Food avoidance is common during childhood and encompasses limited dietary variety and reluctance to try unfamiliar foods (1). While these behaviours are often considered part of typical development, persistent food avoidance may contribute to eating disorders such as avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) or occur alongside neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (2). Although previous research has primarily examined individual food avoidance behaviours, these behaviours are likely to co-occur with broader appetitive, sensory, emotional and self-regulatory characteristics. The appetite self-regulation (ASR) model provides a theoretical framework suggesting that food avoidance reflects interactions between bottom-up processes (sensory sensitivity and emotional reactivity) and top-down regulatory mechanisms (inhibitory control) (3). However, it remains unclear how these characteristics combine within children to form distinct food avoidance phenotypes. This study aimed to identify latent food avoidance profiles in middle childhood and examine their developmental and clinical correlates. Participants were 517 parents of children aged 5-12 years who completed validated questionnaires assessing appetitive traits (food responsiveness, enjoyment of food, satiety responsiveness, slowness in eating and food fussiness), food avoidance characteristics (food avoidance, texture sensitivity and cognitive rigidity), temperament (fear, shyness, inhibitory control and impulsivity), and liking of vegetables and energy-dense snack foods. Latent profile analysis was performed using these indicators. Models differing in the number of profiles and variance-covariance structures were evaluated using log-likelihood, Akaike Information Criterion, Bayesian Information Criterion, entropy, profile size, and interpretability. A five-profile, profile-varying diagonal solution was selected as the optimal model, comprising Flexible Food Approach (20%), Calm Balanced (20%), Shy-Regulated Balanced (25%), Multi-Domain Food Avoidant (22%), and Rigid Texture-Sensitive Avoidant (13%) profiles. The two avoidant profiles shared elevated food avoidance but differed in their underlying characteristics. The Multi-Domain Food Avoidant profile was characterised by a multi-domain form of avoidance, particularly showing higher levels of fear and shyness, suggesting greater bottom-up emotional reactivity to foods. In contrast, the Rigid Texture-Sensitive Avoidant profile showed the highest levels of texture sensitivity and cognitive rigidity, together with lower inhibitory control, indicating a predominantly sensory-driven and inflexible pattern of food avoidance. Multinomial logistic regression demonstrated that neurodevelopmental disorders were strongly associated with profile membership. Relative to the Calm Balanced profile, children with ASD or ADHD had significantly greater odds of belonging to the Multi-Domain Food Avoidant (OR = 14.47, 95% CI [3.32, 62.80], p < 0.001) and Rigid Texture-Sensitive Avoidant (OR = 31.40, 95% CI [7.10, 138.38], p < 0.001) profiles. These findings show that food avoidance in middle childhood comprises multiple behavioural phenotypes with distinct sensory, emotional and regulatory characteristics. Recognising this heterogeneity may improve understanding of developmental pathways to food avoidance and inform more targeted approaches for identifying and supporting children with persistent avoidant eating behaviours.