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.