To just feed her pizza?

[DomesticBlisters]

Does anyone else have a child who eats very very little?

Our daughter has just gone into year 1 and she doesn't eat. She's very thin and the list of foods she will tolerate just seems to be getting smaller and smaller.

It's not picky eating and she won't eat eventually if we give her food and say it's that or nothing. Believe me, we've tried. She has had meltdowns lasting hours about meals. Last night she went to bed after eating just a corn on the cob 😩

She has school dinners but she doesn't eat much of them. We've kept her on them in the hopes she will be encouraged by being around her friends while they eat. She usually just has some bread and carrot though. Except on roast dinner day when apparently she will eat although I can't get her to eat roast at home. I think she must like the cheap meat they do at school and as much as I've tried to recreate it at home I can't 😂

AIBU to give her a small pizza (one of her safe foods) every none school day for her main meal, along with a tiny bit of what everyone else is having so she's still being exposed to new foods and flavours and might try them.

I'd give her a corn on the cob and some raw carrot too because she will eat those.

Is a pizza that bad? I've had some people say it's unhealthy but if I was giving her a cheese and tomato sandwich that would be ok 🤷

On a school day she has a cold tea which is usually a peanut butter sandwich or a sausage roll, some carrot, grapes, some plain Greek yogurt and some ready salted crisps. The same every day.

I'm so exhausted from battling with food. 😭

To save the drip feed, she is on the waiting list to be assessed for Autism and ADHD

[TwinMama88]

You could give pizza but put veggies on top.
But I wonder if she has an aversion to textures or something?
I'd definitely get on at the GP and try and push for her to be seen by a professional because long term this won't be good for her.
The best thing you can do as you say is offer her some of what you're all having too but just not even talk about food or her eating so she feels no pressure.
It must be very stressful.

[SavoirFlair]

It's not picky eating

has a doctor seen her yet? I’d withhold such bold statements @DomesticBlisters until then

Believe me, we've tried. She has had meltdowns lasting hours about meals.

i’d see a doctor OP, there’s potentially something else here and mealtimes are just the proving ground

[DomesticBlisters]

She will only eat those small cheese and tomato pizzas they sell in supermarkets. She won't eat it if I try to add anything to it 😩 she also won't eat it if it goes slightly well done. It basically needs to just be warmed through. Not brown at all.

I think it is a textures thing and I think you're right, we need to see a nutritionalist or something because she can't go on like this.

[NuffSaidSam]

Pizza is fine, like you say, it's basically cheese on toast.

I would try making your own tomato sauce with hidden veggies to up the nutritional content. That and a corn on the cob on the side is pretty healthy really. Then some grapes and yoghurt for pudding.

I would try to vary her food as much as possible within her comfort zone just to avoid her becoming even more restricted. So maybe mix up the type of cheese on the pizza? Or the type of bread? Or shape? Or topping? Whatever she will tolerate.

[MaryHoldTheCandleSteadyWhileIShaveTheChickensLeg]

Pizza, sausage rolls, crisps are high in salt amongst other things but if she won't eat anything else 🤷

[elizaregina]

Never battle with food. Children dig in .

With the pizza are you able to make your own source would she eat that or...use a brought pizza base source and add to it! Eg I would make peppers, garlic, onions and add.

Let her eat what she likes.
Try and make more buffet type meal's but don't force her to try anything.
Try and discreetly lure her in but don't force.

Try things you maybe don't think of ,and pop those out and even though she's older we all still like nicely presented food so maybe get creative with it?
Finally have you ever manage to get her to help Cook?

[Hankunamatata]

Sounds fine.
Is she stuck on certain brand pizza? If not you could try wholemeal pitta bread as pizza base, spread with passata then sprinkle with cheese and bake for 10 mins.

[JenniferAllisonPhillipaSue]

Our son was on a very self-restricted diet when he started school. We opted not to make food into a battleground - we fed him what we knew he would eat, and offered new stuff 'on the side' so he could take it or leave it as he chose. Making sure he ate something was more important than what that something actually was. Now he's 13, he's got hollow teenager legs and eats everything!

[Ridley10]

My dds are autistic. One along with being autistic has coeliac disease. Both have very limited diets but thankfully do eat fruit and veg but for the last year the youngest will only eat gluten free chicken nuggets (has to be a particular brand), spaghetti, veg and gravy. She’s also very slim.

Have you goggled AFRID?

We just keep offering alternatives along with a usual meal. My youngest is non verbal so can’t tell me why she doesn’t like certain foods but I’m also very selective on food due to textures. I would personally say no pressure, keep offering a small alternative (in a separate bowl) with no pressure and ensure she takes a multivitamin.

[girlmom21]

If she'll eat it then go for it OP! Exposure without pressure is good.

[ladygindiva]

I have one of these, under investigation for asd. I feed her what she likes, ( every meal is turkey dinosaur or fish fingers, potato of some sort and broccoli.) I suggest you stop the battles, give her the pizza and start the ball rolling incase it's ASD or similar. My kids reception class teacher started the process for us, try asking her teacher what you should do.

