DS9 fussy eater?

[barrymanilowspiano]

He only clears his plate if it's pasta/pizza. He's a slow eater and DH and DS are fast so I think he feels like if they've finished then that signals the end of the meal. I eat slowly with him.

Will eat:
Pasta
Rice and mild curry with chicken chopped up very small
Sausages (in slow cooker sauce)
Boiled potatoes
Breaded chicken
Breaded fish
Baked beans (or any of the Heinz tinned stuff)
Sandwiches (ham only)
Granary toast
Cheese (grated onto stuff, not sliced or cubed but even then he picks it off)
Yogurt (Greek with honey)
Sauces (hide loads of veg in there)
A few chips
Cottage pie or shortcrust pie
Smoothies but must be absolutely smooth and no bits.
Broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and baby sweetcorn. Steamed not roasted.
Scrambled egg on toast

Refuses:
Fruit
Any veg with a skin so peas, peppers, sweetcorn, courgette etc
Salad veg (cucumber/tomatoes etc)
Plain chicken (too chewy, spits it out)
Burgers
Beef mince in bolognese
Tuna
Anything 'burnt/crispy' like a toastie

He is tall and slim. I end up cooking him a hot lunch on a weekend.

Seems like he has an issue with texture? Does he eat enough of the food groups?

I struggle with his school packed lunches.

My youngest son eats chips, eggy bread, toast and peanut butter and cereal with milk.

He is 6' tall, has 3 A levels and works all day as a heating engineer.

I have no idea how, but humans are extraordinarily resilient in the face of restricted diets.

He eats several kinds of veg so that's ok on the fibre / vitamin C etc if you don't mind making the same veg every day. Maybe just a bit concerning re protein - you don't want a lot of that coming from processed meats. Does he eat non-processed red meat like pork / lamb chops or roast beef? Other fresh oily fish like salmon / mackerel / trout? Prawns, mussels?

It doesn't sound too bad tbh OP! There's a good range of stuff. It's hardly that earth shattering if he doesn't like burgers of spag bol. I have a cousin who grew up on a diet of almost exclusively chips, and another who doesn't like chocolate!

How is he in the rest of his life? Neurotypical as far as you know?

Like you say, it could be a texture thing. My older sister is "funny" about some food textures. Anything slimy or gristly is a massive nope. She is autistic, but high functioning.
My best friend is also funny about slimy/stringy/gristly textures, and as they mostly come with meat, eats an almost vegetarian diet. And she's as neurotypical as they come.

He says pork, lamb chops and roast beef are too chewy. He loves gammon though. He will eat salmon flaked into pasta but not a fillet.

Mackerel / trout? Prawns, mussels - no.

So the only non processed meat he will eat is gammon and salmon.

Yes neurotypical. He can look a little pale and dark eyed sometimes. I give him a daily multivitamin (Tonic so no sugar).

He does have teeth caps on two back teeth but he's never liked the skin on fruit and veg.

My children both used to be really fussy at that age. We had a few meals they would eat on rotation. They became less fussy as they got older. My eldest is an adult now and literally the most adventurous person I know when it comes to food! I worried about it at the time, but in hindsight I would say it wasn't worth it. I did pack a lot of hidden veg into pasta sauces and curries.

Yes I'd call that fussy for a 9yr old. Maybe more normal for a 4yr old. Not too tricky though as he eats a fair few basics.

There's a lot of caveats on the things he'll eat- steamed not roasted, smooth no bits etc. Interesting he eats pizza but not toast. I don't think it's texture since he seems to eat all textures it just seems like fussy preferences.

It's fine though if he's healthy, I'm sure he'll change as he gets older.

I get how frustrating it is when they don't eat much and packed lunch is a nightmare but I honestly don't think you need to worry. If my DC ate even half that much I would be delighted and they have been seen by CAMHS, had nutritional bloods done and are totally fine. Yours also has the multivitamin and I guess just keep offering the odd new thing (starting with stuff that meets texture requirements and then moving into tastes he loves but with slightly more challenging textures) and hopefully eventually what he eats will expand

No offence but are you over cooking the meat? Have you tried tender slow cooked lamb/ beef- you say he eats pies.

Chicken shouldn't be chewy, if you made your own breaded chicken would he eat that?
Have you tried pork loin fillet- that's never chewy, very tender. And quite plain if you do it on its own.

My eldest won’t touch any form of fruit or veg unless I can hide it, he also has the same lunch every day. I often ask him how he’s still alive. So I don’t think you’re doing too badly.

Thank u x

No offence at all!

He says roast in the bag chicken is too chewy (which is so moist and falls apart).

I will try pork loin again.

Just had some success with poached chicken breast shredded into pasta with pasta sauce.

What do I put in his packed lunch if he won’t eat cold veg or fruit? He has a smoothie after school.

Would he eat pasta in a thermos? You could make a sauce with veg and blitz until smooth to mix in with some flaked salmon

i was going to suggest poaching chicken and flaking that into meals. Or even just cooking whatever sauce/ meal in the slow cooker with whole breasts of chicken. Then taking his out and shredding and mixing back in before serving

Mine is very similar. Won't touch fruit and only eats broccoli. It's worrying but I just feed him what he likes so he doesn't go hungry and he seems pretty healthy so.. and pasta in flask for lunch here too

Have you tried tinned fruit? The texture is normally the same and therefore a predictable experience.

I keep offering him tinned peaches (they were the only tinned fruit he used to eat) and he now rejects them. He does love the green smoothies from Lidl (apple, banana, grape, mango, kiwi, cucmuber and spirulina).

He insists on a packed lunch as that's what his friends have but I'm really struggling to think of things to put in it. At the moment it's 2 wafer thin ham/chicken sandwiches, crisps/crackers and a Frube.

The pasta in a thermos would be fab as pasta is his absolute favourite food. I think that for school lunch would fill him up.

He is a good breakfast eater. He'll have toast and scrambled/fried egg or cereal. He likes greek yoghurt with honey.