Food phobia in our 3.5 year old

[BentleyBling]

Hi, our 3.5 year old boy has a massive food phobia. He only eats certain things never tries anything new. He has jam on toast or jam sandwich every meal and also eats yoghuts and certain (known) biscuits and chocolates. He would rather go without than even touch other foods and freaks out if he is near them

He is very small for his age but developmentally he is fine. He has less energy than other kids his age which is obviously upsetting. He also is more prone to tiredness, mood swings and illnesses. He also has problems with digestion and pooing (for which we give him prescribed medecine).

This phobia has developed (so we are told) following really bad reflux as a baby. His little sister eats for England but that doesn't seem to inspire him.

We are seeing dieticians and they are not too concerned from a physical point of view.

Anyway, we are having a bad week so just wandered if any other parents had experience of this sort of phobia (NB different to fussy eating!) and if so when and how did their child improve?

Thanks!

[Esian]

No real experience of this but would it help if you involved him with baking from scratch the things he likes. Tell him he doesn't have to eat the finished result so he's under no pressure.

You could make jam tarts or biscuits that he might like to try. If his phobia is with the actual eating, he might still like squishing pastry and scooping jam, and then hopefully tasting the finished result.

[landmmum]

Hi , I ahve experienced this with my youngest - she has been diagniosed with food phobia /severe selective eating . She is now 4 , but has always been like it , like you lo she had really bad reflux / colic - apprently that is really common in chldren with food issues .She wouldn't eat any meat , fish , fruit or veg ( unless pureed!)
Have seen various experts , and under a food clinic ( only go every 6 months though .....) They have given us a plan to follow - we had to start with fruit , she had to choose fruit to go in a special fruit bowl , then choose a piece each day to lick - every time she did it she would get a sticker towards a reward , once she ahd mastered licking different fruit she then ahd to move on to taking tiny bites , then move onto eating it as part of a meal . The plan is then to move onto different food types .We were also advised to do lots of food play away from dinner times , eg just lots of messy play with food , painting with fruit / veg / sticking pasta etc just to "normalise" food and not make it so scary.
SHe has got slightly better as shes got older - will now eat chicken nuggets and fish fingers as well as tiny pieces of cucumber .
I found a really good book called " Just take a bite" on Amazon - is aimed at American gealth care workers , but full of really good , practical advice .
Know is hard , but don't beat yourself up - my eldest eats practically anything , including sushi etc , and she loves fruit / veg / meat etc , so do console myself that can't really be anything I did as weaned them both the same !!
We are currently taing a bit of a break from the feeding " programme " as she has just had her tonsils out - we are wondering if they had any impact on her eating - they were really , REALLY big - maybe worth keeping an eye on your lo throat etc , in case that has impact .

Hope this helps a little !!