Helping a selective 3.5-year-old gradually expand her range of foods

[SelectiveeaterWorriedmumma]

My 3.5yo daughter is a 'selective Eater". Any help on getting her top eat more food

Her current food list

Fruits
Watermelon, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, kiwi, apple, pear, banana, sultanas, mandarins, tinned pineapple, mango, cherries, blood plums

Vegetables

• Sweet potato
• Corn
• Carrot (sometimes, often frozen or hidden)
• Zucchini (hidden)
• Spinach (hidden, frozen)
• Cucumber (peeled)

Protein & Savoury Foods

• Homemade sausage rolls (with hidden veggies)
• Sausages
• Hot dogs
• Devon
• Bacon
• Chicken nuggets
• Scrambled eggs
• Bacon
• Pizza

Noodles / Grains

• Weet-Bix
• Vegemite sandwiches
• Toasted cheese sandwiches
• Fairy bread
• Chicken 2-minute noodles

Dairy & Snacks

• Yogurt
• Cheese slices
• Cakes, cookies, and other treats

That seems a very good list, from a parent of a 2.5yr old who wouldn’t eat 80% of that.
what are you trying to get her to eat that she isn’t? They say the most important thing is exposure, and not forcing it. So keep adding it to her plate/have it available on the table and let her see you eating it, without comment. Don’t put any emotion into it (no, ooh this is soooo yummy, try this, just one bite) just eat and ignore on repeat.

My 4 year old might eat one of each of those categories!

That is a fine list, agree with others, try some new things if you like, and don't force them. If my Grandson ate a fraction of that, it would be fab, My fussiest son, who would only eat a few things, now eats almost anything. 6 foot tall and very healthy, developed taste buds around 16. Worry no more !

That is a pretty good list for a "selective" child... usually it is far worse when parents seek help on here.

For me, at that age, my priority would be not restricting the selection at all. Keep offering new stuff, and keep offering things again and again even if she doesn't like them. Children can take a lot of "tries" to actually like something... yet the mistake I see parents make is that they try something once or twice and "oh, she doesn't like that..." and then it is never offered again. Keep as wide a range of food in front of her as possible, always with new options. No pressure, but they are just there and all her family is enjoying them. Unless she has a medical or ND issue, she will slowly pick up more and more of it and her tastes will grow and grow.

An example of this is mushrooms. my son loves them now he is 5. Wouldn't eat them at 3.5 at all. Had I just said "oh he doesn't like mushrooms" and stopped cooking them or giving them to him, he still wouldn't like them today. But instead they were just a regular part of meals and dinners. no pressure. Countless times he didn't touch them, until at some point he decided to try one, and at some point months later suddenly its "Mummy! I like mushrooms" without a memory of how much he didn't like them 2 years earlier.

I've seen the same with loads of kids, and it is the natural way that children's diets expand. But if you restrict what you give them and tailor meals to what they "like", you deprive them the opportunity to grow and expand their tastes naturally.

(Equally if you force them to eat things, you create more problems...)