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Hi all, i suspect my 5 year old daughter has an eating disorder of some kind, particularly Arfid since 18 months old she has had a limited diet. I have done everything to encourage and support her. We have the same meals on rotation and they are all beige. Food she once ate she now is refusing so her list is getting smaller. On top of that i cant get her to eat anything fruit we rely on smoothies. The main issue i have atm is that is she scared of being near fruit and vegetables is the worst. She cant have them near her or even on her plate or even in a seperate plate. Shes helped prepare food in the kitchen and we have made smoothies. Feel like ive run out of ideas. Luckily she isnt underweight. Any advice would be fab x
Hi Christina, thank you for sharing this and I’m sorry to hear that your three-year-old is struggling with fussy eating. It’s actually very common for the evening meal to be the worst meal of the day and this is often linked to reduced energy levels that affect their ability to concentrate on eating. It makes children have a preference for ‘easy to eat’ and familiar/comfort foods.
My advice would be to make breakfast and lunch the two meals where you offer more nutritious foods, aswell as new foods and more complex textures - as at these times children’s energy levels are at their peak.
Save teatime for easy to eat finger foods such as sandwiches, breadsticks or crackers, pizza, cheese, strips of omelette or a boiled egg, strips of meat e.g chicken or ham or prawns and then salad e.g cucumber, peppers, cherry tomatoes, raw carrot sticks and/or fruit. Essentially food that doesn’t require a knife and fork.
Although I appreciate his current sandwiches probably aren’t the most nutritious if they are just jam, hopefully overtime when he learns to like new foods during the other times of the day you’ll be able to introduce alternative and more nutritious fillings.