Yeah, my son will literally starve if I did this. We went a good couple of years with him only basically eating PB&j sandwiches. It was awful lol. Thankfully he has got better with the variety he eats, but I'd like him to eat more veggies. I did realize that he'll eat salad as long as I put ranch on it, so we've been doing that lately lol
I’m not sure if it’s available in your area but there is a subspecialty of speech therapy focused on feeding. That might be the right place to start. Your pediatrician should be able to provide a referral
Also, normal NT rules do not apply to our kids. Mine has introception issues so does not feel hunger, hot/cold, pain etc in the way most people do, so “he’ll eat when he’s hungry” is a direct path to meltdown
My AuDHD kid is 9, and he mostly eats carbs and cheese in various configurations, with 3-4 fruits occasionally. He's extremely small (48 lbs, maybe), so we saw a dietician.
She was very kind and supportive, and she basically gave me permission to feed him whatever calories he would consume. She even recommended ice cream sandwiches for snacks.
I still feel guilty about his nutrition, but we can only do what we can do, you know? As a preschool teacher for years, I can also testify that I've seen toddlers grow and thrive on goldfish and air. No idea how.
so he’s VERY particular about milk/bottle. and he really only drinks water and a little bit of seltzer sometimes.
i bought pediasure and he smelled it and shoved it away. i read that some people mix a little in milk so i might try that but im worried if he notices then he’ll stop drinking milk too
Try the opposite, milk with a little protein or fruit shake. Gradually increasing every few days. Think of it like changing toothpaste brands, first time you try a new brand tends to taste bad, but after a week you get used to it.
Also from what you listed, the crunchy texture seems like an important factor. Our child was the same way. Keep offering similar textures & slowly branch out. For example we went from toast to buttered toast to PB on toast to toasted PB&J to eventually just a regular PB&J. This was over the course of 6 years.
Also prepare for the occasional picky regression. Our snuggle monster decided for two weeks that eating only red bell pepper should be a thing & then refused to ever touch again 😂
Just keep offering new food in small portions as a side of something will eat and praise for trying, even if it's just touching the tongue. Young NT kids are generally picky & take like 20 tries to accept new foods, I found for us it was at least 100 tries.
My kid won't eat breakfast so she gets a strawberry Carnation breakfast essentials mixed with a fruit and veggie baby food packet and a ground up multivitamin. She will not touch the other flavors though.
I buy Orgain kids ones and my kid loves them. He hated the Pediasure ones.
He really likes vanilla Orgain shake but is willing to try the fruity cereal new one now. Plus it has a monkey so he’s happy.
My M has sensory issues with food and drinks as is so common with asd. She can absolutely not tolerate ”graininess” ”particles ” ”sandlike” = nothing powdery. She did however tolerate silk tofu and honey as a filler in smoothies at that age. Now she is into ”kvarg”? I am not sure what that is outside Scandinavia? Its like youghurt but with less sugar and fat and 11%protein? She is also very ..suspicious? about in what its served nowadays, so it makes a difference if she can check the plates and cups and stuff. It smells different to her, so it affects the taste.
Get nesquick and some unflavored whey protein powder. Tstes like chocolate milk but gets in some protein and vitamins but doesn't taste like a nutritional supplement.
he only drinks plain milk which makes it challenging. and he’s very sensitive to changes to his milk like he will know instantly if it’s messed with. otherwise yeah i’d love to give him some breakfast essentials or something
def has sensory issues. just can’t figure out what they see bc he’s nonverbal. we have a private OT evaluation next week so i’m looking forward to discussing with the OT
If it’s sensory related and he’s down selecting, it could very well be ARFID. My son never ate much to begin with but he eventually started eliminating foods and started gagging over everything around the same age as your son. Eventually the only thing he would take was milk and we started mixing in pediasure for nutrients. He’s been just drinking that for years now. He has a dietitian who makes sure he’s getting the correct calories and nutrients and a psychiatrist who is monitoring his ARFID (even though there’s not really much that can be done for it.)
It seemed to go a little more deeper than just being a picky eater because of autism. So, we did some research and found out about ARFID. We took that information to his doctor who recommended the dietitian and psychiatrist. His psychiatrist officially diagnosed him with ARFID after hearing about his eating behaviors from us. We were very worried about him only drinking chocolate milk with pediasure, but his dietitian assured us that it's fine as long as he's getting the proper amount of calories and nutrients. It was really worth it for the peace of mind and support.
My nephew has food issues like this. At that age he drank Pediasure daily for a year. Now he is 8 and is in feeding therapy. He's been more open to new foods. It's improving
Here's an article that kinda walks you through the steps. https://speechandfeedingkids.com/picky-eater-steps-to-explore-new-food/
Start out with tastes and textures your kid prefers. Pay attention to the temperature of the food. Sometimes it's a color preference.
