5yo referred to Pediatrician

[AmieB]

Hi guys so for a while we have been dealing with an extremely fussy eater, our DD is 5 and although okay with cold foods (to some extent), hot food is a major issue.
its been an ongoing issue for a long time however after trying numerous things to get her to eat more and failing we have fallen into the habit of just giving her what she wants.
for context, hot foods she will eat are -
Pesto pasta
Garlic bread
Toast
Chicken goujons/dippers

THIS IS ALL!!!
anyway, we decided to take her to the GP and they confirmed she is on the 2nd centile for weight so have sent a referral to a pediatrician.
my post is really just to ask for any hints/tips on how we can improve her eating, any pediatrician experiences - what can we expect etc?

Thank you!

Have a look at Solid Starts, it's a great resource for picky eating with all sorts of suggestions of ways to overcome this. Website and Instagram.

@Mischance honestly, it wasn’t much of a problem to me - like I said I had got into the habit of just giving her what she wants, she eats it no drama all fine.
it wasn’t until the GP highlighted that she is underweight and advised they would be referring her that it has come back into my mind.
in all honesty I can’t live like it forever - serving her the same 4 hot foods day in day out is hard as a parent and I don’t want it for her?!
I understand it’s probably a phase, I know this. I simply wanted to ask on here if anyone had any hints/tips and for pediatrician experiences.
xx

Also can I add, her variety of foods may not ‘seem that bad’ but if you look at the list it’s small compared to a lot of children. I don’t want her to be a bad eater and just fall into that catagory, I want to help her.
I don’t feel the list above of foods she eats is enough - she doesn’t eat any form of meat, any form of potato, rice etc so meals are hard!
yes she eats pesto pasta - but how many times in a week can I give her this without it making me as a parent feel guilty!

worth noting that we also have a 3yo who although eats really well, does pick up on the fact his big sister gets to live on chicken goujons and pasta! lol xx

I’m also worried if we give her the same meals 24/7 she will get bored of these and the problem will get worse xx

Would she eat 'hot' meals that have gone cold? For example a roast dinner, that has cooled to room temperature or chilled? So it the temperature of the food that she has an issue with rather than the food itself?

Personally I feel it is just stubbornness, she knows we want her to eat more and she just refuses to even try things.

Don't even talk about the food, stop asking her to try something. Just put the plate in front of her and get on with your own meal. Ask her if she's finished, after a reasonable time and if she says yes, take the plate away.

Don't offer snacks, let her wait for the next meal ( only at breakfast or lunch when there will be another meal in a few hours).

If she stops getting attention, either positive or negative, she'll probably start eating what you give her, especially if she sees you eating it too.

My DS is 16 and is now able to explain much more why he eats as he does.
He is autistic and many of the food aversions are sensory. Eating something that he doesn’t like the taste/feel of is a really big deal for him, and so he is going to avoid that experience if possible. So he looks at his plate, and if he recognises everything then great, he eats it. But is he has had one negative experience with a food then he won’t eat it again. He has a narrow range of ‘safe’ foods that he trusts. He won’t eat sauces, mixed up foods (like spaghetti bolognaise) because he has no way of knowing what is in them.
He is happy to eat the same meals repeatedly.

When I was trying to extend his diet, meal times became a source of anxiety because he didn’t know what would be on his plate and that worried him. He was anxious about trying new things because if he doesn’t like them then that’s a really horrible experience for him. He says that he can still taste the food hours later.
And if at every meal someone is bothering him, trying to get him to eat more, try new things, finish up something he doesn’t like then he stops eating completely. He doesn’t want to come to meals because it’s too stressful.

He likes the same brands because he has tried them and he trusts them. Different brands can taste very different.

Life is different for fussy eaters, they don’t approach food in the same way that we do, it is a source of anxiety not enjoyment.
It is tricky, we can’t really eat out, although that’s not a treat for him anyway. I take a lunchbox and he will eat that. He goes out with his mates to fast food places but he doesn’t eat.

The things I have learned are:
From his perspective repetition and predictability are good - he doesn’t get bored.
The more anxious he is the less likely to be able to try new things, if he is too anxious he can’t eat at all.
If he is not anxious, he is more open to trying something new.
Things that look/taste the same to me are still very different to him.
If you trick them/try to ‘hide’ foods they won’t trust you.
He can tell if he won’t like something by smelling it.
If he does taste something then a bit of food the size of a grain of rice is enough.
He is not being naughty, controlling, or manipulative.
Odd combinations are okay, spaghetti, boiled egg and peas anyone?!

