Please help with DD’s eating

[OverInfestedBadger]

DD is almost 6. She had a varied diet as a baby and youngish toddler, but her list of acceptable foods has rapidly shrunk. She will now only eat 2 meals and has a small range of other foods eg cucumber, pepper that can be added. She will eat several types of cereal. She completely panics and seems almost phobic when asked to try new foods, which we do often. She will lick them or nibble and then declare eww no I don’t like that.

I am at the end of my very long tether and am considering going to the gp. Any advice please?
We have tried try this or no dessert, try this or no meal, try this or no whatever she wants. I hate seeing her so distressed, and her limited diet makes holidays, school etc so stressful. She isn’t going to starve and isn’t underweight so unsure whether to keep riding it out.

First of all I would stop threatening and cajoling. It never works, and will only cause more issues around food.

My DS used to be very fussy and what helped most was laying out all food in serving bowls on the table. That way he was in control of what and how much of he could eat. He'll try almost anything now.

I would also cut out any snacks so that she's not filling up on them. Don't comment if she doesn't eat, praise if she tries something new. Even if she says it's yuk, just change the subject.

We do what @CarrotPuff said. Also I make sure each meal contains at least one type of veg that each dc likes. We had spaghetti Bolognese with salad yesterday. 2 of my dc ate it all and 3 had different combinations of pasta, sauce, grated cheese and salad.

I agree with PP. You need to remove the whole control element and stress from meals. Just let her eat what she wants for a bit - perhaps put food in bowls in the middle of the table to serve up and see if that helps.

First bite by Bee Wilson is a really good book that talks about all aspects of eating but it focused a lot on very fussy eaters, what causes the problems in the first place and what you can do to help. It's an enteraining, easy read well worth a look at.