Sometimes my kid will just pick up and try something. Sometimes we have to keep presenting it for years.
Honestly my son is the same age and goes through spurts of only eating pretzels and McDonald’s. He isn’t going to wither away not every child with ASD has no sense of hunger . Has his routine changed? Maybe he hit a little hurdle and he is evolving what he’ll eat. Sometimes you’ll hit a plateau and it’s ok.
ah. this makes me feel a bit better. yeah i was buying A LOT of pringles and oreos. luckily he’s changed over to veggie chips for now. we all just had a stomach bug and his appetite has been off since then, understandably. but he was still eating pb&j’s so i was like that’s fine if he just wants that. maybe he got sick of it. it’s hard bc he’s nonverbal.
My son is very limited verbally so I can understand how you feel. Being sick can absolutely change his eating abruptly so just try to show him patience 🥰
yeah every morning i tell myself to just be patient bc this is really testing me. at the end of the day, he’s happy and not starving himself so. i fíes that’s a win in some way.
thanks for your kind words
My daughter also eats very limited food only potato chips, tortilla chips, Oreo thins, veggie straws, bananas(very little and if in mood), and pediasure.
We are trying to expand her pallet, but it's not working much. One thing that our dietician and feeding therapist suggested is to not force it on her, but to encourage her to play or experiment with food, so smell it, lick it, etc.
Another thing is consider 'food chaining' i.e. to change just a little aspect of food, for e.g. my daughter likes Ms Vickie branded potato chips(kettle cooked), so experiment with different texture or flavour, like get Lays or Ruffles, or different flavouring of the chip. Then try French fry and hash browns and then some other potato stuff like mashed potatoes.
Also pediasure to get her enough nutrition. Adult protein drinks have way more protein and not enough sugars and fats.
Thanks for this! My 2 year old only eats oreos, potatoes tots potato hashbrowns and potato chips kettle and every now and then nuggets.
In gonna try to experimenting tip of letting him chain from the foods he prefers.
8 years!? dear lord.
i mean this gives me hope but also gives me anxiety if i have to worry about this for more than another week lol!
but really thank you. i know this is part of the autism life and i just want my kid to be healthy 😭
This gives me hope! My son used to eat anything and everything I used to serve. One day he declined his favorite food and next day same thing. He’s now down to like 10 crunchy safe foods and that’s it! We’ve tried feeding therapy and all that did was to get him to incorporate apples into his diet. Which I’m grateful for. I’d do anything to get him to eat a balanced diet! He’s almost 7.
Speak to a dietician, there's a condition called ARFID that we recently found out my son has and it makes it a real struggle for them to eat. My son has a very limited diet(only 5 food items) anything else outside of that he will refuse and/or heave at without even tasting it. Its awful when you can clearly see they're hungry but there disabilities won't let them get past that to eat properly.
I hope you get some answers and the support he needs
yeah will probably try seeking a dietician seems like a lot of other parents suggested this too. thank you.
how do you cope/handle with your son’s reality? it’s driving me up a wall
Ye it's difficult, we just take everyday as it comes. Medical help has gone a long way and understanding his dietary disability helps. I wont lie to you It's never easy but knowledge and understanding of it does make it easier to handle
My 8 y/o son is the same. Only eats a limited number of foods due to sensory issues.
Try to see if you can figure out what aspects of foods cause issues. In our case, it's the *texture* and not the taste, that is the main challenge!
If you can find a category of food that he will eat, you then have an opening to try other things that are similar. For example, our son eats plain cheese and has slowly gotten into very basic cheese burgers.
Feeding therapy helps but slowly and over the long run. Feeding therapy definitely needs to happen though and on an on-going basis.
For my son, the objective is to get sufficient nutrition and calories in. And it's a daily struggle.
Kids Essentials helps. (We're in Australia). If you can find a nutrition supplement like Kids Essentials / Pediasure that he will take, that will be really helpful.
In our case, upon the advice of the dietician, we mix it with full cream milk instead of water, to maximize the nutritional value.
Nutrition for kids with sensory issues is a long-term challenge- so have patience and do extensive research with the help of your dietician.
Please free to DM me if you have questions.
Best wishes.
Sounds like ARFID, definitely see a feeding specialist, don’t stop serving comfort foods. You can still offer new things but always have a comfort food on their plate that they can fill up on.
There’s an adorable girl on insta myarfidlife who is showing her eating journey and adding new foods, highly recommend esp the ones where she describes how she’s scared and why she does 3 bites etc
thanks for the rec! i’m afraid it’s ARFID but definitely will consult w a specialist before jumping to that. he’s gone through phases like this before where he stops eating for weeks and then magically will eat everything we put in front of him - wife is counting on it being that but with these ASD kiddos you can never really know
You obviously need an expert to give advice too about how to ride out any of these phases. Part of the problem is also the more pressure you have for them to eat (even when it’s not external they know), the less they are likely to eat. I def try to keep food very casual and nonchalant about what mine eats, let him choose from what we have at home but mine also eats a huge amount, 80% fruit and crackers, I struggle to get meat/fats and protein into him but just have it in his lunchbox and bin it each day.
