8 yr old DD refusing food

[Doza]

My 8 year old is refusing to eat. She will eat small amounts of runny foods, strained soup, runny ready brek etc; but nothing that had "bits" in it. EXCEPT she can manage a biscuit! She has been like this for about 2.5 weeks now. We have had two trips to the GP: nothing wrong with throat, ears, general check up ok. She is weeing/ pooing ok. She is drinking and is not dehydrated. She complains of being hungry, but says she cannot eat, she cannot explain why. I have noticed she seems to produce a lot of mucousy saliva when she has something in her mouth she can't eat.
I can think of no real trigger incident: no choking or gagging. I thought it might be linked to anxiety as we had a big event coming up, but that is done and no change.
She refused Ready Brek this am: said she was sick of it, but complained of being hungry. She refused all other options.
Any one with an idea of what's happening here? I'm a bit lost...

Might she have a problem with her teeth that she doesn't want to share in case she is made to go to the dentist? You need to keep going to the GP until she is eating. As you realise, you can't ignore this if she is losing weight (? is she?)

No problem that we can see with teeth, she had a check up very recently: she has a new tooth coming down so that may be connected but she has not complained. No fear of the dentist either. Oh she will be back again by the end of the week to the GP if this carries on.

well, good luck.

Bit of a long shot, but has she done anything at school about digestion that might have freaked her out?

What is she eating at school?

As far as I can see from homework nothing about digestion; although I can't see her being to worried about that as we have been through that section of her how bodies work book MANY times, she likes the poo bit...
She insists nothing has happened to worry or upset her.
The only thing she will eat out of her packed lunch is tuc crackers, says she turns them to liquid in her mouth. ( she'll eat yoghurt etc but this is not allowed at school)
I'm puzzled TBH

Can you start with semi soft food (say, thick soups, then mince, then mash) and work your way back to ordinary eating? Sounds like it might be an early OCD type response but really you need to rule out the physical first.

I would speak to school as they may be able to fill you in more, is there something she has heard/read about that could be a trigger. This maybe too abstract but an advert for throat cancer or something like that could have caused her to worry - is anyone ill in your family/extended family?

There was a post in the last few days about a younger child not eating & the suggestions are worth a read.

Trying to not make a thing of it, serving all food in the middle of the table & letting each person take what they want. Always offering something she will eat/bread/crackers etc?

The book mentioned on that thread I have at home, don't have the name to hand will google but is really really good - will post it in a minute-

Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense
Book by Ellyn Satter

A friend had this with her dd. Would only eat runny food.
It was constipation. Low dose of lactulose sorted it out. Not been constipated before or since.

Just a question: why can't she have yoghurt at school?

DS1 was like this. He had always had a restricted diet because of allergies and fussiness, but by age 6yo, he would only eat soft things that barely needed chewing.

Turned out he had posterior tongue tie. The back of his tongue did not lift properly during chewing and swallowing which put him right off anything that wasn't soft enough to swallow down after a couple of chews.

We had his tongue tie revised and he started eating a wider range of foods.

It could be this with your dd or not, but it is something worth thinking about. How did she cope with milk (either breast or bottle) and introduction of solids?

Although a bit of an advert, this site has good advice - www.fussyeaters.co.uk/fussy-eaters/12-week-back-on-track-eating-plan.aspx

www.fussyeaters.co.uk/fussy-eaters/12-week-back-on-track-eating-plan.aspx

Thanks for all the replies.
We are trying to keep it low key and always have something on offer that she'll eat, what that is does seem to change though. For example she had soup in a restaurant last weekend; I made soup today, one I know she likes, nope too lumpy. I sieved it, still "bits".
We are also trying to have smooth foods on had for her, am I'm trying her with Complan to at least get some nutrition in.
Re the tounge tie: we did have issues with breast feeding, none with the bottle though and after an extended picky eater phase from around 2 yrs old to the start of school there have been no problems with food. I'll look into it a bit more though, it's a good suggestion.
I will also have a nosy at the suggested book: there are two others coming behind her I may need all the help I can get.
The school are aware and have no insights. Her teacher is usually pretty astute as well. I am leaning more and more to the cause being something in her head, though I am certain it is not a conscious decision if you see what I mean.
We will have to just keep trying.
Oh no yoghurt in schools: carpet! It's an all packed lunch school and crisps, yoghurts and yoghurt drinks are banned because of the mess/ damage caused to classroom carpets! Other than that no lunch box rules though.
Thanks again, I'll keep my fingers crossed that this won't go on too much longer..