DSS16's girlfriend spends a lot of time at our house. They've been together a year and her mum works a lot, so being with us saves her being home alone all the time.
She's 15 and I've never known anyone with such a limited diet.
She will not eat any kind of vegetable – a tomato pasta sauce is about as far as she'll stretch, but only if it's full of salt and no other vegetables are hidden in it.
Fish of any kind is a no, and in terms of protein she'll only eat eggs, chicken or processed meat like supermarket burgers. White rice only, white bread only... you get the idea. Desserts-wise she'll stretch to a plain sweetened yoghurt, but nothing fruit-flavoured, and won't drink anything other than water.
She does eat – I'm not concerned about anorexia or bulimia at all (and I'm very familiar with what to look out for). It's just SO limited.
I have no idea how she's reached this age in seemingly good health, and, aside from it making mealtimes complicated for us, I really feel for her.
When we ask what it is she doesn't like about these foods she doesn't seem able to tell us. It doesn't appear to be a sensory thing, and she says she's not against the idea of being able to eat more widely, she just doesn't like anything.
When she's at our house she'll try tiny bites of things – like today she had her first raspberry doused in yoghurt – but she'll never admit to liking anything and certainly won't go any further than taking a tiny bite of something (think half a slice of cucumber).
Her mum's on board with us working on getting her to eat something more than cereal and chicken – but aside from what we're already doing, I'm a bit stuck!
Does anyone have experience of something like this? All the advice I'd usually think of is for little kids – 15 year olds are a bit different!