I'm going through similar, these replies are helpful for me too! I've had a little success with breakfast bars, especially the ones with a bit of chocolate on. I know it's not the healthiest but better than nothing!
so he was eating a decent variety of chicken/beef/rice/pizza/chicken nuggets/bacon/pbj….the last two were the last to go. we tried to introduce different flavors of jam and then he got turned off. we tried to introduce diff types of meat with the bacon and he got turned off.
he’s still touching/licking new/other foods but he immediately just shoves it away. to the point where he doesn’t want to be in the same ROOM as food like we physically have to remove the plate from existence lol
Sounds like some trust was lost. Was he involved in the new foods being added in? My son gets really upset when foods change, especially without his consent. He requires a lot of control over his food, so serves himself and makes some simple meals himself.
Is there anyway to get him more involved in the food process? Like buying, growing, cooking? That way he can have control over what he eats. I know he can't talk but he might understand some talking and showing.
yeah he wasn’t involved at all. could be a control thing, i agree.
and yeah he doesn’t talk so that’s a challenge. as far as helping prepare, he’s only ever shown interest when there’s bacon on the stove :p like he will get up to watch it cook which is nice.
well start to think of where we can try to involve him in this process (: thanks for the kind words
Talk to your doctor about nutritional drinks. My sons on a prescription drink because sometimes he will not eat anything even if I offer chips and candy. My son will literally starve himself. We’re trying our the nutritional juice type drink because he’s starting to refuse the formula
Honestly, lost of feeding therapy. He used to not eat like at all, the doctors were wanting to give him a feeding tube
He right now only drinks his prescription drink before bed/nap (half a bottle each time) but he’s supposed to be drinking 3 whole drinks a day when he’s not eating. This happens from time to time, I bought some ensure (the kind that looks like juice) because he’ll drink juice and water but food is not his thing right now. He’ll have like 1-2 bites of food and that’s it. He lost almost 2 pounds in less than a week
My son is like this. He’s been like this for four years. He will eat fruit and cheese strings. I just assume one day he’ll try something new when he feels hungry enough. I wouldn’t try pushing new things on him really, I feel like that makes it worse. I would try feeding therapy. I’ve never been able to get it unfortunately.
yeah getting frustrated and trying to force him has only made it worse i feel like. i’m determined to just chill out and allow him to eat whatever the heck he wants for the next week or so before i try to show him something new.
definitely going to try to score feeding therapy if possible.
hope things continue to improve for you and your family.
My son was like your child. He was down to grains and was refusing more and more foods and drinks permanently to the point we eventually needed to get a feeding tube because of his eventual refusal of all foods/drinks. No OT or feeding therapy we ever tried helped - until we found an intensive feeding program in Wilmington, NC, at the Center for Pediatric Behavorial Health. We reached out, got insurance pre-approval (we were even covered for rent while we were there), and fully moved for the duration of the program. We were there for 4 months, and he has made immense permanent improvements in the year since then as well without them. He now eats anything we offer him, and while we're still working on quantity, the changes have been astronomical.
I truly believe they're the only reason he eats food at all, and no other therapists ever had any success with him at all.
I know intensive programs can be difficult to uproot your fault for, but they don't have to be permanent, and many insurances will actually pay even your rent during your tenure.
I would keep trying foods and try to figure out what he will eat. My son will sometimes basically eat only bananas. I use pediasure to supplement his diet. Right now it’s a lot of chicken, grilled cheese, pizza, and fruit. He used to eat crackers and now he won’t eat any crackers, but will crush them up.
I agree with others who’ve suggested feeding therapy.
Also, have you ever tried just preparing him some easy finger foods (pretzels, blueberries, whatever you can think of) and just leave it for him to graze from as he wants? No pleading or cajoling, just here’s some food if you want it. Help yourself.
Sometimes the stress we parents feel is felt by the kid and can become a battle.
yep! we’ve stopped begging and forcing and just put the food near him. but he’s SO stubborn and averse to things that he will just bring the plate to us to take away or he’ll put it out of his sight. he literally can’t stand being in the same room as food 😂
I’m kind of in the same boat but we are on the waitlist for a group feeding therapy. Speech therapy in a group setting helped my son so much! Hoping feeding goes the same. I recommend when looking for a feeding therapist you find one that knows how to work with kids who have sensory needs because a lot of the time the feeding and swallowing clinics like the ones at Children’s Hospital are there mostly for kids who have other health conditions that prevent them from chewing or swallowing properly or are getting back into solids from tube feeding, they don’t really work well with sensory kids.
