How to expand DDs diet

[PickledLily]

How do I get more protein and vitamins/minerals into DD (10)? The only meat she will eat is junk:

Hot dogs
Skinless sausages
Some types of chicken nugget (this is a recent breakthrough)
Tuna
Thin ham
She will sometimes eat houmous and is ok with small quantities of cheese.

The only veg/fruit is cucumber and raw carrot. Carbs she will eat anything and everything.

It seems to be a texture thing that's the problem. How do I expand her diet?

Maybe a few times a week just put something new on her plate with safer foods and see what happens. Other than that not sure what you could try as you don’t want to make it a big deal

Orrr try it while distracted so eating on the go or informer of tv!

My daughter is vegetarian and crap at eating protein. She will eat Richmond vegan sausages. She has lentils instead of mince. She eats a lot of pasta so I make her pasta sauce with whizzed up chickpeas.

Other than that 🤷🏻‍♀️..... I'm here for suggestions too!

I really really sympathise. My 12 year old has autism and sensory issues and has real food issues. We have thankfully just been referred to a dietician as I am at my wits end.

I assume you give her a multi vitamin. I also used to give DS milkshakes made using Complan powders- but then he went off milk, icecream and chocolate.

One thing I have started doing (with mixed success) is I feed him what I know he will eat so I know the calories are going in. BUT, I put a tiny bit of whatever I am eating on his plate. So last week he had chicken strips and baked beans and cucumber (only veg he will eat) and I put on a single chunk of beef casserole. I said he had to try it. he nibbled at it, but was not so stressed as usual because he knew he had a meal he would eat. This is very very mixed success wise though.

I also started keeping a note of what he does eat, and found out to my surprise he accepted more than I thought.

But if possible I would ask your GP for a referral to a dietician who specialises in restrictive and avoidant eating. it IS a real thing, and ignore people who have no idea what they are talking about by saying a child will eat when hungry. many children who have very real food issues will simply not.

Good luck!

My son (very nearly 10) wants to be a vegetarian but will not eat legumes (except houmous!) and I refuse to allow him to eat Quorn nuggets every day.

He does however like tofu. Has your DD tried that? I think it helps that it doesn't have a meaty texture and is bland if you don't marinate or season it! 😄

Cheese and ham toasties

Cauliflower cheese

Daft as it may sound, if she like milkshakes then slimfast as an addition to a meal, not instead of one will help with extra nutrition. The chocolate ones are quite nice

Jacket potato with cheese and beans?

Homemade kfc style chicken

Homemade burgers

Looking at her list of safe foods I'm wondering about meatballs. Blitz meat, onion and bread in 50/25/25 ratio, season well, seal the outsides then either finish cooking in the pan or add to pasta sauce or gravy.
If she will have them with pasta sauce you can add lots of sweetish veg. Serve with pasta or rice or even in a Yorkshire pud!

If she likes the meatball texture you can make it into meatloaf instead. Slice it cold and you have a ham alternative. Eat it hot with gravy served with potatoes and you are eating a normal meal.

Does she like pizza? There a lovely hello fresh recipe for naan sausage pizza: use bought naan or whatever you have, cover with a mix of tomato purée and harissa( for you) or tomato purée or a pasta hidden veg sauce. Top with fried up broken sausage meat, fried up or roasted onion and peppers (if it isn't already hidden in the sauce) and cheese. It makes a tasty but not soggy pizza which is quite firm and full of sausage flavour.

Thanks for the ideas and reassurance.
I usually get her to try a bit if something new, so will keep doing that. I'd forgotten she liked meatballs, and she does eat (grudgingly) a bit of bolognaise sauce. She won't be fooled with hidden veg sauce unfortunately and I'm not sure she's at the point where I want to get the GP involved as she has enough going on with various other things currently. I'm just trying to avoid any kind of battle over it. But it's hard when she would quite happily live on crisps, biscuits, buttered wraps and orange juice (but no bits, of course) given half a chance.

Before you go rushing for the complan, is she actually underweight? Or has she stopped growing? If not, I wouldn't rush to increase her intake of calories.

Since the meats she eats are mostly processed, could you try to wean her to less processed ones? For example, strips of chicken, rather than chicken nuggets. Tofu might be worth a try because it is soft and bland - usually takes its flavour from a sauce or marinade. Would she eat chick peas or beans? Both good sources of protein and fibre.

Regarding fruit and veg - seems like she likes watery ones. Melon is similar to cucumber. Maybe pears or mango?

Could you get her involved in food preparation - baking, making a salad or whatever? My dd really liked the Tilly Ramsay cookbook when she was younger. Take her food shopping and see if you can spark an interest in anything? Get her to grow some salad veg from seed?

She isn't underweight so all ok there. It's more the nutritional value.

She does like watermelon but won't touch melon. If I can get her onto plain chicken then all will be fine but given it took her 9 years to decide she would eat chicken nuggets I'm not going to hold my breath. Parties were fun when she was younger - wouldn't eat the chicken nuggets but would eat black olives and smoked salmon (she won't touch either now).

Does she like egg? Would she eat a thin omelette rolled up in a wrap? I put parmesan into the omelette to take away any "eggy" taste.

Homemade chicken nuggets! Look up recipes and maybe try thigh meat instead of breast.
Get her involved in making them too - I found this helped my children want to try what they had made.
If she likes them then they can be put in a wrap with cucumber, have cold with a dip, or with chips.

Does she like peanut butter? That’s got protein in it. On toast or rice cakes.

Any eggs? In any form?!

I ended up seeing a dietician to tackle my 5 year olds limited eating. We'd gotten into a severe rut due to a couple of factors including several food allergies.

It's not an immediate miracle cure but we have had significant progress. Will now eat an increased range of veg, chicken prepared in different ways, and will try new things.

The biggest thing was giving me tools to cope with the refusals and taking the fear away for them. It was more psychology based.

This is who I went with, all done over zoom:
growinghealthyeaters.ie/