Food - how do you deal with it..

[Lynden]

Logans never been a good eater. When he was diddy he had reflux, and then he's had chronic constipation (managed with meds now) so that obviously didn't help his eating and he was referred for growth at one point but he has thankfully started gaining weight etc.

 

However, he has a cr*p diet :-( I know a lot of 2 and a bit year olds have bad diets, but he just point blank refuses to eat 90% of what I put in front of him at the moment.

 

How do you deal with that - do you just let him have what you know he'll eat (usually crisps) or let him go hungry.

 

I know he likes highly flavoured foods but even those aren't tempting him at the moment.

 

Lynne

[OPooh]

I used to find the healthy stuff my son would eat - even if that was yoghurt as opossed to crisps for example - and just gave him that - but would add one other food with it and serve it up without expecting him to eat it/putting too much pressure on him.

 

What do you do now?

[witsend]

Hi Lynne - I think this is quite a tricky one, I know the health professionals would prob say just let him get hungry and then he will eat when he's ready, but I know this is a lot easier said than done. As your little one has a history of poor weight gain there are bound to for you be lots of emotional issues tied up with his non eating and you're prob just relieved when he eats at all. First I would say don't worry too much about his 'cr*p diet' it's amazing how kids thrive on cr*p, but also like pooh said I'd try to keep introducing other food too without any pressure. Would it help to get him involved in making the food, so he can feel and see it being prepared and maybe try it at the same time in a relaxed fun, doesn't matter if you don't kind of way?

My son is often so not bothered about food he could go for ages without eating at all, he needs to be reminded to eat but sometimes the more I push it the less he eats anyway. I was often made to eat when I didn't want to as a child so I guess that's made me determined not to do that to my kids, but it is worrying when they've not eaten a proper meal for days. Kids your sons age are notoriously picky eaters and hopefully it will improve as he gets older. At the moment my younger (3 yr old NT son) is worse than my 10 yr old AS son. Have to admit I have days when I totally ban crisps/sweets etc and more often than not they do actually then eat a decent meal, but it's hard to keep this up day in day out.

Try not to let it get to you to much because then it becomes a bit of a vicous circle.

Take care - luv Witsend.

[lindy-lou]

india doesnt eat very much at all and like most kids would rather have a bag of crisps than an apple,she doesnt have any weight issues though in fact shes a very sturdy kid,you could try chopping all his food into very small manageable pieces,or making faces with his food,another good way to get kids to eat is to let them be involved in making it,they often want to eat what they have prepared themselves,i wouldnt worry about it too much though,as long as he's not starving himself it shouldnt do much harm,if you do feel he's losing weight you could ask your gp or HV about supplemetary milkshakes called ensure which are calorie builders.

[loulou]

Hi,

 

One trick i used when Kai was younger (he became a major fussy eater after he had bowel surgery), was to calmly walk into the lounge, put an item of food (ie a banana) near him, and leave the room.

 

If a asked him to eat it, he wouldn't, so i kept quiet. When i came back in the room, he'd usually eaten it!

 

I think that positive praise for anything your little one does it is a good idea. Have you watched House of Tiny Tearaways? Dr Tanya Byron has some great ways of getting food phobic kids to eat.

 

Loulou x

[Viper]

My 5 yr old AS son has never eaten a proper meal in his life. Last Christmas he had 2 yorkshire puddings for his dinner.

 

I do worry about his diet, he has never eaten meat and rarely eats veg. His diet has got worse over the years, I supose I cant dictate what he eats as much as when he was a baby.

 

We have ried all the tricks in the book, making food with him, he just says I don't have to eat this do I mummy and he doesn't.

 

I put extra bits on his plate but it has noe effect. I have given up hope. he is still active and growing so I try not to let it bother me.

 

I have applied to go on "the house of tiny tearaways" though.

 

Viper.

[Lynden]

I used to find the healthy stuff my son would eat - even if that was yoghurt as opossed to crisps for example - and just gave him that - but would add one other food with it and serve it up without expecting him to eat it/putting too much pressure on him.

 

What do you do now?

Hi OPooh

 

At the moment I try him with his meal, then a sandwich or something similar, then yoghurt - then resort to crisps. With my NT daughter I'd probably say its that or nothing, but because we've had such issues with his eating I tend to jsut want him to eat anything that he will!!

 

Lynne

[Lynden]

Hi Lynne - I think this is quite a tricky one, I know the health professionals would prob say just let him get hungry and then he will eat when he's ready, but I know this is a lot easier said than done. As your little one has a history of poor weight gain there are bound to for you be lots of emotional issues tied up with his non eating and you're prob just relieved when he eats at all. First I would say don't worry too much about his 'cr*p diet' it's amazing how kids thrive on cr*p, but also like pooh said I'd try to keep introducing other food too without any pressure. Would it help to get him involved in making the food, so he can feel and see it being prepared and maybe try it at the same time in a relaxed fun, doesn't matter if you don't kind of way?

My son is often so not bothered about food he could go for ages without eating at all, he needs to be reminded to eat but sometimes the more I push it the less he eats anyway. I was often made to eat when I didn't want to as a child so I guess that's made me determined not to do that to my kids, but it is worrying when they've not eaten a proper meal for days. Kids your sons age are notoriously picky eaters and hopefully it will improve as he gets older. At the moment my younger (3 yr old NT son) is worse than my 10 yr old AS son. Have to admit I have days when I totally ban crisps/sweets etc and more often than not they do actually then eat a decent meal, but it's hard to keep this up day in day out.