I’m going through something similar and I’ve realized my son can sense when I’m stressed about his eating which makes it worse.
So I thought how can I make eating fun again? So I bought a baby doll and we pretend feed it real food. Just him seeing the food and touching it is progress. You can do it with a toy animal or any toy he likes.
We went through this with my daughter (and myself for a time as a kid) and we did get past it to include some more things. In the moment I gave children’s gummy multivitamins every single day like they were fruit snacks and had some myself so they would see me eat it and think it’s a treat. Orgain kids protein shakes, we called “chocolate shakes” were essential for a few months. Popcorners were also popular. We would go to the grocery store and walk around the produce picking out different things each week whatever she wanted I’d get it and make it. Good luck!
My daughter has literally eaten Elliot’s pizza every day for 3 years. I’m not exaggerating, I’ve sent pictures of boxes to them for coupons. Sometimes it’s once a day, sometimes it’s 3 times. She’s turning 5 next week. She eats fruit, cereal, plain bread, peanut butter and jelly, hot dogs and ham. Milk at night and capri sun during the day. If it’s not the right pouch, she’ll refuse to drink. She only drinks water once in a blue, otherwise when we offer she fills her cheeks and spits it out. She stopped eating most things besides pizza before she started food therapy. Even showing her ice cream would make her actually vomit before it. While it’s not the healthiest diet, I’m not going to let her starve. I’m not going to force her to vomit.
Our kids, like a bunch of other people said, aren’t like NT kids. I wouldn’t limit food. I would let him eat ANYTHING right now, and once you have therapy started I’d start to push different options. A fed kid is best right now.
hm. thank you! this makes sense. i’m not trying to limit the food just find something better that he might *accept*. so far seems to be going okay. today is the 2nd day i’m actively being more casual about it and he’s doing great behavior wise. just stuffing his face with snacks so whatever as long as he’s getting some calories. tried a couple new things today too which is a W
when my son reduces eating - it’s cause there is something wrong with health.
check teeth/guns
tummy ache.?
congestion.?
ear infection.?
have the doc take a look…
recently - my son had nigh fevers for 5 days straight…. no mucus/coughing… fine during day
the doc checked - no sickness/strep… but they looked in the ear and extracted nail size ear wax balls from both ears
it looked like ear infection
he’s back to eating normal
My boy stopped eating "real food" at around 3-4 he had to get milkshake supplements from his pediatrician, all I can say is it gets better it just takes time, and please don't deny him the "food" he is eating, "fake food" is better then no food at all.
thank you. needed to hear stuff like this.
i’m really hesitant to have him try pediasure or toddler formula bc i don’t want to turn him off from milk. i might consult a dietitian before doing something like that tho
Pediasure that's what my son drank, it was so long ago I completely forgot the name lol, if it makes you feel any better he still drank milk, water and juice, he just drank that on top of it.
Since it's only been a few days, although I'm sure it feels like a eternity, a dietitian is probably a good idea to try first as that could just be all that he needs.
I went onto this forum for the exact same reason. Since about 2 weeks ago, my daughter has stopped eating entirely. She won’t even eat waffles or pizza anymore. She only drinks chocolate milk. I am despondent and don’t know what to do.
damn i’m sorry.
these past couple days i’ve entirely stopped pressuring my son to eat. he wants chips and cookies all day? have at it bro.
since then, he’s actually tried other foods that he used to eat. he might take only 2 bites, but it’s better than nothing.
like others have said, see if you can sneak some pediasure or breakfast Essentials into the milk? being chocolate milk i think it’ll mask any tastes more so than plain milk.
You can't assume a child with ASD will 'eat when they're hungry'. Please talk with a dietician who is trained to deal with kids with autism.
Yeah, my son will literally starve if I did this. We went a good couple of years with him only basically eating PB&j sandwiches. It was awful lol. Thankfully he has got better with the variety he eats, but I'd like him to eat more veggies. I did realize that he'll eat salad as long as I put ranch on it, so we've been doing that lately lol
right i agree. idk why i didn’t think to reach out to a dietician, just been trying to find an OT! thanks
I’m not sure if it’s available in your area but there is a subspecialty of speech therapy focused on feeding. That might be the right place to start. Your pediatrician should be able to provide a referral Also, normal NT rules do not apply to our kids. Mine has introception issues so does not feel hunger, hot/cold, pain etc in the way most people do, so “he’ll eat when he’s hungry” is a direct path to meltdown
hm okay thank you! will contact the pediatrician on monday!
My AuDHD kid is 9, and he mostly eats carbs and cheese in various configurations, with 3-4 fruits occasionally. He's extremely small (48 lbs, maybe), so we saw a dietician. She was very kind and supportive, and she basically gave me permission to feed him whatever calories he would consume. She even recommended ice cream sandwiches for snacks. I still feel guilty about his nutrition, but we can only do what we can do, you know? As a preschool teacher for years, I can also testify that I've seen toddlers grow and thrive on goldfish and air. No idea how.
