4 year old eats virtually no protein and fussy - anyone experienced this?

[marsvisit]

My son is 4 just started reception and has been a fussy eater since age 2. Weaning and prior to 2 he ate everything then suddenly switched to rejecting so many foods. For context he has always been incredibly headstrong and strong-willed.

Anyway I'm planning on having our family dinner early now as he's hungry after school and just wondering if any parents with fussy eaters successfully managed to get their child back into "normal" eating around this age once they started school?

He will never eat any protein which is a worry. Eg won't eat children, fish, sausages, meat etc, and also rejects anything with a sauce like curry, casserole etc. wont eat soup either and doesn't eat baked beans. Wont eat cheese except for Parmesan on pasta.

He will eat carbs that are dry, so bread, naan bread, pitta bread, rice toast, bagels, brioche, plain pasta with aforementioned Parmesan and I add a knob of butter. If given the opportunity he'd eat things like biscuits but we don't have those at home. He will eat apples, most fruit, and some veg - carrot, cucumber, edamame, broccoli and he'll eat hummus, but never tomatoes. I make a bolognese sauce and he will tentatively eat it if I add a tiny amount to pasta but if there's loads of it he won't eat it. He won't even eat pizza which all children seem to love!

He will eat cereal with whole milk, or porridge which I hide grated apples or mashed banana in. He won't drink milk though. Finally he'll eat yoghurt.

I try to make family dinners with a range of stuff he can help himself to but he'll always opt for the carby bits and skip the protein. Eg for curry he'll only eat the naan and a bit of rice but not the curry or side dishes. Yesterday I made chilli with tacos and he ate plain tacos with a teeny bit of grated cheese but no chilli, no guac, no tomatoes, no beans.
Roast dinner he'll eat Yorkshire pudding only and maybe a bit of broccoli. No potatoes no meat, none of the other veg.

He won't even eat normal plain sandwiches (cheese etc) just the bread.

Help! Has anyone experienced this and how can I get him to eat normally? I've been giving him a bit of everything he likes because otherwise he just won't eat! But there's virtually no protein.

My Ds is the same. I rely on Greek yogurt a lot and bananas.

Tonight I am making a chicken roast. He will probably only eat roast carrots, maybe some green beans and lick a bit of a potato.. then I will probably give him Greek yogurt and honey with granola to make he’s eaten some calories

Hes underweight, but tall. I tried no yogurt after for weeks but he wasn’t bothered, and still ate no dinner. So just got even less calories.

Would he eat pancakes?
Nuts and nut butters?
French toast?

I have one of those. Only protein I can get him to eat is fish fingers. So I feel your pain x

I'm glad that he won't eat children...

DD was fussyish and wouldn't eat anything with sauce/gravy or things like pizza. Eventually I realised she didn't like cooked tomatoes. Aged 26 she still doesn't.

He's eating. I'd let him do his thing.

Don't let him eat too many children 🤪
My daughter isn't great on protein but will eat a few pulses so she has hummus. Peas in pasta. Quorn nuggets are OK with her and quorn picnic eggs.
She will eat cocktail sausages.
Also thankfully spag bol and mild chilli. They can surprise you sometimes!
I add red lentils to sauces too.

Bit leftfield but one of mine was like this - turned out she had massive tonsils and adenoids, was diagnosed with sleep apnoea and once we had her tonsils and adenoids out she suddenly started eating loads more protein. I had never made the connection but apparently this is quite common with large tonsils.

Anyway one to consider if there are other symptoms eg snoring and unusual tiredness

Oh gosh! Funny typo!! I did mean he won't eat chicken lol!!!😂

@minipie interesting! But I don't think it's likely as he's not much of a snorer.

I think it's more of a control thing as he's so bloody headstrong and at this age there are so many things out of his control I imagine. Try to find ways of enabling him to control / select elements of his isn't meal but it still isn't helping!

Have you looked at the list of foods with high protein? I’m wondering if it might be a textural thing in which case milk, cheese, yogurt might be a good idea- or nuts, including peanut and almond butter, cashews in things etx

What about eggs? You can also hide eggs in things. Just crack one into a bolognese, stew, noodles, whatever and stir it through. I did this with ds2 and he never used to notice.

I was here for that too 💀

Dont worry op, this is very normal. Keep leaving things out and about, have a safe food whilst offering new. Normalise you eating it and try not to make a fuss. There may be a point where he wants to see what it’s about and tries some.

DD was like this. Fish fingers and chicken nuggets were the only source of protein. She's happy and healthy. I really wouldn't worry about it as long as there are vitamins and they're healthy.

