moomum Report post Posted February 17, 2009 My 5 and a half year old (diagnosed with extreme anxiety and presenting with some aspergers traits) gags at the sight of runny food or messy eaters. Recently he has had a cold and been a bit flemmy (sp?) and now gags at smells of food so eating out is pretty much impossible. He will start retching as we go into a cafe. At school (I go in to support him through lunch) he can cope with other peoples food because he wants to sit with his friends. My strategy is to tell him not to look at the runny food and to not think about it. When he is calm he is able to cope with it better. If I am eating soup at home he sometimes asks me to eat somewhere else, which I refuse to do, but I will let him eat somewhere else if he is really struggling with it. This all started when he threw up at the sight of my downs syndrome sister eating really messily. At her house, he often takes his food and eats it on the stairs so he doesn't have to sit at the table. It is getting a bit unworkable, so any help or ideas or links would be really appreciated! I am trying not to pander to it, or to make it affect other people if possible but he is struggling so I feel mean! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Louisa Report post Posted February 17, 2009 Hi My daughter who is 15 has always been, and is still like this. She too has extreme anxiety & asperger's traits but they said she didn't tick enough boxes. When she was a baby if we were out in a restaurant/cafe she would be gagging in her high chair and customers would be staring at us! If for example, her little brother spills a tiny bit of mash potato on the table she starts to gag & has to have it wiped up immediately. She cant stand anything runny or soggy, her foods cant touch each other and she has to analyse the food before she eats it. She has never grown out of it and is an extremely fussy eater. Sorry this isn't much help. Hopefully somebody will have some advice. Louisa Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moomum Report post Posted February 17, 2009 Hi My daughter who is 15 has always been, and is still like this. She too has extreme anxiety & asperger's traits but they said she didn't tick enough boxes. Thanks Louisa, it is good to know that other people are similar, though of course I would rather none of us had to deal with it! How do you cope with it? Have you found anything that makes it easier for her? T seems to be getting worse as he gets older, and he started doing this last year. He was fine before that. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
madme Report post Posted February 17, 2009 My daughter (Dx Aspergers) has issues about others eating and if she thinks someone has "touched her food". eg If her brother for example used his fork to steal a chip from her plate she would then say that the whole plate was contaminiated and throw it all away. If someone is a messy eater she will stop eating. When she was younger (3-4) she had dfifficulties with food- and would restrict what she ate. She often vomited from a young age and will still do this - though thankfully not as frequently. At onme point she was under a dietician. She has lots of other sensory issues about clothes and her hair and is now also diagnosed as having sensory integration disorder. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moomum Report post Posted February 17, 2009 My daughter (Dx Aspergers) has issues about others eating and if she thinks someone has "touched her food". eg If her brother for example used his fork to steal a chip from her plate she would then say that the whole plate was contaminiated and throw it all away. If someone is a messy eater she will stop eating. When she was younger (3-4) she had dfifficulties with food- and would restrict what she ate. She often vomited from a young age and will still do this - though thankfully not as frequently. At onme point she was under a dietician. She has lots of other sensory issues about clothes and her hair and is now also diagnosed as having sensory integration disorder. Thanks Madme. T is a bit funny about clothes - he will only wear soft things, track suit bottoms for example and I have just recently got him to wear pants under them. But then I don't wear anything uncomfortable, so I relate to that. Did the dietician help at all? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Suze Report post Posted February 17, 2009 Hi <'> , I can totally relate to your post.My son has these problems also.As a baby he did,nt keep feeds down, gagged with lumpy food(we still pureed it till he was 4).He would gag at the supermarket, with cheese, meat, spills on the table.He could,nt open the fridge or eat around people.We saw an occupational therapist and had sensory integration therapy.Which helped a bit.We were also advised to use mints to suck as these would help when in a bad atmoshere.It is all tied in to a very strong sense of smell.I know because I was the same and had real problems also.I was genuinely terrifed of smelling something bad and it making me sick,I would also vomit a gloopy food.Rice pudding still makes my blood run cold.My son has become more de-sensitised as he has got older he is now 13 and doesn,t vomit or gag as often as he used too.He still has strange eating habits though, and prefers to eat alone and cover his food in vinegar and ketchup Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NobbyNobbs Report post Posted February 17, 2009 i have pretty strong aversion to foods which i find unappealing, whether through taste or smell. i physically feel sick if i smell or hear them being eaten (i'm holding my breath right now because my moms just opened the dishwasher and i can smell 3 days of food. perhaps a program of desensitizing would be helpful to your son. expose him to things he doesn't like, but only when he feels he is best able to cope with it and work through with him different ways to deal with his disgust - i dont meant make him eat, that wouldn't go down well! its obviously not practical to allow him to continue with the reaction at the level it is now and the fact that he can tolerate it when he is motivated to (at lunchtime at school) would suggest that he is able to get it more under control at other times with some practice. the idea of not looking is very good. i do this in some situations, another tactic is holding your breath if the smell is passing. also linking unpleasent foods with other activities he likes is useful. for example if he doesn't like the look of yogurt, but will use PVA glue to make a craft project, explain the similarities in texture (making sure to be clear you can't eat glue!) and if he's brave enough, get him touching and smelling both of them. when he's mastered one food, move on to another. you could also try getting him to sit at the table while you're eating soup, but facing away from you, so that he's near the problem food, but can't see it. gradually turn the chair so that its facing more towards you (over a period of weeks, not one sitting) and work from there. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moomum Report post Posted February 17, 2009 There are some really helpful ideas there, thank you. He has no problem using PVA but I would be worried that if I pointes out that it is like yoghurt to him he might get funny about PVA too. Funnily enough, one of his favorite toys is slime - anything gooey and tactile. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