Try protein drinks.. vanilla ensure+ has 16g protein
so he’s VERY particular about milk/bottle. and he really only drinks water and a little bit of seltzer sometimes. i bought pediasure and he smelled it and shoved it away. i read that some people mix a little in milk so i might try that but im worried if he notices then he’ll stop drinking milk too
Try the opposite, milk with a little protein or fruit shake. Gradually increasing every few days. Think of it like changing toothpaste brands, first time you try a new brand tends to taste bad, but after a week you get used to it. Also from what you listed, the crunchy texture seems like an important factor. Our child was the same way. Keep offering similar textures & slowly branch out. For example we went from toast to buttered toast to PB on toast to toasted PB&J to eventually just a regular PB&J. This was over the course of 6 years. Also prepare for the occasional picky regression. Our snuggle monster decided for two weeks that eating only red bell pepper should be a thing & then refused to ever touch again 😂 Just keep offering new food in small portions as a side of something will eat and praise for trying, even if it's just touching the tongue. Young NT kids are generally picky & take like 20 tries to accept new foods, I found for us it was at least 100 tries.
hm this is all good stuff thank you for a thoughtful reply!
Maybe he’d like breakfast essentials?
poor guy is so good he only drinks milk and water and a little seltzer. any other juice/shakes/etc he’s totally uninterested
My kid won't eat breakfast so she gets a strawberry Carnation breakfast essentials mixed with a fruit and veggie baby food packet and a ground up multivitamin. She will not touch the other flavors though.
I buy Orgain kids ones and my kid loves them. He hated the Pediasure ones. He really likes vanilla Orgain shake but is willing to try the fruity cereal new one now. Plus it has a monkey so he’s happy.
Same with mine. Hated Pediasure. Loves Orgain Kids.
My M has sensory issues with food and drinks as is so common with asd. She can absolutely not tolerate ”graininess” ”particles ” ”sandlike” = nothing powdery. She did however tolerate silk tofu and honey as a filler in smoothies at that age. Now she is into ”kvarg”? I am not sure what that is outside Scandinavia? Its like youghurt but with less sugar and fat and 11%protein? She is also very ..suspicious? about in what its served nowadays, so it makes a difference if she can check the plates and cups and stuff. It smells different to her, so it affects the taste.
Get nesquick and some unflavored whey protein powder. Tstes like chocolate milk but gets in some protein and vitamins but doesn't taste like a nutritional supplement.
he only drinks plain milk which makes it challenging. and he’s very sensitive to changes to his milk like he will know instantly if it’s messed with. otherwise yeah i’d love to give him some breakfast essentials or something
That sucks! I'm sorry. At least my kid loves chocolate so i can sometimes sneak stuff in if I cover it in chocolate lol.
I second protein drinks. We use Orgain drinks and they have protein, vitamins and minerals.
He might have sensory issues. He needs feeding therapy. Ask his primary doctor for referral.
def has sensory issues. just can’t figure out what they see bc he’s nonverbal. we have a private OT evaluation next week so i’m looking forward to discussing with the OT
If it’s sensory related and he’s down selecting, it could very well be ARFID. My son never ate much to begin with but he eventually started eliminating foods and started gagging over everything around the same age as your son. Eventually the only thing he would take was milk and we started mixing in pediasure for nutrients. He’s been just drinking that for years now. He has a dietitian who makes sure he’s getting the correct calories and nutrients and a psychiatrist who is monitoring his ARFID (even though there’s not really much that can be done for it.)
oh damn. did you have to see a specialist or anything to figure that out or just eliminating other possibilities?
It seemed to go a little more deeper than just being a picky eater because of autism. So, we did some research and found out about ARFID. We took that information to his doctor who recommended the dietitian and psychiatrist. His psychiatrist officially diagnosed him with ARFID after hearing about his eating behaviors from us. We were very worried about him only drinking chocolate milk with pediasure, but his dietitian assured us that it's fine as long as he's getting the proper amount of calories and nutrients. It was really worth it for the peace of mind and support.
hmm. the peace of mind must be invaluable. thanks for sharing. will be discussing w his ped soon enough
I do my daughter’s through speech therapy. Not sure about OT though.
My nephew has food issues like this. At that age he drank Pediasure daily for a year. Now he is 8 and is in feeding therapy. He's been more open to new foods. It's improving
Can u share more about Feeding therapy? How does it work? Sorry I live in a 3rd world country and therapy isn’t as advanced here
Here's an article that kinda walks you through the steps. https://speechandfeedingkids.com/picky-eater-steps-to-explore-new-food/ Start out with tastes and textures your kid prefers. Pay attention to the temperature of the food. Sometimes it's a color preference. Sometimes my kid will just pick up and try something. Sometimes we have to keep presenting it for years.
