How can you tell if it's fussiness or ARFID

[User586th]

As the title goes. 11 year old frustratingly fussy. Not underweight. Range of foods they are willing to eat are getting narrower and narrow. Do I continue to fight or give up?

Example: packed lunches, eats fruit happily, cheese, bread, but everything has to be separate. Used to happily eat a sandwich with butter, cheese, tomatoes and Iceberg on brown. Now will only eat white bread cheese sandwiches.

Part of growing up and maturing is learning to eat "normally" so they are not stressed when in situations when they can't have this level of control over their food (or ultra processed packaged offerings become the only "safe" alternative)

No ASD, never a suggestion of anything like this from school. It's just fussiness isnt it?

Most people with ARFID are underweight and I think you have to be malnourished (which is different from being underweight) for diagnosis. Do you think the foods are so limited that malnutrition is likely?

What do you mean by "fight"? Even if it's just very fussy eating, the worst thing you can do is induce stress around food and meal times.

If suggest seeing the GP and asking for a dietitian referral.