[ILoveMonday]

I think in the interests of your mental health and hers, give her something you know she'll eat. I'd take that pizza and top it with vegetables you know she likes. Continually pushing will just cause the behaviour to become more entrenched and she may end up with deeper food problems later on.

Have you asked for a dietitian referral? I'd worry about micronutrients at this level which will also impact on behaviour.

[Gardenista]

My daughter is like this - very restricted diet. It is to go with textures. she has other sensory issues too - dislikes feel f many fabrics, tight clothes, seams, labels etc. I have other family members who are the same with food.

I have tried to get my daughter to menu plan with me but it’s not been successful as there are only a handful of meals she will eat
.
I think it’s a good idea to keep her on school dinners - this has definitely encouraged my daughter to try new foods.

[jalu47]

It's the salt content that is the worry for processed pizza. Wouldn't worry too much about the fat content if she is barely eating anything else!

[Hankunamatata]

I would let her have safe foods and separate portion new food.

Dinner doesnt sound too bad calorie wise, especially if full fat yogurt.

Make sure shes having a good multivitamin.

I'd do cheese on toast for breakfast if she would eat it.

[IncessantNameChanger]

My son has dyspraxia and ate very few foods. We didn't know at that age he had dyspraxia and sensory issues. We tried the "if you won't then it's nothing". He ate nothing at all for four days. He never once asked for food so that proved he just wasn't hungry for anything his preferred food. He did see a dilatation but they say said as long as he had fortified cereal once a day he could live off that. By about 12 suddenly he needed to eat and now at 14 eats anything as he's a starving teen.

I'd go see your gp for a referal to paeds personally.

[35965a]

Just give her things she will eat. Life is too short and stressful to make food a battle.

Keep trying with giving her other things along side what she will eat, on a separate plate if you need to. But there’s nothing wrong with pizza.

[HebeSunshine]

If she'll only eat the shop bought ones, I'd be tempted to scrape the sauce off, add my own (blitzed with veg) and put the cheese back on top.

[SheWoreYellow]

I think you need specialist advice. I’d start with a gp and see if you can get a referral to an expert, probably a dietician or child psychologist. Not a nutritionist- IME they just try and sell you supplements where they get a kickback.

[ipswichwitch]

I would do as Ridley10 suggests. Our DS is autistic and has a limited range of safe foods. And no, it’s not just picky eating, he will meltdown or simply refuse to eat and contrary to popular belief, he won’t eat when he’s hungry.
We give him the foods he will eat, and offer other things on a separate dish which he can take or leave. It’s definitely a texture thing for him - some foods make him gag, especially if chewed for too long. We don’t pressure him or make meal times a battle, he eats way less if we do. Yes his diet may not be ideal, but he is eating, he has a daily multivitamin and his consultant is happy with what we’re doing.

[Moonflower12]

I feel your pain. My DD has always been like this.
I haven't battled with her and have let her eat ( within reason) her 'safe' foods even if it has meant pizza every night for a week.
She has begun to explore new foods recently. She will add these to the list. Then we might have a period of only safe eating again. This is slowly building up her repertoire.

My sister was the same as a child and now eats a full range of foods. My DP was forced to eat foods that weren't ' safe' and he is still traumatised by this.

[fyn]

If she eats twenty foods or less it is picky eating. I’d ask the GP for a dietician referral. Our daughter, although younger, was seen very quickly and is now recovering from picky eating. In the past few weeks we’ve managed to add pancakes, raisins, oranges and chorizo to the accepted foods list.

The dieticians helped but not as much as the organisation Solid Starts.

[DomesticBlisters]

I used to make pizza dough myself and put Passata on top and then mozzarella and she did eat it but for some reason she suddenly stopped and reverted back to the supermarket ones 😩
I think I'm going to try it again and see if I can tempt her.

I know the foods she feels safe eating are salty but when it's all she will eat it's hard to deny her it.

She helps me cook meals quite often and always gets excited to try it but then just can't bring herself to. She enjoys chopping veg and helping me cook.

We have sectioned plates for her and her brother (he's autistic and doesn't like his foods to touch) and we use these to offer new foods separately but at the same time. It always gets scraped into the bin though.

[mountainsunsets]

Much better that she eats something than nothing at all. Just keep offering the new foods but don't make a drama about her trying it and try not to get upset i she spits it out or doesn't like it.

But she does need to see a professional. If her brother is autistic it may well be that she also has some sensory issues around food as these things do tend to run in families.

[Awayyego]

Don’t mess about with safe foods. Do not add anything else or try to change it. Your idea sounds good but give her anything new on a separate plate and at a different time. No pressure to try it or even touch it. Keep mealtimes relaxed. If she does try something new, acknowledge she has done well but no over the top praise. Will she take a multi-vitamin, preferably with iron?
This is a very typical eating pattern for an autistic child.
If she’s generally healthy and has plenty of energy, she’s getting enough.