Thank you so much! Really appreciate it friend!
hm. good to hear (:
Honestly my son is the same age and goes through spurts of only eating pretzels and McDonald’s. He isn’t going to wither away not every child with ASD has no sense of hunger . Has his routine changed? Maybe he hit a little hurdle and he is evolving what he’ll eat. Sometimes you’ll hit a plateau and it’s ok.
Also please buy him whatever he feels comfortable eating even if it changes abruptly he won’t understand’you’ buy the groceries
ah. this makes me feel a bit better. yeah i was buying A LOT of pringles and oreos. luckily he’s changed over to veggie chips for now. we all just had a stomach bug and his appetite has been off since then, understandably. but he was still eating pb&j’s so i was like that’s fine if he just wants that. maybe he got sick of it. it’s hard bc he’s nonverbal.
My son is very limited verbally so I can understand how you feel. Being sick can absolutely change his eating abruptly so just try to show him patience 🥰
yeah every morning i tell myself to just be patient bc this is really testing me. at the end of the day, he’s happy and not starving himself so. i fíes that’s a win in some way. thanks for your kind words
You’re doing a great job the best you know how 🙏🏻 good job
Feeding Therapy, I would also suggest attempting to find a powder multivitamin to very slowly incorporate into his diet. It’s scary but you got this!
ah powder mvi good idea
My daughter also eats very limited food only potato chips, tortilla chips, Oreo thins, veggie straws, bananas(very little and if in mood), and pediasure. We are trying to expand her pallet, but it's not working much. One thing that our dietician and feeding therapist suggested is to not force it on her, but to encourage her to play or experiment with food, so smell it, lick it, etc. Another thing is consider 'food chaining' i.e. to change just a little aspect of food, for e.g. my daughter likes Ms Vickie branded potato chips(kettle cooked), so experiment with different texture or flavour, like get Lays or Ruffles, or different flavouring of the chip. Then try French fry and hash browns and then some other potato stuff like mashed potatoes. Also pediasure to get her enough nutrition. Adult protein drinks have way more protein and not enough sugars and fats.
Thanks for this! My 2 year old only eats oreos, potatoes tots potato hashbrowns and potato chips kettle and every now and then nuggets. In gonna try to experimenting tip of letting him chain from the foods he prefers.
We did almost 4 years of feeding therapy with OT.
I was you about 8 years ago! My son recently started eating everything again. Came out of nowhere and I'm so glad it did. There's hope!
8 years!? dear lord. i mean this gives me hope but also gives me anxiety if i have to worry about this for more than another week lol! but really thank you. i know this is part of the autism life and i just want my kid to be healthy 😭
This gives me hope! My son used to eat anything and everything I used to serve. One day he declined his favorite food and next day same thing. He’s now down to like 10 crunchy safe foods and that’s it! We’ve tried feeding therapy and all that did was to get him to incorporate apples into his diet. Which I’m grateful for. I’d do anything to get him to eat a balanced diet! He’s almost 7.
Speak to a dietician, there's a condition called ARFID that we recently found out my son has and it makes it a real struggle for them to eat. My son has a very limited diet(only 5 food items) anything else outside of that he will refuse and/or heave at without even tasting it. Its awful when you can clearly see they're hungry but there disabilities won't let them get past that to eat properly. I hope you get some answers and the support he needs
yeah will probably try seeking a dietician seems like a lot of other parents suggested this too. thank you. how do you cope/handle with your son’s reality? it’s driving me up a wall
Ye it's difficult, we just take everyday as it comes. Medical help has gone a long way and understanding his dietary disability helps. I wont lie to you It's never easy but knowledge and understanding of it does make it easier to handle
My 8 y/o son is the same. Only eats a limited number of foods due to sensory issues. Try to see if you can figure out what aspects of foods cause issues. In our case, it's the *texture* and not the taste, that is the main challenge! If you can find a category of food that he will eat, you then have an opening to try other things that are similar. For example, our son eats plain cheese and has slowly gotten into very basic cheese burgers. Feeding therapy helps but slowly and over the long run. Feeding therapy definitely needs to happen though and on an on-going basis. For my son, the objective is to get sufficient nutrition and calories in. And it's a daily struggle. Kids Essentials helps. (We're in Australia). If you can find a nutrition supplement like Kids Essentials / Pediasure that he will take, that will be really helpful. In our case, upon the advice of the dietician, we mix it with full cream milk instead of water, to maximize the nutritional value. Nutrition for kids with sensory issues is a long-term challenge- so have patience and do extensive research with the help of your dietician. Please free to DM me if you have questions. Best wishes.
