Concerned about Grandson’s diet

My ex neighbours (both teachers) are at their wits end with their now 14 year old DD, who lives on white bread, white chips, mashed cauliflower, ReadyBrek and not a lot more.... she is very overweight (not sure how considering her very limited diet). They were constantly told she would grow out of it but it seems that she hasn’t .

I wonder if 'baby-led weaning' could lead to problems if babies are not encouraged to try different tastes and textures and only eat what they prefer?

I think maybe you could have a point amethyst as the mum I know was obsessed with her baby looking anything less than clean and perfect at all times. So much so that she only fed her white food.

How on earth did this situation develop? Surely as a baby/toddler he was given a variety of foods to eat?

I'm sorry BlueBelle but his limited diet was one of the first signs we had of GS1's autism. Nothing with tomatoes, so no pizza or baked beans and pasta was eaten plain with a bit of butter. Peer pressure had no effect because he was quite happy not to eat anything, He enjoys cooking, but don't expect him to eat what he cooks. Now he's 12 he's slightly more adventurous and will eat chicken drum sticks if they are really crunchy.

Here we go I wondered how long it would take someone to diagnose a syndrome He’s just a little lad who is controlling his diet not uncommon wait till he gets a girlfriend haha

If he doesn't like the smell of food then is there something sensory going on? Does he have additional needs?

I wouldn't worry about it. The more you show concern the more he'll continue with his own " diet ". Just ignore it.

Amethyst not in our case I was around long before baby led anything my son ate the same as his sisters until aged 2 then decided himself what he would and wouldn’t eat and so it continued

DGS is a good eater but will not eat in public. Will happily sit at the table all through a meal either in friends houses, his own or mine with visitors and eat perhaps one piece of bread.
We don't get worked up about it.
In Church last Sunday there was a lunch after the service.
We sat with friends, one of whom brought two plates of chicken and noodles for DGS and his little girl.
We all sat in silence while DGS ate everything on the plate, we were frightened to say anything in case he realised what he was doing..
When we got home he never even mentioned it.

Years ago I knew someone whose son only ate Readybrek and chocolate - he was in his 20s and still lived on that diet. He seemed fine.

I wonder if 'baby-led weaning' could lead to problems if babies are not encouraged to try different tastes and textures and only eat what they prefer?

My son as a child would eat no fruit, no vegetables, no dairy apart from milk I used to worry very much He would eat meat and other than that bowls and bowls of cereal Now he is 48 he does Ironman, triathalons and marathons after a test a little while ago he was told his organs were that of a 28 year old
His best friend ate simply fish fingers breakfast dinner and tea for as long as I can remember when he came for sleepovers I had to do a couple of fishfingers for breakfast and a bowl of Frosties for my son The friend is also a married man with children
It all seems to sort itself out my son still doesn’t eat much apart from meat potatoes and a bit of carrot or sweetcorn I laughed when his wife rang me up to tell me he had tried a bit of sweetcorn

Oh Agnurse please don’t find a syndrome for him

My DD went to school with a little boy who had a very limited diet too. His mum didn't allow him to stay for tea at anyone's house because she didn't want others to have to cater to his tastes.
He grew up fine and tall.

He has an older sister but he is Spoiled rotten

I used to invite my Sunday School class to tea and one boy had a similar sort of diet - he mostly lived on crisps and chocolates. His parents allowed it and his gran (who brought him to SS) worried herself sick as he was always getting colds and other minor ailments like styes on his eyelids. Gran confided in me that her grandson wanted to come to tea, but only if he could bring his own food. I talked to the boy and said he was welcome to come, but in my house people ate the food I gave them. He always came, he always ate whatever was served up (I gave him smaller portions than the others) - and then immediately reverted to eating his very limited diet everywhere else.

He had been an only child and then his parents adopted his younger sister and he was so besotted with her that I think he simply 'forgot' to be fussy about his food after that.

Adoption might be a bit of a drastic way of dealing with the problem though.

It is possible that he may have a sensory processing disorder or other issues. These can make it difficult for him to handle certain textures.

I'm not sure there is much that can be done. My late father had a friend who had eaten sausages, mash and gravy for dinner every day of his life and he was about 70 - he would eat nothing else. Dad and his lady friend were overjoyed when he ate chicken for the first time at Dad's house - but only the once ?
I know what you mean though - my nephew ate everything until he was almost 2 then scaled back to just hula hoops and bacon, maybe a tiny piece of frankfurter sometimes. He is a teenager now and eats normally I think.
DGS eats everything at nursery but pretty much just olives, garlic bread and Pom bears at home - plus Hovis Granary crusts with no butter. He eats the free banana in Tesco though. He drinks loads of milk so we are just assuming he'll grow out of it. He's a healthy bright boy but you can't force someone to eat.
I remember my old Nan telling me she took my mum to the doctor because she didn't eat back in the forties and he just said 'no healthy child ever starved itself to death' which she didn't find very helpful - hence her telling me about it when I was a child. Obviously these things have always gone on. I wish I knew the answer as I look after DGS while his parents work and it was much easier when you could cook something and he ate it instead of saying 'no, no, no' and locking his lips together ?

My eldest son ate everything until he was 2 then decided food was gross other than bread and butter and occasionally marmite, my mum said to me don't make a battle of meal times so we let him have what he wanted, he's a strapping 29 year old now but spent years mainly eating bread and butter, he laughs now as that would be the last thing he would eat! ?

That might work but if he saw me put an egg in something that would end the baking with Grandmama.
He doesn’t like to smell food either. I have seen him become nauseous when exposed to some of the food smells that he doesn’t eat. He becomes nauseated at the smell of bacon for example

Why not get him to help you cook delicious items from scratch with you.

You could start with peanut butter cookies. www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/peanut-butter-cookies/6aa18699-bad1-442a-97bf-388003acce2d.

Possibly then add a handful of sultanas or other dry fruit or bread pudding. www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/old-fashioned-bread-pudding/790f3338-59c6-4312-a3c1-3e4d0cf6b101

Looks like the Betty Crocker site has a lot of good recipes. By taking what he does eat as the basis and getting him to handle, sniff and mix (with his hands (clean)) ingredients he doesnt eat and combining them with foods he does, may encourage him to eat more

.......and there is nothing more moreish than the smell of fresh biscuits or a cake cooking in the oven.

His current diet has the basic nutrients - protein and fat from peanut butter, carbs from bread and potatoes. Bread is enriched with B vitamins and potatoes have vit C.

That’s a good point. As he gets older peer pressure could certainly play a role in his diet. I am sure he won’t want to take his lunch box to the Pizza Place.

It does seem a very poor and limited diet, but as other grans here will probably say, there’s little you can do about it since his parents think it’s OK. To reassure you, I’ve known a few children who would only eat a limited range of food, and they turned out fine. I think it’s unlikely to be an eating disorder.
It is a social issue though, especially if he brings his own food to family gatherings, but when he’s older, peer pressure from friends may make him try a wider range of food.

He is Nine Years Old

Ahh

The OP says he's nine years old.

OP SAID HE IS NINE YEARS OLD NOT NINE MONTHS