food phobia/fussy eater - teenage son - anyone elses older child still suffers

[Ladyemem]

My son and 13 and has been very fussy since he was 2 years old where he began refusing foods.

He now only eats the following foods

white bread, crackers, sausages, cereal, marmite, jam, peanut butter, tinned heinz spag bol, yorkshire pudding, only mac donalds chips and he drinks milk and water only.
He will occassional will eat a banana or an apple.

He must be the only teenager who has never tasted a burger!

So basically he eats no family dinners with us. (never needs knife and fork)
eats no meat, eggs, cheese, rice, potatoes, veg, pasta (onlt the tin as above)

Not sure what to do. He must be lacking in vit/minerals. doesnt seem to have effeted his intelligence or height growth. Should i take him to gp?
or just give him vit/mineral tablets? and hope he will grow out this phobia.

He is very stubborn and refuses to evens taste new foods. so how does he know he doesnt like it!

I forgot to mention i have 3 other children with no food issues at all.

Bump.
I really feel for you as our 6 year old very fussy but improving a tiny bit
And it's a different challenge with a teenager really. Will he eat any veg at all or really none? we hide veg in dd's diet but a younger child must be much easier and it does seem a harder challenge within the limits of what your DS will eat. He'd more easily notice finely chopped spinach in his Heinz spaghetti Bol for instance!
I would be tempted to see a nutritionist with him but it's great he's doing well. They might raise concerns (like vitamin C or something) that maybe you could supplement.
Sorry not more experienced but hope someone else will be

Ps for what it's worth I think food phobias are quite hard for the child too and with our dd I put them down to bad early experience as she had severe stomach aches from food for literally years before her allergies were found. Could this be a possibility in fact? In her case wheat and dairy cause problems and as is quite common these are also the foods she craved most

Thanks Looseleaf for you advice. No he not eaten veg for 11 years. not even 1 pea! I cant think of any bad early experiences he may had.
Surely there must be someone else out there who has this problem or am i alone :-(

bump

Well I've got a 12yo who won't eat pizza, sausages, burgers (not sure she's ever tried one either!) chicken in any form, fish (except one brand of salmon on croute), bread, potatoes other than new, pasta... and that's just a start off. She used to happily eat raw veg, but has a wobbly tooth (please fall out soon!) which apparently hurts with "hard" food so won't eat that at present. So I sympathise.

She was, however a very good eater as a baby and toddler, in fact ate everything offered until she was 8yo when she had pneumonia and since then she's grown fussier and fussier.

She will try stuff fairly happily, although sometimes I don't think she's tried enough to really make a decision. If we have a food too often she then decides she's bored of it and won't eat it.

I'm going to get her to write a list of what she will eat. She's agreed to do this. I'm hoping she will look and realise how hard it is to get her stuff to eat because of how little stuff she'll eat. Hopefully this will encourage her to try stuff she says she doesn't like but hasn't tried for years.

I am in the middle of writing a cookery book designed specifically for this. You are most definitely not alone.

Does he eat chocolate cake? If so, try putting puréed beet root and blueberries in the mix - he'll never know they're there and it makes for a really moist cake.

If he eats canned spag Bol, put puréed carrot and onion in it or maybe some puréed parsnip or white beans. Don't use too much to start with and gradually add more as he gets used to it.

So many of the books I tried suggested all these mega healthy diets but if you have a kid who just won't eat anything other than a handful of foods, it's really tough.

It depends on the reason for the fussiness as to how best to deal with it. My step son uses food as a weapon against his super healthy mum and yet I seem to have more success because I'm not that bothered what he eats - not really my problem.....so he's generally fine with us. On the few occasions where he did get fussy, I devised a rule that said meal time starts at say 1.30 and PS3 time starts at 2 and lasts for half an hour. If he hasn't finished by 2, that's fine, just cuts in to PS3 time! Clears his plate every time with that one!

I had a long chat yesterday with a child psychologist about dealing with picky eating habits and she suggested that rather than dwelling on what they don't like, we should explore what it is about what they do like that makes them like it. From there, you can try to emulate what makes a food on the good list to increase their repertoire. Not tried it yet but will report back!

my daughter is almost 12 and is an extremely fussy eater. She will only eat chips, (preferably chippy chips) pasta, sausages, super noodles, bacon and chicken nuggets. Almost all beige food and not much past toddler food.....
I have tried everything, good and bad alike, but it seems to be getting worse. She is putting on weight and I have resorted to a dietician who to be fair is only telling us what we already know. I need a real solution and the book suggested by Hunnie seems perfect. I would love to buy it when its done.

My son, who is 14, is very fussy too to the point now where I don't know that meals to cook: he basically wont eat any meat apart from duck, doesn't eat potatoes or any vegetables not even a pea. Wont eat shepherds pies or spa bol. Therefore, I concentrated the other foods he liked like toad in the hole and a few others, now he won't eat these as he's fed up with them. I am running out of ideas. He has certain foods that he likes 'Uncle Bens Thai rice', 'poultry pie' ... which is chicken and asparagus pie and I take out the asparagus and call it poultry or he won't eat it!! He wont eat mash potato or jacket or wedges or new potatoes or white rice which makes it all very difficult. He will eat pasta but only with cut up hot pepperami and bacon pieces in it!! He will eat hot dogs and pizza but I can't give him this everyday and to be honest after a while he would probably get fed up with it and not eat that either. I have a daughter who eats anything and I would love to chance to cook one meal for everyone to eat. Help please!!