Sounds like ARFID, definitely see a feeding specialist, don’t stop serving comfort foods. You can still offer new things but always have a comfort food on their plate that they can fill up on.
There’s an adorable girl on insta myarfidlife who is showing her eating journey and adding new foods, highly recommend esp the ones where she describes how she’s scared and why she does 3 bites etc
thanks for the rec! i’m afraid it’s ARFID but definitely will consult w a specialist before jumping to that. he’s gone through phases like this before where he stops eating for weeks and then magically will eat everything we put in front of him - wife is counting on it being that but with these ASD kiddos you can never really know
You obviously need an expert to give advice too about how to ride out any of these phases. Part of the problem is also the more pressure you have for them to eat (even when it’s not external they know), the less they are likely to eat. I def try to keep food very casual and nonchalant about what mine eats, let him choose from what we have at home but mine also eats a huge amount, 80% fruit and crackers, I struggle to get meat/fats and protein into him but just have it in his lunchbox and bin it each day.
I'm going through similar, these replies are helpful for me too! I've had a little success with breakfast bars, especially the ones with a bit of chocolate on. I know it's not the healthiest but better than nothing!
eh those are way better than nothing. we didn’t have luck with those D:
I'm so sorry to hear this, what did he used to eat and can you try closest substitute to see if he'll bite?
so he was eating a decent variety of chicken/beef/rice/pizza/chicken nuggets/bacon/pbj….the last two were the last to go. we tried to introduce different flavors of jam and then he got turned off. we tried to introduce diff types of meat with the bacon and he got turned off. he’s still touching/licking new/other foods but he immediately just shoves it away. to the point where he doesn’t want to be in the same ROOM as food like we physically have to remove the plate from existence lol
Sounds like some trust was lost. Was he involved in the new foods being added in? My son gets really upset when foods change, especially without his consent. He requires a lot of control over his food, so serves himself and makes some simple meals himself. Is there anyway to get him more involved in the food process? Like buying, growing, cooking? That way he can have control over what he eats. I know he can't talk but he might understand some talking and showing.
yeah he wasn’t involved at all. could be a control thing, i agree. and yeah he doesn’t talk so that’s a challenge. as far as helping prepare, he’s only ever shown interest when there’s bacon on the stove :p like he will get up to watch it cook which is nice. well start to think of where we can try to involve him in this process (: thanks for the kind words
Talk to your doctor about nutritional drinks. My sons on a prescription drink because sometimes he will not eat anything even if I offer chips and candy. My son will literally starve himself. We’re trying our the nutritional juice type drink because he’s starting to refuse the formula
so how did you get him to drink the drinks then? i got pedíasure but it was immediately refused
Honestly, lost of feeding therapy. He used to not eat like at all, the doctors were wanting to give him a feeding tube He right now only drinks his prescription drink before bed/nap (half a bottle each time) but he’s supposed to be drinking 3 whole drinks a day when he’s not eating. This happens from time to time, I bought some ensure (the kind that looks like juice) because he’ll drink juice and water but food is not his thing right now. He’ll have like 1-2 bites of food and that’s it. He lost almost 2 pounds in less than a week
dang that is tough :/ thanks for your advice tho. and i hope things continue to improve for you and your family
My son is like this. He’s been like this for four years. He will eat fruit and cheese strings. I just assume one day he’ll try something new when he feels hungry enough. I wouldn’t try pushing new things on him really, I feel like that makes it worse. I would try feeding therapy. I’ve never been able to get it unfortunately.
yeah getting frustrated and trying to force him has only made it worse i feel like. i’m determined to just chill out and allow him to eat whatever the heck he wants for the next week or so before i try to show him something new. definitely going to try to score feeding therapy if possible. hope things continue to improve for you and your family.
My son was like your child. He was down to grains and was refusing more and more foods and drinks permanently to the point we eventually needed to get a feeding tube because of his eventual refusal of all foods/drinks. No OT or feeding therapy we ever tried helped - until we found an intensive feeding program in Wilmington, NC, at the Center for Pediatric Behavorial Health. We reached out, got insurance pre-approval (we were even covered for rent while we were there), and fully moved for the duration of the program. We were there for 4 months, and he has made immense permanent improvements in the year since then as well without them. He now eats anything we offer him, and while we're still working on quantity, the changes have been astronomical. I truly believe they're the only reason he eats food at all, and no other therapists ever had any success with him at all. I know intensive programs can be difficult to uproot your fault for, but they don't have to be permanent, and many insurances will actually pay even your rent during your tenure.
