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Help with autistic son who wont try new food
Sarah345
Member Posts: 5 Listener
Hi, I'm wondering if anyone can help or give me some ideas or strategies. My son is 5 and autistic. The variety of foods he would eat was quite good and slowly over the years and more recently the different varieties of foods he will eat is getting smaller. The foods he used to eat he now says taste bad, he point blank refuses to try any new foods. He is always saying he is hungry (because there isnt much foods he likes to fill up on) and when we ask him what he wants, he says he doesnt know and gets upset, he doesnt choose if we give him a choice of foods. He will only eat certain types of foods at certain times, so breakfast foods he wouldn't eat at dinner time etc. We are trying messy play with foods to get him interested in food but any other advice would be appreciated as in not sure what to do next. Many thanks xx
Replies
Maybe you may find something useful in our parents section or have you had a look on any autistic forums for advice.
You could also contact your GP to refer you to a nutrition specialist
Can you simply ensure you haven't bought anything junk, so if the cupboards are bare, he cannot make the choice and can see for himself the biscuits, crisps and sugar are all eaten up and gone? As long as he doesn't come with you to the shops, would it be logical to him that if it's gone, it's gone? I don't know by experience, but would the straightforwardness of his reasoning be in your favour?
The other thing, which I have experienced with some children trained to eat junk,, is to sneakily swap for healthier but similar things. There are more and more, especially in health shops, but also in supermarkets, such as stuff without sugar, or low calorie crisps, or dried fruit or veg instead of crisps.
The other difficulty you mention is about the correct items of food at the correct mealtimes, and not wanting to deal with offers of choices in between meals. First thought is to always have two or three drinks of water, (possibly with a bit of unsweetened fruit juice in the appropriately coloured cup), maybe always on the drainer, which he can select himself as and when he feels hungry at non mealtimes
And, do you strictly need to eat at set times? I have no idea how much it would distress him for the family to have a first and a second breakfast, maybe a small bowl of sugarless cereal at one, and a boiled egg at another . Sorry, I'm second guessing if slightly varying but still conforming would be a possible slackening of his need for routine, or would make him anxious.
Another poster mentioned texture, which I can see could be an important possibility to make different things interesting. I've known one child who took forever to get through a meal, not that she didn't want it, just that she was (grew up to still be) a really slow eater. Another had apparently some non diagnosed swallowing problems, right from birth, so it was physically easier for him to fill up on sweets than roast beef, but he didn't have the language to explain the problem, and the whole family became tense at meals, but they never tried not buying the cupboards-full of junk, nor of making easily swallowed food (mince rather than chunks of meat for instance).
What about not serving each person's personal plateful, just putting a suitable amount of good foods on the middle of the table with no fuss or remark, including some he used to like, and each helping yourselves to a very little, acting away like Judi Dench, then in an offhand way, later taking a little of something else, as if food is all fine, and pleasant, although it isn't particularly important to any one of you, and you haven't really noticed what anyone else is eating......I think it's something I saw on a professional nanny documentary. (I think I can comprehend him not wanting to be questioned and made responsible for difficult decisions, till "no" becomes the easiest word. )
If you could look up arfid (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder) you might find some clues as to your child's preferences.
I get stressed and can't eat proper food, I can't cook it properly sometimes so I eat toast a lot. It's the healthiest bread I can find but it's still only toast. After a few days my stress eases off and I can eat properly again.
NAS might have some information on their website too.
I hope that helps? Best wishes