn’t eaten since 12.30pm nor asked for any food. It was clear to us that he was famished. We were consistently making sure he knew food was on offer but just wouldn't eat it. We had to feed him at home with the only method that works.The only way we can get him to eat is by putting a screen in front of him. We’ll often have to constantly prod him to eat every bite (by reminding him, or by pausing the screen). Sometimes if I’m in a rush, I’ll spoon feed it directly to his mouth. This can take well over an hour every night.I anticipate people saying he’s refusing food to get screen time, but this does not seem to be the case. He is not asking for screen time often at all. He’s not even asking for screen time at dinner, he’s just saying he’s done eating. If anything, he wants more time with us which is hard because he spends so much damn time eating.The internet suggests a child this age eat 3 meals and two snacks a day. He maybe eats a small meal and a large meal every day, and rarely will he eat any snack. He used to drink a ton of milk but he has cut back significantly on milk (his choice).This is not a solution that will continue to be sustainable for us, especially with a new baby added. We don’t want to make this more a battle of wills than it already is. Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks for listening and any advice. via /r/Parenting http://bit.ly/2QJBG5x