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Alexandra

eating problems

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M isn't eating, well he eats, but only certain things,

 

this is all new to me, we thought he was just being awkward

 

but now we know its to do with his autism,

 

really worried as he is losing weight, we've tried different combinations of foods,

 

setting it all out seperatley, just not sure what to try now.

 

If anyones else has this problem i would love to know how

 

you deal with this any ideas would be great.

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hi, my son also has a eating problem, he always has ready brek and a chocolate mousse for breakfast, for tea he has a jar of baby food for 7 months old mixed with mashed potato and then i have to blend it up so there are no lumps.He will also eat chicken and smokey bacon crisps , rich tea biscuits and a certain brand of chocolate biscuit and that is about it. I worry constantly about what he eats and ever wonder if it will get better but what ever i seem to try just seems to fail , cannot really help you but at least you are not alone with this problem, good luck.

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Hi, Alexandra, perhaps I can give you some hope with this. My lad is 13 now and over the years he has had horrendous eating problems and food phobias.

 

When he was your lad's age we were desperately worried as well and tried all sorts of things and had all sorts of different advice. In the end it came down to time and maturity, that's the only thing that made any difference. We broke our hearts about it for many years and it didn't do any good at all. What we did in the end was, we decided to take all the pressure off him and just give him what he could eat. This wasn't giving in to him, it was merely giving him the food that he felt he could take. It's like placing a plate of worms in front of an adult and trying to make them eat it, they just could not, it would be impossible, and this is what it was like for our son with perfectly normal foods, he just COULD NOT eat them. It was only when we stopped trying to make him that we all got some peace of mind.

 

It did take a long time, it's an ongoing issue, but, over the years, he did start to accept more things. When he was in a receptive mood we'd just quietly and without comment place a tiny piece of what we were eating on his side plate. Sometimes he would try it, very often not. But over time this did help us to widen the range of foods he would accept. His diet is still pretty limited, compared with others, but he eats a small portion of carrots, apples and bananas, pasta and roast potatoes, so it's a vast improvement from what it was looking back at him when he was four.

 

My best advice to you, having gone through it, is TRY not to fret about it (I know this sounds ridiculous)! Give him what he feels he can eat but still offer him other things to try if he wants to. Don't make any comment if he doesn't want to try, just clear it away quietly, but just keep persevering.

 

Hope this helps. And good luck. Giving you these, 'cos I know it's really, really hard. >:D<<'> >:D<<'> >:D<<'> >:D<<'> >:D<<'>

 

~ Mel ~

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Hi,

Just to let you know that I understand how you are feeling as we are in the same situation. My son is 5 with severe autsim. He has had a really restricted diet (about 6 foods - ready brek,kids brand asda curry&rice,milky ways,bread,mcdonalds chips and only drinks lemonade) for 3 years now and it is such worry. Have saw a dietician which was of no use. I believe as the previous post says that it will get better with age. In October when we were away in a hotel for the weekend we had a mini breakthrough he took some bacon off our plate and started eating it! We were gobsmacked I was nearly crying that my little boy had ate some bacon!!! Thats how bad it gets!!! Also had some setbacks such as asda has recently stopped making his curry that he eats nearly every day of the week I even rang head office but no luck. I still worry all of the time, he is very underweight so all we can do is give him as much as he likes of the things he will eat. He attends a special school and they also try but without success. Hope it helps to know you arent alone.

Louise

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Our youngest dd 6 ASD has always had a restricted diet. I also used to think she was just being awkward, and tried allsorts to try and tempt her.....even tried putting my foot down, and insisting she couldn't leave table untill she'd at least tried something different or refused her a pudding etc. Feel very guilty about that now :( We spoke to her paed about it, and he said that she was a good weight, healthy, and not to become too overly concerned about it, unless she became anaemic etc. She has marmite toast and fresh orange or milk for breakfast. For lunch it's fromage frais, marmite sandwich, crisps, choccy biccie and a fresh orange carton. For tea it's smiley/waffles with chicksticks/sausages/nuggets...again with milk. She eats biscuits too and sweeties (which we've begun to limit to one small one after tea). She likes bananas and apples..oh and MD's, but that's about it. Our ds 13 NT will eat almost anything, and our eldest dd 9 AS is becoming more and more aware of healthy eating., although I do worry when I find her checking packets for calories etc...she now asks for fruit rather than crisps etc in her packed lunch , and is having weetabix with raisins and chopped bananas for brekkie.....she tends to just prefer a healthier option, and even at MD's opts for fruit rather than their chips. I try and chill about youngest dd now, she'll try new foods as and when she's ready.....we give her lots of praise if she even so much as licks something new. School are also trying to encourage her to try new foods.

