My 2.5yo has been a terrible eater from day 1 of solids. I've been to 3 x speech therapists for eating difficulties (including the local hospital's feeding clinic) and the last one I went to specialised in paediatric feeding problems. I haven't really been given any advise other than what I already had heard and my 2.5 yo is driving me nuts. I've been told to let her play with the food, slowly get her to at least touch the food, then next aim is to get her to put the food to her mouth, then next step is to take a bite, then next step is to actually eat a piece. 2+ years of this and I'm just over it to be honest. I understand I need to offer these things 20+ times before she may even try it and that's just for 1 new food. At that rate it could take me years to get her eating more and in the mean time she is living on nuggets, chips, bread, cheese & yoghurt.

Up until about 1 month ago the only meat she ate was sausage or nuggets. Now she won't even eat sausage again and so it's nuggets only. She will eat chips, yoghurt, cheese, bread, toast but will happily eat anything sweet or any snack type food.

We are healthy eaters. My eldest eats great and from a variety of foods, not perfect but good enough for us not to be concerned. My youngest though has been a shocker and I did nothing different. She would only eat puree food until she was 18 months but after that decided she only wanted to self feed, which was fine, but it meant her range of food was cut by about 90%! I used to be able to make casserole, stir fry, all sorts of dishes and I'd just puree her some and she'd happily eat it. Now though it's so limited. She won't eat a sandwich, the only fruit she eats is either from a squeeze pouch or she will now eat banana herself (not puree but holds it and eats). I'm at my wits end. I can't deny her food but at the same time I can't get her to eat anything else. She is still having milk which even though the specialists said it was a good idea to leave her with the milk still, it may be time to ditch it, but I'm worried because I have nothing to replace that with, it's not like she eats enough food that the milk won't be missed. She won't eat rice, pasta, meats, anything with a sauce. Can't even get her to eat a pancake.

I've been told a range of things from "it's a sensory thing" to the last specialist seems to think it's ENT related as she has had ongoing issues for most of her life and regularly has enlarged tonsils that it's related to the fact she has had pain when eating in the past. She is seeing an ENT next week.

I'm after suggestions from anyone who likewise has had a fussy terrible eater and how you got them eating more of a variety, if that is even possible.