My son is 7 and has been a finicky eater since he was 18 months. His diet is so limited its very difficult to make lunch for school or eat outside the home. Ive triet OT for eating which didn't go to welll. He abuses preferred foods and the ditches them. He has recently showed interest in trying foods everone wlse is eating. I think he feels left out, especially around people he likes. I always offer, even when he turns me down 98% of the time. I start of with asking to smell it first, then taste. He has recently conected scent with curiosity to eat. He has a scented pineapple marker and has been asking to try pineapple. My son also wouldn't eat meat because he knew it was animal (cow, pig, chicken). I try not to refer meat dishes to animals anymore. Its tough not knowing if your child is getting the proper nutrients. I guess the only thing that kept him healthy was milk. He eats junk most of the time.

I puree veggies and mix them into the foods he will eat. What kind of foods does your child eat?

Dion was a very fussy eater. The only vegetable he would eat was potato and the only meat was sausages. I tried mixing veggies in his mashed potato but he separated them and just at the potato, it was a big job but he really liked potato. I wouldn't call him fussy now, he eats most veggies and meat except for beef, he knows to try everything because it might be a new favourite food. I focused on getting him to just try everything, not eat it but try it. I started with something he liked and made it different ways so he could learn that food we like can sometimes look like food we don't like, the only way to know the answer was to try.

Thank you for answering my question. He just had his 3yr physical and his Doc isn't concerned. He too loves milk. I just wish he would venture out with his little taste buds.
Last week he took interest in feeding his older sister her fruity pebbles but after three or four bites he was gagging. He even went as far as to take the dry cereal I had offered him and threw them in her bowl, then sat there with "the face" on. (as if to say I can't believe she is still eating that)
He gets suspicious if we add things to his cup and will supervise it's while we are making it. I sometimes put baby food in it for extra nutrients and tell him that it is a baby smoothie. I thought his iron would be low but it turns out that it was ok and my granddaughters was low.. She does eat 🍴. Go figure.
He will smell 👃 our food. And as I mentioned before he watches us eat but he is not interested in trying it at all. We recently found out that he won't eat yellow fruit 🍉 snacks and not all fruit snacks are made equal to his palate.
I guess we should be grateful because we have come a long way since it was just crackers and then he had to crush those to tiny little pieces before he would eat them.
We will get it figured out I suppose. And for now his weight is healthy. He is a solid 35lbs.. Almost caught up 👆 to big sister who will be 9 and just made it to 40lbs herself.. She started out small and had been consistently small since she arrived and she eats.
Thank you again for your answer, it gives me hope that he may come around.

He looks at is like we are crazy when we try to offer him new things.