Does this sound like fussy eating or Arfid?

[FussyFusspott]

DD4 has always been fussy since about 18 months it's been an ongoing battle. She's in year 1 of school now and reception did great work getting her to try new things and making progress and I thought she was ok even though she has a limited range at home. Today her year 1 teacher stopped me at pick up to talk about food, saying she wanted to keep an eye on things and mentioned arfid.

DD is neurotypical. She won't eat anything at a restaurant unless it's an ice cream. She eats things at school she refuses with me, but apparently in small portions - these foods are:

Fish fingers
Chips
Peas
Carrots
Apples
Raisins
Flapjacks
Pasta sauce
Jacket potato
Sometimes some chicken
Wraps
Croissant

At home she will eat:
Shredded wheat with milk
Cheese - one particular type
Dairylea
Philadelphia
Oatcakes/ crackers
Pasta
Bread/ crumpets
Chocolate / ice cream
Some yoghurts
Sweetcorn
Orange juice

That's pretty much it. Trying to get her to try new things can be an emotional battle. She is intelligent and a healthy height and weight. Since starting school she is ever so slightly more adventurous at home, sometimes trying something she wouldn't usually. Her school don't offer packed lunch as an option.

I had got to the point where because she was trying things at school last year I thought it was just fussiness that would improve, but now I have another teacher who is concerned enough to want to talk to me about it and that worries me. Does this sound like fussiness to you or more serious?

It sounds fussy but not unusually so for a child of 5 or 6. She’s not having a massive variety but what she does eat covers all the food groups. I wouldn’t pressure her into trying anything. Serve her what she’ll eat. Have a ‘trying’ plate at mealtimes that she can take things from if/when she wants to.

My 6 year old literally only eats toast, garlic bread, crisps, yoghurt (one flavour/brand), a couple of different biscuits, quorn nuggets and waffles. Anything else makes him gag. Despite this, he doesn’t have an ARFID diagnosis because his weight is fine. (He’s autistic so I don’t think also having an ARFID diagnosis would change anything anyway)

I would seek help from the GP to address the fussy eating now rather than let it progress further into the school years. If teachers are raising concerns, I would take that as my cue to seek assistance.
ARFID can develop in fussy eaters later on and it’s much harder to address than fussiness in a younger child.

School nurse rather than GP if wanting advice.

Yes, I should state I am in a different country. Our GP would give us a referral to a paediatric dietitian.

It might be ARFID but she could be just averagely fussy.
My ARFID dd1 was extremely limited from her first taste of solids ( and was difficult to bottle feed, impossible to breast feed) She only ate white food for a year, She had about 5 safe foods and that was it. She's an adult now.. Probably has 8-10 safe foods and that's it. She has prescribed medical calorie drinks ( can only tolerate one flavour) as she's very thin ( has been tube feed and hospitalised i in the past).
Most of her safe foods are on your list, just fewer of then, but despite that she's doing well in life ( she's actually a doctor herself!) Dd1 has actually improved since she was a child but is never going to eat normally.

The worst thing you can do is pressure her. It does not work. My dd was in an eating disorders unit at one point but she's not anorexic and their approach just made things worse. Accepting that she could not eat most foods, finding a dietician who decided that supplementing her, taking the pressure off, might help.. Bingo. She actually began to try foods.
If she's n it underweight then frankly the teachers need to back off. If she's eating at home.. Great... School dinners are generally dreadful anyway (I'm a TA so see them daily!)
Keep an eye but as long as she's growing, isn't underweight, and doesnt drop too many safe foods... I wouldn't worry.
My ds1 was as fussy as your dd... He just grew out of it by about 9. My other two ate everything!