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We asked for advice from the Child and Family Unit as ds (7) was dropping more and more things from what he would eat and was becoming a bit thin.

 

They basically said just to feed him what he will eat and to give him a good quality mulitvitamin. It doesn't feel very natural to feed him so much processed stuff (a lot of what he will eat is processed - microchips, waffles etc). The bright side to my ds is that he will eat a lot of veg and he has a pile of that with every meal, also smoothies.

 

I remember having a very select diet as a child and spending hours and hours sat in front of my meal in the kitchen - and I simply couldn't eat it, not to be awkward or difficult, I just couldn't eat it. I'm 31 now and probably still eat a smaller selection than most but the range has increased hugely compared to when I was a child. I'm hoping ds will be the same.

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Hi,

 

My DS is now nine and i very much recognise him in what you are describing about your own son.

 

Ds's range of 'acceptable foods' has grown ever so slowly but steadily over the past 3 years.

 

What worked for me was to introduce new things in very very small stages; for example a slightly different type of chicken nugget; for years only dinosaur shaped ones were acceptable for some reason; the day he ate jungle animal shaped nuggets i remember sneaking out of the dining room to dance round the kitchen (sad cow, i know!). Also cutting his raw carrots into different shapes (discs not sticks, i mean, not intricate flower shaped creations!), just to introduce the idea that things did not always have to be EXACTLY the same.

 

I have also spent more time than i care to remember putting for example Sainsbury's potato waffles into a birds eye packet (secretly of course) and other things along those lines- partly to find out what was an actual taste/texture issue and what was 'habit' (can't think of a better word) PLUS partly to stop him becoming obsessed with / stuck on the exact taste of certain brands.

 

Also; he went through a stage of being obsessively interested in all things 'space' so i remember a long but painfully subtle campaign i dreamt up to convince him that chicken burgers were just 'planet-shaped dinosaur chicken nuggets', starting with just pointing them out casually in the supermarket, but not even attempting to buy them, etc etc (took a good 3/4 months until we got to the point where he actually ate one).

 

I can't even remember all the similar schemes i've dreamt up over the years- and i think you definitely need a sense of humour to do it.

 

Maybe 9 out of 10 of my little ruses about food have not worked, but the other one in every ten HAVE, so to my mind it's been worth it, because, so slowly its hardly noticeable, his food intake has widened.

 

I've just read this all back and realise it sounds completely demented, but i'm sure some of you will understand/ recognise.

 

The only other thing i would say is 'try not worry' which might be hard to do, but gets easier once you realise they are not making themselves ill.

 

As far as the weightloss goes; get him monitored regularly by GP or practice nurse; it might be that it is just a growth spurt that is causing his current 'weightloss' / skinniness (my DS went through a similar thing aged 5 and has been tall and lanky but healthy ever since) and they will be able to reassure you. If he is actually malnourished he will stop growing taller- so it is worth keeping an eye on his height too- if only for reassurance.

 

GOOD LUCK!!

Edited by ameretto

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How long has this been going on Alexandra?

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HI mummy,M' always been a fussy eater,so we thought he was just being awkward,

 

its got worse, i would say over the last 6months, he won't eat in front of people either,

 

apart from our immediate family, my brother poppedin yesterday morning and M was eating his breakfast,

 

he stopped came into the kitchen with his bowl and said he'd eat it later, he won't eat in other peoples homes

 

either. He was weighrd last wednesday,and he's going back in 3 months, the nurse has mentioned it to our GP.

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I'm not sure why he would have suddenly gone downhill in the last six months or so. But then i remember reading somewhere that often children on the autistic spectrum will go through phases when their characteristics becaome more pronounced. I know puberty is one but there were others for no apparent reason.