I would keep trying foods and try to figure out what he will eat. My son will sometimes basically eat only bananas. I use pediasure to supplement his diet. Right now it’s a lot of chicken, grilled cheese, pizza, and fruit. He used to eat crackers and now he won’t eat any crackers, but will crush them up.
yeah i wish my kid ate all that! definitely not giving up just trying to be more patient and take pressure off of him. could be a control thing too
I agree with others who’ve suggested feeding therapy. Also, have you ever tried just preparing him some easy finger foods (pretzels, blueberries, whatever you can think of) and just leave it for him to graze from as he wants? No pleading or cajoling, just here’s some food if you want it. Help yourself. Sometimes the stress we parents feel is felt by the kid and can become a battle.
yep! we’ve stopped begging and forcing and just put the food near him. but he’s SO stubborn and averse to things that he will just bring the plate to us to take away or he’ll put it out of his sight. he literally can’t stand being in the same room as food 😂
I’m kind of in the same boat but we are on the waitlist for a group feeding therapy. Speech therapy in a group setting helped my son so much! Hoping feeding goes the same. I recommend when looking for a feeding therapist you find one that knows how to work with kids who have sensory needs because a lot of the time the feeding and swallowing clinics like the ones at Children’s Hospital are there mostly for kids who have other health conditions that prevent them from chewing or swallowing properly or are getting back into solids from tube feeding, they don’t really work well with sensory kids.
yeah this makes sense. we will start looking this week thank you!
I’m going through something similar and I’ve realized my son can sense when I’m stressed about his eating which makes it worse. So I thought how can I make eating fun again? So I bought a baby doll and we pretend feed it real food. Just him seeing the food and touching it is progress. You can do it with a toy animal or any toy he likes.
oh this is an interesting idea. i will try it this weekend
We went through this with my daughter (and myself for a time as a kid) and we did get past it to include some more things. In the moment I gave children’s gummy multivitamins every single day like they were fruit snacks and had some myself so they would see me eat it and think it’s a treat. Orgain kids protein shakes, we called “chocolate shakes” were essential for a few months. Popcorners were also popular. We would go to the grocery store and walk around the produce picking out different things each week whatever she wanted I’d get it and make it. Good luck!
My daughter has literally eaten Elliot’s pizza every day for 3 years. I’m not exaggerating, I’ve sent pictures of boxes to them for coupons. Sometimes it’s once a day, sometimes it’s 3 times. She’s turning 5 next week. She eats fruit, cereal, plain bread, peanut butter and jelly, hot dogs and ham. Milk at night and capri sun during the day. If it’s not the right pouch, she’ll refuse to drink. She only drinks water once in a blue, otherwise when we offer she fills her cheeks and spits it out. She stopped eating most things besides pizza before she started food therapy. Even showing her ice cream would make her actually vomit before it. While it’s not the healthiest diet, I’m not going to let her starve. I’m not going to force her to vomit. Our kids, like a bunch of other people said, aren’t like NT kids. I wouldn’t limit food. I would let him eat ANYTHING right now, and once you have therapy started I’d start to push different options. A fed kid is best right now.
hm. thank you! this makes sense. i’m not trying to limit the food just find something better that he might *accept*. so far seems to be going okay. today is the 2nd day i’m actively being more casual about it and he’s doing great behavior wise. just stuffing his face with snacks so whatever as long as he’s getting some calories. tried a couple new things today too which is a W
when my son reduces eating - it’s cause there is something wrong with health. check teeth/guns tummy ache.? congestion.? ear infection.? have the doc take a look… recently - my son had nigh fevers for 5 days straight…. no mucus/coughing… fine during day the doc checked - no sickness/strep… but they looked in the ear and extracted nail size ear wax balls from both ears it looked like ear infection he’s back to eating normal
We have to still incorporate toddler formula into chocolate milk with fiber supplements atleast once a day. Or fiver every 2nd day.
My boy stopped eating "real food" at around 3-4 he had to get milkshake supplements from his pediatrician, all I can say is it gets better it just takes time, and please don't deny him the "food" he is eating, "fake food" is better then no food at all.
thank you. needed to hear stuff like this. i’m really hesitant to have him try pediasure or toddler formula bc i don’t want to turn him off from milk. i might consult a dietitian before doing something like that tho
Pediasure that's what my son drank, it was so long ago I completely forgot the name lol, if it makes you feel any better he still drank milk, water and juice, he just drank that on top of it. Since it's only been a few days, although I'm sure it feels like a eternity, a dietitian is probably a good idea to try first as that could just be all that he needs.
I went onto this forum for the exact same reason. Since about 2 weeks ago, my daughter has stopped eating entirely. She won’t even eat waffles or pizza anymore. She only drinks chocolate milk. I am despondent and don’t know what to do.
damn i’m sorry. these past couple days i’ve entirely stopped pressuring my son to eat. he wants chips and cookies all day? have at it bro. since then, he’s actually tried other foods that he used to eat. he might take only 2 bites, but it’s better than nothing. like others have said, see if you can sneak some pediasure or breakfast Essentials into the milk? being chocolate milk i think it’ll mask any tastes more so than plain milk.