Sorry to hear you are going through this....I know exactly what you are talking about because i have been through this with my ds.
He was exactly the same...so fussy that he would pick something up, smell it and if he didn't like the smell would put it down and would not eat it.....to be truthfully honest I never tried to force feed him because he has the same temperament as me, stubborn as a mule
...I guess for a while I thought if I don't offer him anything else he will get hungry and eat...but it didn't work like that. I found he absolutely loved weetbix and he loved his toast with vegemite.....so I would give him his varied meals but at the end of the day if he didn't eat much then I would later on give him either weetbix or toast. Now some people would say that is enabling him, but honestly he would rather starve than eat what I had prepared - believe you me, I held out for quite sometime and it just wasn't working. My doctor just said some kids are like that and they will grow out of it. I guess we went through this for about 2 years and then slowly but surely he came around and now he is a great little eater and will devour anything (well almost
anything that I put in front of him.
One other thing, even though he had a limited diet he was never ever a sickly child. I use to also give him a top up of a multi vitamin syrup in his drink just to make sure he didn't miss out.
I also went through the guilt of feeling like a bad mum...like where did I go wrong, but at the end of the day I really believe it was nothing that I did....I guess he had fussy little taste buds! And no amount of jumping up and down was gonna change it.
Does he have some foods that he really likes? I still would give him the variety but perhaps an hour later or something give him a snack that you know he will eat. If he is that fussy then perhaps structure it that you graze him...ie give him lots of little snacks throughtout the day...
Anyway sending you heaps of hugs because i know how frustrating this can be.
Mortish
xx