Even if she doesn’t accept the food the first time you serve it for dinner, she might the next time. Apparently it can take up to 10-15 tastes of a new food to used to it, so it’s worth persevering to widen the range of things she will happily eat.
Serve small portions. She might be overwhelmed by a large portion of a food that’s unfamiliar or not her favourite. Also you’ll waste less food.
Many children will use food refusal as a way to get your attention or a reaction. If she’s not underweight, eating at least some foods from each of the groups, then you shouldn’t worry too much. If she sees you get agitated, or if you try to force her to eat, this could make the situation worse. Also, try not to worry about her making a mess!
Give your DD a recipe book and together stick post it notes on the pages of the things she’d like to try. Then, when you make something that she’s expressed an interest in, show her the book to remind her that she chose it. I did the choosing from the recipe book thing with my Dc and they chose stuff like tuna burgers, sweetcorn fritters, enchiladas etc...
Also take her shopping and let her choose out the fruit and veg. One success I've had is with broccoli. My son wouldn't touch it with a barge pole until I got him to pick the one he wanted at the supermarket. Then we came home and he washed it and broke it into pieces and popped it into a saucepan. He made a lot of mess and water went everywhere, but he also had great fun and has eaten broccoli ever since. I also found that when they cooked it they'd try something more adventurous. Even quite small children can help in some way.
Use exciting names for foods e.g. we call chicken in sauce 'sticky chicken' or soup 'surprise soup' or green beans 'squeaky beans' (can you hear them?) and ham up the name ... Playing with food doesn't have to be a bad thing. A child is more likely to eat a food that’s colourful, cut into fun shapes or with a dip. My children eat things that they wouldn’t normally eat if it’s on a skewer! We also had a cheese fondue at New Year and they were dipping things that they’d normally turn their nose up at. We also used to pretend we're dinosaurs eating trees when we eat broccoli – adds a bit of fun to the meal!
We've explained about vitamins and minerals and how they help your body grow and stay healthy. My DD will now eat mushrooms because she is desperate to be a big girl. And DS will flex his muscles when he's eaten a lot of veg!
A child needs to be somewhat hungry to enjoy their meal, so try offering only water or diluted juice for drinks and snacks of fresh fruit or veg between meals.
When mealtimes are becoming a misery or a battle ground then change the scene. Have tea in a tent or at a small table on tiny chairs with teddies attending.
Take a basic food that she loves e.g. bread, and add new things to it bit by bit – so try bread and cheese then eggy bread, then eggs and soldiers.
Introduce a new food very gradually alongside a food she already eats, and don’t rush from one food or texture to the next. I used fish cakes to gradually get my DS to eat fish. First I started with about 90% potato and only 10% fish! I gradually increased the proportion of fish to potato and I don't think he noticed. I also got him eating eggs by starting with savoury pancakes and gradually turning them into omelettes! I also did fried rice with only a tiny bit of egg in at first and slowly increased the egg. He now is fine with scrambled egg on toast and omelettes, and I've started doing quiches, but he still won't touch boiled, poached or fried.
We moved from chicken nuggets to nuggets with less breading to pieces of a grilled chicken breast and eventually to chicken with noodles or rice.