Try not to let it get to you to much because then it becomes a bit of a vicous circle.

Take care - luv Witsend.

Definitely true re the emotional issues round hsi food - I'm just glad to get him to eat sometimes. I had thought about involving him in the food prep but he's not at that stage yet developmentally. Will just keep going with what I'm doing and try not to stress!

 

Lynne x

[Lynden]

india doesnt eat very much at all and like most kids would rather have a bag of crisps than an apple,she doesnt have any weight issues though in fact shes a very sturdy kid,you could try chopping all his food into very small manageable pieces,or making faces with his food,another good way to get kids to eat is to let them be involved in making it,they often want to eat what they have prepared themselves,i wouldnt worry about it too much though,as long as he's not starving himself it shouldnt do much harm,if you do feel he's losing weight you could ask your gp or HV about supplemetary milkshakes called ensure which are calorie builders.

Thanks Lindy-Lou. We do try the fun faces etc, and he's not at the stage where we can involve him yet. He isn't losing weight at the moment thankfully so I guess I need to stress less. To me his diet is poor but I guess if he's healthy he must be getting more or less what he needs.

 

Lynne

[Lynden]

My 5 yr old AS son has never eaten a proper meal in his life. Last Christmas he had 2 yorkshire puddings for his dinner.

 

I do worry about his diet, he has never eaten meat and rarely eats veg. His diet has got worse over the years, I supose I cant dictate what he eats as much as when he was a baby.

 

We have ried all the tricks in the book, making food with him, he just says I don't have to eat this do I mummy and he doesn't.

 

I put extra bits on his plate but it has noe effect. I have given up hope. he is still active and growing so I try not to let it bother me.

 

I have applied to go on "the house of tiny tearaways" though.

 

Viper.

I can see that being me in 3 years time Viper. Your son sounds a lot like Logan dietwise. I hope you get on the show!!

 

Lynne

[Lynden]

Hi,

 

One trick i used when Kai was younger (he became a major fussy eater after he had bowel surgery), was to calmly walk into the lounge, put an item of food (ie a banana) near him, and leave the room.

 

If a asked him to eat it, he wouldn't, so i kept quiet. When i came back in the room, he'd usually eaten it!

 

I think that positive praise for anything your little one does it is a good idea. Have you watched House of Tiny Tearaways? Dr Tanya Byron has some great ways of getting food phobic kids to eat.

 

Loulou x

Loulou

 

Thanks. I might try that. We do tend to let him graze a lot during the day, but I've never just left him to it. He doesn't know when his mouth is full though so needs supervision or he chokes himself so I'll just have to keep an eye from afar.

 

I've not watched House of Tiny Tearaways but know friends who've gone to her talks and think she's fab.

 

Lynne

[DAS999]

My G/F's diet is so so limited and I constantly worry. Last blood test showed low levels of iron, calcium and folic acid. Suppliments are working to get the levels up but I still worry. She will live on just bread and butter given half a chance! Oh well all I can do is try and encourage, support and praise!

[Klou]

Time has improved my son's diet alot. He is fussy about having certain foods mixed together occasionally we have a break through if we are having a good day and he tries something, likes it and will hopefully then eat it again. We have big problems with meat. He usually refuses to eat it. Also he seems to have days where he will only eat certain foods eg a carb day of potato and bread followed by a fruit day or a protein day: meat and cheese.

 

The problem with making my son go hungry and telling him there is nothing else is that he will accept that and refuse to eat rather than eat what he doesn't want to. Then his behaviour becomes a problem because he doesn't fully understand the idea of getting nothing else later.

 

He seems to have grown into the idea of eating some stuff he wouldn't touch before to the point of obsession. He would never eat ham and cheese now he wants it everyday and would eat only ham cheese yoghurt and fruit if I let him.

 

Plenty of adults have certain foods they dislike, I wouldn't serve them if that person came to dinner so if I know DS really can't stomach something I don't make him eat it.

 

Positive encouragement when he can't be bothered or feeding him as a last resort sometimes helps.

[fiorelli]

I have totally the opposite problem. Louis won't STOP eating! He eats everything we put in front of him, and steals more.

 

He will ask for food, and then throw a fit when we say 'no' or 'you've just had ......'.

 

Anyone got any ideas for helping him stop needing food so much?

 

 

n.b. I must say, Louis is not fat, he is not overweight. He has had his weight and height checked by various medical professionals over the last 6 months. He uses up every bit of energy that his food gives him - at the moment...

 

 

 

As for those having problems getting their child to eat, I have found with my youngest son, that lots of praise when he tries something new and Not forcing anything on him. both help when he is refusing to eat certain foods.

[OPooh]

I'd try not worrying about it (easier said than done) and concentrate on him eating something and seeing if it gets any better with age. Did with my son.

[Blue-Kat]

I read somewhere that an ecessive liking for salt is quite common in people with ASD.

also that their strong likes and dislikes are due to being more intune with their body, even if what they consume doesn't appear to constitute a healthy diet.

there's an excellent book on autism and how to deal with food refusal, extrmely limited diet written by a very positive mum and includes a chapter witten by expert on food issues at Gt Ormand St.

sorry I can't remember the title but maybe other posters will.

bests

-

Katya