My son, who is 14, is very fussy too to the point now where I don't know that meals to cook: he basically wont eat any meat apart from duck, doesn't eat potatoes or any vegetables not even a pea. Wont eat shepherds pies or spa bol. Therefore, I concentrated the other foods he liked like toad in the hole and a few others, now he won't eat these as he's fed up with them. I am running out of ideas. He has certain foods that he likes 'Uncle Bens Thai rice', 'poultry pie' ... which is chicken and asparagus pie and I take out the asparagus and call it poultry or he won't eat it!! He wont eat mash potato or jacket or wedges or new potatoes or white rice which makes it all very difficult. He will eat pasta but only with cut up hot pepperami and bacon pieces in it!! He will eat hot dogs and pizza but I can't give him this everyday and to be honest after a while he would probably get fed up with it and not eat that either. I have a daughter who eats anything and I would love to chance to cook one meal for everyone to eat. Help please!!

17 years have gone by and we are facing a son who has always been fussy when it comes to food. He works out regularly and we are worried he is not putting the right foods in his body. We have had blood work and all the tests done through the years and everything seems to be fine. He only eats mac and cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and fries(not my homemade fried chicken) pizza, white rice, pasta with butter, apples, bananas, no veggies, lipton soup, and any kind of bread. He says food isn't appetizing and gets upset and all worked up when we try and get him to try something new.He starts gagging and it turns into a fight with my husband. It has been a fight with my husband and I for years because I was always protecting him and giving him what he wanted. My 19 yr old daughter eats everything. Now I'm realizing it has become a problem. He also wants to get over this but we are all finding it very difficult and don't know where to start.

My son's just come back from a week long skiing trip with the school & had nothing to eat except cereal at breakfast & sweets that he bought. He is exactly the same as all your teenagers-refuses to try new food & only eats pizza, fries (McDonald's & fries to go) battered fishfingers, battered chicken nuggets, cheese triangles, crackers, chocolate spread sandwiches & bananas. He does have a sweet tooth, though & will try new food as long as it's sweet!! My son has enough energy to play football a few times a week & is a very slim build. He has been like this since around 2 years old & will still gag or be sick if he tries any new food! I'm hoping that someone will have some ideas on what to do. I am so desperate!

One of my ds's has quite a restricted diet, although he does like fruit. He also started to show problems at 2, has seen a dietician through NHS and a nutritionist privately but hasn't managed to substantially increase his range of foods. Like others on here, trying new foods can make him gag. When younger he often couldn't bring himself to try new foods. Now his does a little more but can vomit if he's tried too much. He'd like to increase his foods but it is hard to know where to go.

When he was little all the experts said he'd grow out of it. But I met a woman whose partner had a very restricted diet as an adult (late 20's) and it meant they could never go out for a meal together or with friends. So it does worry me. My ds has grown well and seems healthy but I think it will catch up with him in later life.

My son is 14 his diet is causing constipation and I had a doctor sit down and talk about healthy eating I was so embarrassed.. I eat health and cook but he won't try.. After the age of 2 that we it so now it's bacon, any type of chicken, garlic bread, bread, sausage if I'm lucky, sometimes I can get fruit in him... Crisps, crackers and ham... Just managed to get him to try cereal bars. I bake from scratch so considering trying him with wholemeal muffins because he likes my baking but can't tell him what's in them or he won't eat that either... Glad I'm not alone but I'm so frustrated.

My daughter is now 16 and eats a very limited diet that doesn't include fruit, vegetables, or anything that I think is nutritious. She ate everything when she was 2, but when she went to nursery as I had to go to work, she wouldn't even sit in the same room to eat with the other children, it took a lovely lady who was her key worker to coax her in, but only if she had her own lunchbox with bovril sandwiches in, and so it started. She eats chicken nuggets or gougons with some form of potato most days, she likes cereal, toast, drinks only milk and water, a breakthrough recently was a bowel of pasta but no sauce! When she was little the dietician said she'd grow out of it, I'm still trying with her but although she now realises she needs to eat a wider range of foods she resists trying anything. I'm now seeking advice and help for food phobia so can have empathy with all of your comments.

Hello, I've just come across this thread as I'm feeling very frustrated with my extremely fussy 14 year old son 😣 I know he's needing to eat more as he's at that age and maturing but he eats such a limited diet I'm running out of foods to offer him! 😩 I just wondered how you all got on with your fussy children and if things have got better?? Here's hoping! 😃 Tia x

I am so relieved to see others going through this although I feel sorry for you. It's so difficult, my 14 year old son has now got to a point where he will eat sandwich chicken in a wrap with cheese, quavers, jam tart and chocolate shreddies. Thats it and even the brand has to be the same, I have no idea how it got like this.
Hes now very thin, doctor has been useless. He sees a therapist for anxiety which is much better but she doesn't know how to deal with his food issues. Totally at my wits end.

My dd who is quite a bit younger (8) never eats fruit and veg. She has quite a limited diet. She takes a vitamin and is extremely fit and active. She claims she doesn't eat fruit due to a choking issue when she was a toddler (we can't remember such incident so don't know if she has made it up in her head)we are at the stage where she won't even touch a piece of fruit or veg...even a banana with the skin on. She won't touch her baby brother if he has just eaten a banana. She went to doctor on unrelated issue but her diet came up as perhaps a link to what she was suffering with in regards to the scheduled appointment. We had mentioned to doctors over the years about her diet, sought help from health visitors, nursery/school etc... All responses focused on keep offering varied diet but you can't force her. However this doctor was extremely concerned about her limited diet and said it was borderline eating disorder and control. She said it would get worse as she gets older and has referred her to a dietitian. She now has us quite worried about it.