Does she eat more at school or other places?

My son is very fussy and he is far more adventurous at nursery. He has soup there but will never touch soup at home.
In his case I think he'll probably grow out of fussiness. But it is stressful.

@MrsPeytonJones no she wouldn’t, she just kind of knows what foods she likes and she sticks with them so anything not on her ‘safe’ list is just completely avoided.
@Elisheva i do think a lot of it is anxiety around food because sometimes we will say ‘why don’t you try that’ and she will literally start to cry with worry. So maybe I just need to ignore it and like @Lavinia56 says not make it an issue!
I was fine until the GP highlighted it 😀😀😀😀😀

My ds is 15years old and still eats a very small range of foods. We saw doctors and dietitians when he was younger. I was told to accept him as he is. They said to try new foods every so often but he may never change his diet.They calculated that his diet is short on iron so it was recommended he take a multivitamin with a certain amount of iron.

My son's weight has always been good, so no concerns with that.

Over the years he has not eaten anything new but has accepted existing foods in different forms.

Forgot to say, at age 15 still not bored of the same range of foods. He does eat them in different ways but is still the same list of ingredients that he will eat.

I used to work for CAMHS - I can honestly say that all the children with eating problems I saw were "cured" by the parents ceasing to focus on it.

Some of her cold list isn't great nutritionally. I'd prefer a bowl of frosted cereal to broccoli.

I'd always offer something she will eat alongside a regular fanily meal and make zero comment ever.

But given that she is under weight, I'd make sure that the family meals contain plenty of calories in her portion. Extra butter in her portion of mash, for example.

But, I don't have a child with eating issues, so I might be talking crap!

Silly question, but have you tried letting the meals go cold?
I have a fussy eater and she won't like things hot. I let it cool down for ages.
We gradually introduce new things and she is improving.
Start a food diary for your appointment

@AlwaysFreezing so the list is above are literally the only things she will eat, I would LOVE her to eat broccoli but she wouldn’t even touch it lol.
this is my issue … the food list above may look fairly good but in reality it’s not a vast amount of food to make 3 regular meals out of day to day.
Yes I change the meals around so one day she might have peanut butter on toast with some strawberry’s for breakfast, the next day a bowl of multigrain hoops .. but over the course of a week she is eating the same things over and over.
Im definately going to take the advice of putting a bit of our meal on her plate alongside her ‘safe’ foods, we did try this before with no luck but maybe we didn’t try it for long enough!

I have a three week meal plan for DS so he gets as much variety as he can manage over the course of a week.
I wouldn’t put different foods on her actual plate, but have some options in serving bowls on the table.
My son is most likely to try new foods at the Global Buffet restaurant, where he can look at lots of different foods and just take the tiniest bit to try.
He is also happiest to try things that are very similar to things he likes. He likes croissants so he was willing to try brioche for example.

If at first they are indifferent to the food being there I would still count it as a success!

Pick a food from your dinner that would match the flavour profile of the food they are having so it makes a meal. For example if they are having the pesto pasta something that would match it on the side would be plain chicken but chicken in a rich gravy wouldn't fit with the tastes of the pesto pasta.

Once they are used to this extra food being next to their meal I would try and involve them in what they would like on their second plate. they might then be more likely to show and interest and potentially take a bite!

I ate a lot less than your DD as a kid and I've grown into a normal, healthy (albeit still slightly food fussy) adult. Try not to stress about it x

Have a look at ARFID - it's an eating disorder. Not saying this is what it is, but it's something that can easily be labelled as picky eating but is more extreme than that.

It might just help you think about the eating in a different way.

Just a thought!

I didn't mean to be snippey, I'd kill for my 8 yo to eat that variety. I just meant I wouldn't obsess over the contents of the diet. She's not putting weight on sufficiently, she's eating plenty of variety so other than the cream instead of milk, bitter instead of marg, stuff (basically adding calories by swaps) I wouldn't stress over not lots of hot food.
I would however go to the appt and discuss weight concerns.