What to do about 5 year old's eating/food issues? Increasingly restricted.

[IhearyouClemFandango]

I'm really trying not to make a big deal of food, but am a little anxious.

DS is my third child and will be 6 next month. As a toddler/baby he would eat pretty much anything given to him, but that has waned now to the point that he will pretty much only eat:

Fruit: strawberries, raspberries, sliced apple, pineapple, watermelon
Cheerios with milk
Plain yogurt with apple
Apple with peanut butter
Sometimes a boiled egg
Sometimes a cheese omelette
Burger with ketchup
Sausage with ketchup
Chilli and rice
Ham wrap
Cheese/ham toastie
Raw carrot
Sometimes cucumber
Yogurts
Sometimes scampi or fishfingers
If a takeaway: Poppadoms with rice and raita
Prawn crackers with rice and s/s sauce
Pepperoni pizza (but not without pepperoni)

I always give him some fruit with a meal to try to keep his vitamin levels up, but I'm worried that his food repetoire is getting smaller and smaller...I don't want to be giving him a version of a ham wrap or chilli (made with blended veg in the sauce) for every evening meal. He won't eat school meals so he takes a packed lunch, which is some of the above.

On occasion, he will try a nibble of what we are having, but will inevitably say he doesn't like it.

Since a baby he has had constipation issues, he has movicol daily. He knows that eating fruit etc helps his poo come out (sorry for TMI, but that is how we explain it) but I'm sure not eating a varied diet doesn't help. The nurse practitioner we see said that this issue is unrelated to his diet as he has had it since a baby, when he was breastfed and didn't start having solids till gone 6 months.

How far does this go? Is it likely he will broaden his horizons as he gets older? Is it a control thing (he can be a bit difficult in many ways!)? Our other two children have always eaten a wide and varied diet, and will happily try new things, so I'm at a loss.

Are there any resources out there to help, or should I not be worrying? Or is there a time I should be worrying and asking for outside help?

Parent of a child with particular food choices here too.
That diet isn't too bad. Repetition is fine.
There's a bit of processed meat in there but better than no protein.
My DD ate pretty much the same lunch with small variations for years. Still eating it actually!
I just aim for protein/carb/veg and/or fruit at most meals.
Add a supplement if you're worried. My DD is in her teens now and has started broadening her food choices. Her rules around food were many but are reducing.
Is he a decent weight and otherwise healthy?
Any possibility of being ND? For my DD this is a possibility but my DSD was also very restrictive about food as a child and I think with hindsight that was more about control/anxiety. The good news is she also came out the other side - still doesn't eat everything, but has a varied and healthy diet.

Honestly I think he's fine.
My ds used to only eat
Fishfingers
Chicken Nuggets
Frankfurters
Plain pizza
Marmite sandwich
Cheese
Most fruit
Most veg
In the last 18 months since about the age of 10.5 his food horizons have broadened massively he's now trying curries, eating burgers, normal sausages, so I'd say don't worry and give it time. DS is now prepared to try pretty much anything! (Although he doesn't always like it!)

Your list of what he eats is fine, my daughter hardly eats anything! Or she will eat the same thing for months, then refuse it. She has asd. I have recently got some paediasure shakes to get the vitamins in.

If it was me I would speak to the GP.
Get him involved in looking at cook books and trying new recipes - just one taste.
I assume you already eat all together, put the same food on his plate as everyone else and make sure he always has his safe food on there.

Up until now I have been making him a 'safe' meal, and where I think he might like, or has eaten what we are eating in the past, I will suggest he tries some. Sometimes he will nibble, sometimes he won't. Or I will make a version of that we are eating that he might eat, so plain filled pasta instead of carbonara, type thing.

I don't really think he is ND, but I do think he is very stubborn and likes to be in charge. He is very firmly attached to me, still needs me at bedtime, won't go to bed for DH type thing. Kicks off a bit if he doesn't get his own way, but is quite a typical child of his age I think. I do have ADHD and am a little limited in what I feel like eating at any given time, but manage to not show that to the kids!

He has plenty of variety there to give a balanced diet. Don’t make it an issue feed him what he is happy with.

have other options available but don’t say anything about what is or isn’t being eaten.

Yep. Totally agree. Don't make it a big deal.

He honestly eats a much more varied diet than my five year old 😭 Mine refuses pretty much any dinner unless plain pasta, been going on about 6 months now. I'm starting to despair!

Yours eats more than my 6 year old!

I honestly just don't push food. I offer things to try, throw in the occasional bribe - "if you take one bite of this, you can play on the Switch for half an hour" - but mostly, as long as he's eaten meals, that's fine by me.

He does very slowly add something new once he's tried something but I know this won't go on forever so I just accept it and go with it.

He also used to eat everything as a baby.

There's a great insta account for parents of picky eaters called Kids Eat in Colour.

That doesn't sound too bad to me as the parent of a picky eater - it's great that he eats burgers and sausage to get some protein/ iron in. I think the main area you are lacking is green veg for B vitamins - but it sounds like you hide those on sauce

Constipation can really affect their appetite if they are backed up inside - just because he goes everyday doesn't mean he's not backed up. I also have a child that has long term constipation and I don't have any solutions for that. There is a great Facebook group called Movicol Mummies.

Honestly the chances are he will grow out of it. His diet doesn't sound too bad at all, if a little lacking in variety.

Both my dc were fussy at that age, I just made sure they were getting plenty of fruit and veg (hidden In sauces as well as raw/whole). It doesn't matter if they don't get that much variety. One of mine wouldn't even eat sandwiches and had to have the bread separate to the filling. Keep encouraging him to try new things (maybe have a "picky tea" or tapas style at the weekend where he can try new things with no pressure)

In their teens they started to try more things and they both pretty much eat anything now.

Thanks everyone, I think perhaps I am just comparing to my older 2, but that was madness lies. In hindsight I think perhaps we ate a less varied diet when they were little as we had 2 of a similar age, so it highlighted it less. Now they're a bit older (13 and 11) we are experimenting more, which of course doesn't suit the youngest.

In the summer he will eat more veg, as try to grow beans and peas and he will eat them raw very happily. He will sometimes eat baked beans or peas actually