My 5 year old and lunches at school

[Bananabow]

He’s 6 in October and will be starting year one in September.
He’s so extremely fussy with food.
Both packed lunches and school dinners are a problem. He won’t eat anything in a packed lunch except fruit, crisps and some sort of biscuit or chocolate bar. Refuses sandwiches, cheese, yogurt and so on.

School dinners were okay when he first started but he’s got much more fussy as time has gone on. I just have no idea what to do as he’s hardly eating at school.

What kind of food does he like?

@Hugesunflower
Not much really:

1. Crisps
2. Olives
3. Dry bread
4. Plain crackers
5. Berries
6. White of a boiled egg, without the yolk (sometimes)
7. Chips
8. Plain pasta
9. Yorkshire Puddings
10. Roast chicken
11. Most veg except carrots
12. Curry
13. Halloumi and Parmesan (the only cheese he’ll eat) but occasionally feta too.

Oh and most chocolate, biscuits, sweets and cakes 🫣

Have you spoken to the GP. This sounds like ARFID.

No not yet. Because he goes through phases and will sometimes eat much more of a variety then just stops again.

In the meantime I’m worried he’s not getting enough to eat at school.

Assuming you live somewhere where school meals are free in KS1 I would book him in for lunch every day and refuse to send packed lunch. Initially he may eat very little but you won't be wasting your own money on uneaten packed food. Hopefully once he realises there are no other options he will start to eat the school lunch.

There's a few things on the list that will keep your DS going through the school day.
Crisps and chocolate may be limited though, depending on the schools policy.

My DC ate a pretty limited food choice, health visitor said to concentrate more on the meals where I could watch over them and keep adding a few new foods each week, just a small size piece but don't force them to eat it and in time they did start to broaden their choices.

A good breakfast and evening meal were the one's that would fill them up so I never really worried to much.

My son refuses to eat at all at school. I have to pick him up early as a result. Perhaps just give him things on the list of things he likes, no matter how weird

Can you just put the bits in his lunch off your list? Plain pasta or plain bread ?olives berries chicken? My son is the same.

Looking at his list could he take a picky lunch, cheese and crackers, olives etc?

Crackers , chicken, cucumber, peppers , a boiled egg, and fruit should keep him going at school

@1066andnow

That wouldn’t work with my child.

Honestly that list isn’t bad.

Roast a chicken on a Sunday evening and he can have some cold for the first three days, with one day some plain pasta, one day some crackers and one day some bread. That’s protein and carbs. Then add some fruit and veg and if you want to, a small sweet option but the meat, carbs, fruit and veg is fine. The next two days you could do cheese, olives, bread, fruit and veg etc,

What does he eat for lunch at home? Surely you can just give him the same

The list of foods he does eat are quite varied and lots of different textures and flavours - for example he'll eat a curry but only plain pasta. That to me says he can be adventurous. Because of that honestly I would keep sending him for a school dinner every day and he'll soon learn to eat. Send him to school with a good protein rich breakfast to fill him up. Most schools do a roast dinner and he eats vegetables. He'll be fine even if he only eats some of it.

Halloumi with dry bread or crackers is fine. As long as he eats something

Pasta salads, mini-pizza, salad wraps (no sauce), salad and crackers, plain-ish sandwiches are some of the things my fussy son has for his school lunch. It’s trial and error and you’ll find what works for your son. Get him involved, ask what he’d like and get a lunch box that he chooses.

I would send in things off the list- a tub of plain pasta, olives, chicken, cucumber, berries, yoghurt a handful of crisps, all in separate little tubs so he can make up his own picky plate. I would then add in a small bit of something new each day to expose him to new foods but without pressuring or forcing him to eat them.

Can you get him a little food flask and give him more of the types of things he'd have for tea? Keep a little portion from night before?

Still bit limited but his better options seem more in the warm food category.

Is he allowed to take a thermos/food flask?

If so then I'd do him the food he likes while you see if there's anything you can do to expand his range

Heat up the flask first by pouring boiling water in it, putting the lid on and leaving it for 5-10 minutes.

Then heat up the curry or pasta nice and hot before putting it in the food flask.

Dd regularly has a hot packed lunch in winter and it stays warm till lunchtime.

She'll have something like

Pasta with cheese
Spaghetti hoops, chicken nuggets or fish fingers, then I put buttered bread/wrap/greek flatbread in her lunchbox, a piece of fruit and some veg like mini cucumbers or cherry tomatoes.

I’d just sent them with an assortment of what you’ve listed. My boys don’t do sandwiches or crackers or wraps but they do love a picnic box and we use the ones linked below. You could add something new in one of the sections each time and see how it goes

Leakproof picnic box

Pasta, chicken, veg, olives - great lunch

Or crackers and chicken?

Most school menus have meat - veggie - jacket /pasta option

I would do school lunches and have plain pasta every day till he decides to be more adventurous

ARFID is a lot more complex than that.