We have a boy at our school that a year ago only ate kitkats and pringles. this went on for around 2 years. he had been through phases before of eating yoghurt and drinking milk but they seemed to have disappeared. Now though he eats a slice of toast in the morning and has a hot chocolate as well as his pringles, crisps and yoghurt.

He's twelve but the size of an average 8 year old.

A TV series running at the moment called freaky eaters is following the progress of adult who only eat a few things, but they are apparently healthy adults it' s really bizarre. I think it's on one of the freeview channels tonight (Sunday)

 

When Zak went through a phase like this (Which lasted about 5 years) We just gave him what he wanted when he wanted it as anything is better than nothing. he is now 11 but very small for his age, and still eats very little variation and HAS to have it on the piano stool in the front room, not the dining table!

 

I know it's hard but my biggest tip is 'don't worry'. As long as he is eating something at some point during the day he'll survive. also a multivitamin wouldn't go amiss. Our bodies are amazingly resilient. And of course you know I'll be praying for an improvement.

 

love mummy xx

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Just one thing, Alexandra, if you are seriously concerned that your lad isn't getting the nutrition and calories he needs, you can get a prescription from your GP for a fortified juice. My lad had it for a while, there are a few of them, Fortisip or Fortijuice, very thick juice drinks with extra calories and proteins and lots of added vitamins. He also had a powdered suppliment, can't remember the exact contents as it was quite a few years ago, but we used to add a spoonful to his milk and stir it up and it gave him, I think extra protein and carbs, etc. Hope this helps.

 

~ Mel ~

Edited by oxgirl

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Wow, I thought we were the only ones who played this game!

 

Our daughter (7) will only eat a few very specific (and mainly yellow) foods (but she won't eat from green plates or drink fro green beakers), she won't eat in other peoples houses, and struggles when we are out and about (other people may have touched her food, she also has OCD). She is very tall for her age, and she has truncal obesity too, so she looks very toddler, but I'm beginning to think that there may be an intolerance there, she is already wheat intolerant.

 

She will eat really strong flavoured foods - goats cheese, olives etc, she will also eat eggs, gluten free toast, cheese omelette, roast potatoes, gluten free pizza, potato wedges (but only from one shop), baked beans, bananas, wheat free spaghetti and yellow rice, as long as I take all the 'bits' out of it, and that's about it. She drinks water or milk, and the big breakthrough has been apple juice. We make cakes that she will eat (only when warm), and she'll also two flavours of crisps, and chocolate (very, very dark chocolate), but the problem we have is that she is anaemic, and I can't get the iron supplement into her, so I end up buying fortified lolly ices etc to try and get something into her! She also prefers to eat with her fingers, and struggles to co-ordinate a knife and fork.

 

We've really eased off worrying about it, and that has really helped, we also follow meal patterns to try and give her some variety and reflect what the rest of us are eating; we're really used to it now, but the family do find it odd if we go to dinner and I turn up with her roast potatoes in a foil container, ready to be cooked - if she knows I cooked them, then she'll eat them, but otherwise nope, she'd be happy to starve.

 

It'll make me feel so much better tomorrow when we are out with family, knowing others have the same issues at mealtimes :thumbs: !

 

Bat

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Had to reply when I saw your post! O aged 6 my 2nd ds will only eat yellow food too! Although for some reason , out of the blue the other day he ate a kiwi fruit!! He's not done it again though I live in hope. He has phases where he'll be a tiny bit more adventurous but then will always revert back to yellow food given half a chance!

Elun xx

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Just a word of comfort from an "old" Mum.

My son is 21 and has spent years eating a very restricted diet. It mainly consists of sausages, rice, marmite and crisps. Over the years he has had the odd fling with a new food and then reverts back.

I gave up worrying a long time ago. Nothing will make our children eat what they dont want and making a fuss makes things worse.

My son is now a healthy, strong, hairy chested, 6 footer!

Loraine

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I'm really comforted by the Mums of older children saying that they do grow out of it a bit. Logans diet is horrendous at the moment. Its never been great, but its worse than ever at the moment. Part of it is possibly stress too with us moving house. In the last 2-3 weeks he's eaten nothing but crisps, toast and jaffa cakes, and the occasional bowl of dried cereal. We are going to see about a really good multivitamin to make sure he's getting the nutrients he needs and take it from there. Otherwise i'm trying not to stress.

 

Lynne x

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