Anna eats very little. She doesn’t always finish the small amounts that are served to her, although she will now very occasionally get seconds on something that appeals to her.
For breakfast, she has responded well to homemade pancakes and waffles, sausages, scrambled eggs, blueberry muffins (homemade, of course!), and cinnamon rolls. She’s eaten bacon, but I’m not really sure how much she likes it. She doesn’t seem to care for any jams or jellies on toast, preferring instead to eat breads plain, or with a small amount of butter. She does not drink milk of any kind, nor does she eat anything with cheese. Anna tends to shy away from most dairy products, with exceptions for vanilla or strawberry ice cream (obviously I refer to after-dinner dessert here, not breakfast!), and strawberry or cherry yogurt. I believe it’s mainly a choice, not related to any intolerance or digestive issues. I have yet to see her drink anything with breakfast.
Lunch, if she wants anything at all, tends to be simple: a roll in which she folds some turkey or ham, some fruit (oranges and/or grapes), maybe some pretzels. In contrast, she has polished off a hamburger and fries! She rarely drinks soda, Sprite her drink of choice when she does. Milkshakes don’t seem popular, not even strawberry; again, that dairy thing! If she drinks anything at any meal, it’ll generally be apple juice. She has also expressed a secondary like for cranberry juice and a third choice of grape juice. She will sometimes drink filtered tap water as well; haven’t tried flavored or carbonated waters.
We’ve exposed her to the most variety of foods during dinner, with moderate success. Meat-filled tortellini with a marinara sauce, hamburger and fries (both In-’n-Out and Carl’s Jr.), Johnsonville bratwurst, mashed potatoes, corn, baked chicken. She tends to avoid salad and vegetables, but I’m sure that can be modified over time! We tried baked stuffed potatoes, but she wanted hers plain – not even with butter or sour cream.
Getting the right foods in front of her has been the biggest challenge, even beyond the normal communication issues. Fortunately, she’ll eat almost anything I make by hand from scratch.