My daughter hardly eats and it's getting me down.

[Fedup369]

My daughter has an extremely limited diet, she's 4 and has autism. Her diet has been consistently like this for 2 years. She's been refused a dietician because her case isn't severe enough but for context this is a normal day of eating for her.

breakfast: 2 chocolate waffles from a packet (won't entertain cooked food except chips) yogurt, Ella's kitchen smoothie.

water.

Lunch: 2 slices of toast and butter, glass of dialuted juice.

snack; crisps and a couple of Jaffa cakes.

dinner: a few chips, yogurt, go go squeeze. Fruity bear paws. Water.

desert: Jelly pot.

she takes a chewy multivitemin everyday.

a lot of the time she will also refuse even parts of her very limited food intake which I find incredibly stressful. She is small but she's also very short in stature. I wouldn't say she's really skinny I just don't know what to do, no one seems to have any answers for me or words of encouragement. If I try any new foods she refused, she just pushes it to the side, if I try and help her she locks her lips together and turns her head, or pushes the spoon away from her mouth.

I expressed my concerns to her health visitor last year and she asked me to keep a good diary for 2 weeks, so I did and when she came back to see it, she shook her head and said "see this isn't nearly enough" and I said no I know, I need help she won't eat properly, she referred her to the complex feeding team who refused the case and that was the end of that 💔 now it's a year on and nothings changed.

Tell a lie, I called the doctor 6 months ago too and he made another referral and it was refused again. If she can't get professional assistance, what should I do? I've spent a fortune buying things in the hope she will try it, thinking that's beige maybe she will attempt it, no. Not a chance.

If your local service won’t see DD, request a referral out of area. In the meantime, keep offering safe foods.

Have a look at ARFID.

Some people find food chaining helps.

Is DD underweight?

I can't be much help as my DD struggles too but you're doing so well with what you're giving her and getting her to take the multivitamin is brilliant. I'm still trying to crack that with my DD. So sorry not much help, I know what a worry it all is.

It took a while and I tried so many different ones. The ones she has at the moment are from Aldi and Asda if decanted them into a glass jar, and I ask her if she'd like a "sweetie" and she takes one out herself and eats it. My son is 9 and neurotypical and he takes them too, if they're disgusting he tells me straight up 😂

No she's on the lower end of normal weight, but her height and weight have always followed her percentile line from birth, which is weird because my younger daughter who id also say is small for a 2 year old was the exact same birth weight and I took a picture of them together the other day and there's not a lot in it size wise, dispite the the 2.5 year age gap. She's been weighed at every appointment she's had and they've never mentioned it being abnormal

Didn't mean the birthday pic and not quite sure how to delete that 🫠