[Chickie-Babe]

Hi There. I have a 5yo DD who has always been very fussy with food. I saw a post a few weeks ago on EB from a member who said that their child was like this, in the end it turned out the foods the child would eat were the only ones that they did not react to. Some of the foods the member posted were similar to ones my DD eats, and I wondered at the time but thought that maybe it was just me making excuses for a fussy child. Now it just plays on my mind, and when I brought it up with other EB members today, they thought that it may be worth looking in to, even if it is just for my peace of mind.

Main foods DD likes:
Dairy (tasty cheese, milk, yoghurt, custard, icecream)
Fruits (strawberries, seedless grapes, pineapple, occasionally banana's - used to be blueberries too)
Meat (chicken - but only in the form of nuggets, the dinosaur ones or breast chips, from frozen department, cold ham, skinless cocktail franks, occasionally devon)
Some pasta - mainly mac cheese or 2 minute noodles, but only if she is in the mood.

She LOVES white bread, and would eat it 2-3 meals a day at times if she could.

Potato is in chip form - she has "tried" (pea sized amount) mashed potato, but hated it.

When younger, any form of carrot resulted in instant projective vomit - raw, cooked, mushy, no difference.

Is there a possibilty of sensory issues or intolerances here? If anyone has any suggestions, or advice on what I could try, I would really appreciate it. I am prepared to have just a "fussy" child, hell, both DH and I were very fussy too. I would hate to be making DD sick / have permanent issues because I haven't looked into it.

DD is probably average to just over average height, and slender but not skinny. She does not appear to have any health issues, is growing and developing well, and thriving at school. The trigger that made me to the point i wanted to investigate was tears last night because they were going to make pizza at school today, and she thought she would be made to eat it. Pizza has been delayed a week (they were walking to shop for excursion to buy ingredients as part of their learning aim, but was meant to rain. DD spoke to teacher today who told her she would not have to eat it, so she won't be stressed next week)

NB- we have a 3yo DS too, he will try pretty much anything, it is so different. Not sure if this has any relevance. Both were fed the same foods from the start.

[marvy]

Why don't you start by taking her the GP who might recommend seeing a Nutritionist. I think if she has eaten small amounts of the food she doesn't like and had no obvious reactions, ie hives, rash around mouth, stomach cramps, lips swelling than it's more likely she just doesn't like those foods.
You can get blood tests/skin prick tests for dairy intolerances. Obviously she is not wheat intolerant if she likes bread.
Have you tried grating carrot into mince etc so she gets the vitamins but she doesn't have to eat the vegetable on it's own.
Another thing to consider is that some children have sensory issues to certain textures with foods and don't like lumps etc.
Start by taking her the GP.

[Carmen02]

It could be introlence. My 7yr old DS has always been extremely fussy eating even less then ur DD we knew he had sensory problem but we discovered 7mths ago he is also coeliac and the only sign was he was extremely tired all the time n his iron levels are good. His still exteremely fussy but hopefully one day he will learn food is ok.

[Chickie-Babe]

Thanks for your replies

Marvy- I will get DD into a GP, thanks for that advice. Will probably take a few weeks, the best GP that DD likes is very hard to get into. I can not get DD to eat mince meat, or any stew/sauce style meals where I can hide veggies like carrots inside. SHe will only eat the pastry off meat pies and sausage rolls, so no luck there either. I am not sure about sensory issues, it is a possibilty. I don't think there is a dairy intolerance, she eats heaps of dairy and does ask for it.

Carmen - is there any intolerances you could suggest I specifically ask about? SHe is not really tired (no more than any other prep child I have seen), and loves bread and dairy.

[barrington]

I also have a very fussy 5 yr old. She lost a lot of weight as a baby and never really picked it up. She is one of the shortest children in her class at school and is 15 kgs at 5 yrs of age.

We saw a GP last year as I was worried about her fussy eating in conjunction with a bloated abdomen. The result of blood tests/ultrasounds is that she has no medical issues and is simply fussy with food.

DD1's favourite food is chicken kiev (the Ingham frozen one). Luckily she will eat cherry tomatoes and raw carrot, and she has these for lunch most days. On non-school days she will eat avocado sushi most days if allowed. Breakfast (when she eats) is avocado on ritz biscuits.

DD1 doesn't like pizza either.

[Chickie-Babe]

Thanks Barrington, it is good to know I am not alone. DD has never really had any weight loss, and is over 20kg, she is not short either - I think 114cm? last time I checked, about 2 months ago.
DD will eat chicken balls with garlic (mini kievs, and the other ones that are just garlic-flavoured chicken breast), but she does need to be in the mood.
Avacado (which DH and I don't like, lol) and cherry tomatos and carrot sound really good to me, I would love for DD to eat them.
(and coincidentally, DD's birthday is 27th September - maybe a late Sept 06 girl thing?)

edited to remove triple post

This post has been edited by Chickie-Babe: 07/05/2012, 10:26 PM