Branded pasta has more than double the protein of rather than supermarket own, worth checking the labels in store. Quite different. My dc doesn't eat much meat and loves pasta so this helps us

DD was the same from age 2-4. Then she started to move out of gradually. Now aged 7 she’s a really good eater and pretty adventurous, and most bizarrely considering we had her on the veggie meal for a year at nursery because no chance she’d eat the meat, her favourite food is now rare steak! It’ll come. You have him coming to the table, eating with everyone and selecting bits from the main family meal. He eats fruit and veg. There’s a decent variety of tastes and textures. That’s all pretty good. So long as he’s growing and healthy I would keep on as you are with offering but no pressure, let him see you eating and enjoying it, one day he’ll surprise you and want to try something and it’ll be upwards from there.

I had this. In our case it was one of the first signs of autism but that might not be the case for you.

We found he would try a food if it was in the shape of his name. We did this with quorn nuggets (but could work with chicken) we scraped the batter off and cut into letters. Similar with mild cheese. Cookie cutter letters can be used on omelette or pancake - either make plain circle and cut the letters out when cooked, or put the cutters in the pan and pour in the liquid (depends what letters).

Don't get too stressed. There's protein in bread. There's lots of protien in houmous. Your DC is getting a good variety of food and isn't malnourished. Don't pressure him, you could make it worse. We only need 10% of our calories from protien and most meateaters have far too much protein in their diet which inhibits vitamin absorption. Don't focus on a "normal" for your DC to conform to. Adapt your expectations. I now have a 15yo who still won't eat mixtures of foods or stuff with sauce on but is perfectly well fed and healthy (and loves a bit of good quality beef steak when I can afford it)

Are veggie sources any better? Skyr or greek yoghurt, peanut butter, veg fritters made with chickpea flour, puddings based on milk or silken tofu. Muffins have egg and milk in. A bit niche but even just plain tinned beans eg butter beans.

All over the internet is a dhosa style pancake thing where you soak lentils etc and turn into pancakes. Would he go for those as they look more like carbs?

He's probably taking in more than you think in dribs and drabs, even if he is not eating a chunk of protein on his plate. Houmous, yoghurt, it all adds up.

You can get bread with added protein such as Jason’s which has 10gr per slice. Also a lot of yoghurts are now labelled ‘high protein’.
Have you tried many vegetarian proteins? Or smoothies with peanut butter?

My DD was very similar. Some aspects have changed but not all.
Look for protein rich versions of what he will eat. Cheese is good. Yogurt etc.
My DD preferred Quorn type products to meat for a long time.
Offer other foods but don't stress about it.

Tofu- the silken kind that comes in a tetra pack. You can have it straight out of the pack with soy sauce on, my dd has always loved it, it tastes of nothing and you don't need to chew it.

Also fish cakes? Shop bought or home made.

Japanese dumplings (ready made in the frozen section)

You can get pasta made with pea protein which is much higher in protein and bonus, cooks in half the time

Ps I don't have the same problem as you but sort of the opposite - my 4yo will not eat any vegetables. I'm amazed at yours eating broccoli, mine would rather scream herself hoarse than touch a morsel of broccoli

I wouldn't offer him too many children if I were you.
Would he eat pancakes? Or omelettes? When I make spag bol we have the leftovers in pancakes.
What about cheesy scrambled eggs? Or eggy bread? (Bread dipped in egg and fried).

I too was going to suggest that pasta and breads come in higher protein versions.

Does he eat nutella? This has hidden black beans which are high in protein and fibre. I'd gradually add a bit to regular nutella on bread/toast, then say 1/2 and 1/2 till you eventually get it to 100%.

Ingredients (use organic where possible)
Makes 550g
100g hazelnut butter 1 400g tin of black beans, drained and rinsed 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder 2 tablespoons of butter or coconut oil 4 tablespoons of raw honey 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract A small pinch of sea salt
Method

1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor or high-powered blender and pulse to the desired consistency.
2. Transfer the spread to a sterilised jar and store in the fridge for up to three weeks.
3. Enjoy!

Honestly, I decided this is a battle not worth fighting. I didn't want meal times to become a powerplay. So I just put out simple healthy snack food he'd eat and he could help himself. Everyone else had dinner and if he wanted some, he could have that too.

If he eats edamame and humous they are protein sources, as are milk and cheese. You could try putting cream cheese on bread and pasta, instead of butter. If he eats peanut butter - apparently if you serve it on real wholemeal bread (in a pbj sandwich?) they combine to make a perfect protein.

DS lived on houmous, carrot sticks, pbj sandwiches and tinned spaghetti for far too long. Then he grew up and started to eat everything.