My daughter will only eat chicken nuggets and toast (basically)

[hutsch]

DD(4) is so limited on what she'll eat now.

It really does consist mostly of (in meal times):
Chicken nuggets
Chips
Toast
Chocolate spread sandwiches

Her snacks do vary, but in terms of meals, we have so little to work with.

It's really getting me down now and stressing me out! Meal times are such hard work. Knowing her diet is so poor is horrible. Having her never sit to eat tea with the rest of us (other DC are good eaters) is hard, but she never likes what we're eating. And I do feel it is embarrassing now - I never thought I'd end up with such a horrendous eater.

Has anyone been through this? And have any advice?

Some things just aren't worth the battle in my house. Before I had kids, I'd dreamed of an idyllic little family sitting together at the dining table, eating the same meals and talking about their day. Reality is that I make three separate dinners every day and one of my sons eats potato waffles on the stairs most days. As he's on the ASD pathway, he likes to eat alone in a comfortable space and I can't get worked up about that if it makes him happy. Parenting would be a lot less stressful for people if they binned their preconceptions.

My 4 year old autistic child only eats peanut butter/vegemite sandwiches, a variety of fruit(strawberries/plums/apples/blackberries and sometimes banana),butter chicken/vegetable korma with rice, MacDonalds chips/nuggets, Pizza Hut bbq meatlovers/garlic bread, a whole variety of shitty food like potato chips,crackers freeze dried berries, frozen yogurt, yoghurt and icy poles and I have her on 400mls of A2 toddler formula to try make up for the lack of nutrition. She also still drinks that out of a bottle 🤦🏼‍♀️
So don’t stress a lot of kids aren’t eating a great deal of different types of food. My family doctor told me his kids who are now also doctors grew up eating nothing but maccas. Aslong as they are eating something. Stress less mumma your doing the best you can.

My 4 year old autistic child only eats peanut butter/vegemite sandwiches, a variety of fruit(strawberries/plums/apples/blackberries and sometimes banana),butter chicken/vegetable korma with rice, MacDonalds chips/nuggets, Pizza Hut bbq meatlovers/garlic bread, a whole variety of shitty food like potato chips,crackers freeze dried berries, frozen yogurt, yoghurt and icy poles and I have her on 400mls of A2 toddler formula to try make up for the lack of nutrition. She also still drinks that out of a bottle 🤦🏼‍♀️
So don’t stress a lot of kids aren’t eating a great deal of different types of food. My family doctor told me his kids who are now also doctors grew up eating nothing but maccas. Aslong as they are eating something. Stress less mumma your doing the best you can.

My DS was similar. He's not got any conditions though other than an aversion to soft food/sauces.
With a bit of perseverance and some bribery, I managed to expand his repertoire and btw he's 6ft now and we'll built !
What I did was introduce variety on the things he would eat. So chicken nuggets, try goujons or homemade breaded chicken, then turkey, then maybe fishfinger and so on.
I'd put small amount of raw veg on the plate (as he liked crunchy stuff), raw carrot, frozen peas!, raw broccoli. And I'd bribe him to try one bite at the start. Gradually he got used to it and then ate raw veg.
Sandwiches with choc spread, try adding something in alongside. So two types of spread or choc and banana or something. Again just to expand around what she'll eat
Chips, can you try different flavours eg spicy chips. Make sure to offer variety of shapes, crinkle cut etc and then perhaps try a sweet potato chip?
Good luck !