Fussy eater

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Hi,
Just looking for some advice on my 5year fussy eater. He literally just eats spaghetti hoops, cheese and plain pasta. He's always been fussy but it's got much more restricted. I have brought quite a few books but the recipes all seem to be so far away from anything he would ever eat I can't see it working. I'm trying to slowly introduce more foods but he just won't eat them. He likes being involved in meal prep but still won't eat what we have made. He doesn't seem to get hungry the way DD who is a great eater does. I wondered if anyone had any experience of this or any good books to recommend. He also loves pigs and animals and gets upset if anyone is eating meat which I'm fine with but he doesn't eat any vegetables either!

Look into ARFID.....

Thanks @DollyTrolly I hadn't thought it was that severe but maybe it is. Do you have any experience of this? Would you recommend seeing a dietician? Thankyou

I was diagnosed with ARFID as an adult.
It would be worth speaking to a dietician to see if it's truly food aversion or just preference.

I was worried about my DC's food preferences. I took them to see a nutritionist (US) so I guess that would be a dietician in the UK. The nutritionist worked with them to find foods that they were willing to eat that also provided the nutrition they needed.

As mum of a long term fussy eater here (now 33), it’s really hard to disentangle what’s them and what’s you. But with the benefit of hindsight

• i was a worried first time mum: assumed it was my fault/problem because everyone else’s babies ate enthusiastically. It wasn’t, it was a combination of him and me
• ”he’ll eat when he’s hungry” didnt work for us, partly because he had a pretty small appetite and still has. That was a game we always lost.
• he is very sensitive to tastes and smells - i think he should have been a perfume blender - and while his repertoire is wider now there are still loads of things he doesnt like
• there was certainly a degree of control in it too - eating/not eating got attention even from his checked-out DF

We got him to widen his repertoire through risk-free bribery: if he tasted something new he got a reward, no comeback if he didn’t or did like it, it was the tasting that mattered.

He’s now a fully functioning independent adult. I would say there are far worse things to be than a fussy eater; if you can relax about it (hard I know) that will help.

I think the more attention and fuss made about it, the more entrenched it gets. I'd make him a separate plate and do dinner as normal for the rest of you and give him a little bit of yours on a side plate so if it gets wasted it won't be too upsetting but so he can try it without any pressure.
I'm quite hard about my fussy eater, I say, oh, well, oo bad, that's what we're having, eat what you can'. I don't withhold pudding. I do tone down the flavours for her, so milder version of our curry, no sauce on her pasta etc.

Thankyou @DollyTrolly and all other pp. His dad is much more relaxed than me but will start doing a side plate to try and look for a dietician. Many thanks