Division of responsibility - eating

It gets so boring serving the same meals day in day out doesn’t it?

I just think about a girl I know who was a very restricted eater as a kid (we’ve known each other for ever), she has been on master chef and now works in the food industry. I had a good chat to her when DD was 2yo, she says she still doesn’t like spag bolg, but she decided in her late teens that she was missing out by eating so few foods, so decided to try more and discovered a great love for food.

Agree with what others have said about trying to go similar types of foods so less change for her

eg

Can you make sausage rolls with the inside of the pork sausage? You can grate lots of things into sausage rolls and that's another similar food. Maybe call it a party food and see how it goes

Ham on a pizza?

French toast if she sometimes eats a bit of egg. We call it egg toast in our family to sound less fancy

You can make smoothies with the yogurt, milk and add some fruit. I add half a Weetbix too

Can you put the Bolognese sauce in a taco shell? Add cheese?

Thanks everyone! I don’t have anything to compare it to so her foods seem very limited to me. I appreciate the advice that they may not be too bad after all.

Gosh it’s tough, isn’t it?

My niece who is a tween eats white bread (only from a particular bakery), chips (hot and packet), water, milk, vanilla ice-cream, chicken (nuggets or schnitzel), cheese (only Kraft slices), sausages. She has just recently begun to include peeled apple into her accepted foods. She eats no other fruit or vegetable.

She has the very typical white diet that many children with ASD prefer. She is quite willing to try new foods but will gag immediately and bring it straight back up. To me, that's a severely restricted diet, especially for a child of her age.

I think you are doing a great job, already a decent variety of foods.

A few other incremental suggestions if you have the time/energy/interest:

A small baked potato with ham and cheese topping

Blended frozen fruit on hot days. ie add some apple to the blackberry

A bowl of bolognese with optional "cheese mash" ( thin layer of mashed vegetable with cheese on top.

Optional "sprinkes" for the youghurt. Ie a tsp of rolled oats or chia seeds they can add themselves

Chicken pieces crumbed with egg/breadcrumbs/cheese

Using dipping as a novelty

Temperature might make a difference too

If a new presentation including a bit of something else is accepted you can gradually change ratios or try other similar foods presented in the same way.

I think at the end of the day it isn't really in your control but it doesn't sound extremely limited. None of my above suggestions would work for the kids I know with extremely limited diets - I have a stubborn toddler perspective which is a bit easier.

Your DD's diet sounds better than my fussy kids! One thing that I did was cook up large batches of the few foods they would eat (for one, the only way he would eat meat was home-made sausage rolls) and would keep single serves frozen in the freezer, so they would have their safe meals several times a week while we ate something else. You might already be doing this, but if your DD eats your bolognaise, it could be a good option to increase her iron a bit? My fussiest eater tried milo once and loves it, so we encourage that too.

Yep your list sounds pretty good here too my little guy has a banana/oat smoothie every day and really I pay myself in the back that he is getting something so healthy. Otherwise it's mostly peanut butter/Vegemite toast that keeps him going. He is starting to get more adventurous though and occasionally we hit on something unexpected that he loves.

Here's some things that work for me:

Flat bread (I do a wholemeal/yoghurt dough) and homemade dips (hommus, beetroot, spinach& cream cheese etc) have been popular and a good way to get different coloured veg into him.

- he barely eats meat but recently found out about chicken nuggets, thanks MIL! The good thing is that now he'll eat little bits of chicken schnitzel if I call it nuggets. Going to try this with other meats now.

- Takeaway and going out to eat is a great way to introduce new flavours and find out what they like. My 3yo doesn't like a lot of typical western food (except nuggets and chips of course) but he seems to really love Asian flavours. He particularly loves sushi, flavoured dishes and curries. He's much more open to trying new things when we're out, or if he's stumbled out of bed and found DH and I eating takeway in peace

Good luck, but I think you're doing a great job and things will likely change as she grows.

Thanks all. Unfortunately I’ve tried most of the amended offerings you’ve suggested and she’s having none of it at this stage. I think that’s where I find it hard - she won’t countenance anything even slightly different. Although she did try a sausage in bread last night, so maybe there’s hope. It’s crazy what you celebrate!

It is! But the main thing is modelling.

Make the things you want to eat. Give her her plate with her foods and maybe one stretch item from yours. Don’t comment, cajole or even mention it.

Then if she tries it, you can praise her, even better if she likes it.