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TxnMom
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26 Apr 2017, 11:12 am

My son is 9 years old and HFASD. And he MAY just be the pickiest eater in the world.

He enjoys eating chicken nuggets (but only ONE specific brand), ham, eggs, frozen waffles and pasta (required to be plain noodles). And SOMEtimes, he might drink a Breakfast Essentials.

He refuses to eat, short list: cereals, oatmeal, most types of lunch meat, or regular meat in general, fruits, veggies, mac and cheese, pizza, any canned Chef Boyarde... and the list could go on for days.

He is now 4'8 and 60lbs. But he has been 60lbs for the past year! He takes ADHD medication and a vitamin daily.

Getting him to try new foods has been basically an impossible task. I have offered new foods. I have made him sit at the table until he finishes a plate of nuggets like it or not. I have begged and pleaded. I have explained that if he doesn't eat new things, he will get sick and wind up having to go to the hospital. His pediatrician has even told him the same thing.

If you or your child take supplements for calories... what do you take, or recommend??? I am completely out of ideas!



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26 Apr 2017, 11:34 am

So I was going to post suggestions on how to broaden his palate UNTIL I got to the end and saw that he is severely underweight. He is 60lbs at 4'8". In other words literal skin and bones. So clearly he isn't even really chowing down on the foods he doesn't hate which would make trying to introduce new foods difficult and might also negatively impact his already unhealthy weight.

PERsonally... I would take him to a doctor who specializes in weight gain and nutrition. Also you might consider switching ADHD meds, I know you want them to work, but he needs to put on some weight.

So in the meantime, or in the absence of a qualified professional, one option to consider might be a shake or milkshake of sometype if he likes milkshakes. You could get one of those high end meal shakes like shakeology and mix it with icecream and make a rather tasty shake with it. Sure, he's getting icecream, but in this case thats calories that he needs plus he is getting the shakeology which is pretty decent nutritionally speaking.



TxnMom
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26 Apr 2017, 11:57 am

CWA wrote:
So I was going to post suggestions on how to broaden his palate UNTIL I got to the end and saw that he is severely underweight. He is 60lbs at 4'8". In other words literal skin and bones. So clearly he isn't even really chowing down on the foods he doesn't hate which would make trying to introduce new foods difficult and might also negatively impact his already unhealthy weight.

PERsonally... I would take him to a doctor who specializes in weight gain and nutrition. Also you might consider switching ADHD meds, I know you want them to work, but he needs to put on some weight.

So in the meantime, or in the absence of a qualified professional, one option to consider might be a shake or milkshake of sometype if he likes milkshakes. You could get one of those high end meal shakes like shakeology and mix it with icecream and make a rather tasty shake with it. Sure, he's getting icecream, but in this case thats calories that he needs plus he is getting the shakeology which is pretty decent nutritionally speaking.


TO CWA: Thank you.

He is more than skin and bones, but yes, very lean. He is muscular (as we are all very tall and slender in my family. I am 5'7 and 110lbs at 33 years old).

He used to eat several different things, that he will just refuse to touch now. It has been several years of this uphill battle to get him to eat new things. As much as I'd love to even just get him to eat different things, regardless. It is SO difficult. And yeah, even on things like his chicken nuggets, it is literally an hour battle of "you aren't getting up until the plate is gone".

We have done a lot of switching on his meds (and were actually just at the pedi yesterday who decided a larger dosage but not switching). He is currently on Concerta, which has zero additional side effects for him - outside of suppressing his appetite.

Unfortunately, we just don't have the extra funds to see a nutritionist right now. I am a single-working mom, so every penny counts. I have researched nutritionists in my area, but I just cannot afford their services.

And also unfortunately, he doesn't like ice cream. He refuses to eat anything cold. :/ He will eat the Breakfast Essentials from time to time (I still call them Instant Breakfasts), but he won't do it every day. Sometimes, I struggle with even giving him that, however. Because when he does drink it, he enjoys it... but will chug it, and then fight that he is no longer hungry for his breakfast or dinner, whichever meal he has it with. Then it's playing the stubbornness rounds all over again to get him to eat the rest of his food and protein.



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26 Apr 2017, 4:39 pm

In the case of underweight, you can try sport drinks. (E.g. Gatorade.) It's better than other sugary alternatives.

Pickiness in eating is a very common problem. In your case it's probably too late. But what we did with our children was to start them on vegetable/fruit smoothie from young age (that means starting from 1 year old.) With today's life style, frankly that is the only way how anybody can realistically meet their daily need of fruits and vegetables, anyway. Unfortunately a high-speed blender is needed (e.g. Vitamix), which is not very cheap. There is no recipe for the smoothie, you just use whatever vegetable/fruit you have at hand. Also, because you probably want to use organic materials, the whole thing is not very cheap. My wife makes the smoothie twice a week and stores it in the fridge. It's worth it. The smoothie "pivots" through different ingredients and flavors/textures, so today my children are open to eat anything. They've gotten used to all flavors (including Tumeric). They even eat spicy Mexican food without problems. (Flossing and brushing should be mandatory after smoothie.) So this message is more for parents with younger-age autistic children. Don't wait. Because if you don't start with smoothies early, you will run into food pickiness issues later... which will certainly be much harder to deal with.


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TxnMom
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26 Apr 2017, 8:08 pm

eikonabridge wrote:
In the case of underweight, you can try sport drinks. (E.g. Gatorade.) It's better than other sugary alternatives.

Pickiness in eating is a very common problem. In your case it's probably too late. But what we did with our children was to start them on vegetable/fruit smoothie from young age (that means starting from 1 year old.) With today's life style, frankly that is the only way how anybody can realistically meet their daily need of fruits and vegetables, anyway. Unfortunately a high-speed blender is needed (e.g. Vitamix), which is not very cheap. There is no recipe for the smoothie, you just use whatever vegetable/fruit you have at hand. Also, because you probably want to use organic materials, the whole thing is not very cheap. My wife makes the smoothie twice a week and stores it in the fridge. It's worth it. The smoothie "pivots" through different ingredients and flavors/textures, so today my children are open to eat anything. They've gotten used to all flavors (including Tumeric). They even eat spicy Mexican food without problems. (Flossing and brushing should be mandatory after smoothie.) So this message is more for parents with younger-age autistic children. Don't wait. Because if you don't start with smoothies early, you will run into food pickiness issues later... which will certainly be much harder to deal with.


Thank you, Jason.

Sadly, this is one of the things he used to love. He would drink the V8 Fusion juices ALL the time, and pick different "colors" that he wanted. He also used to love the Danimals drinkable yogurt. I could not keep a good enough stock on hand because he would go through them so quickly!! Unfortunately now, he just refuses. Or if he talks himself into wanting to "try it again", he will take one barely-half-sip and refuse the rest. :| :| :?



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13 May 2017, 7:15 pm

He sounds just like my older boy, but we didn't have the meds to deal with. The pediatrician once told us, "You know how other people tell you, your child won't starve to death? They are wrong. Some kids will starve themselves to death and your son in one of them." I totally feel for you!

My best suggestion is to make sure every bite that does go into him has the maximum calories and nutrition possible. Also, insist he taste all the foods your family eats EVERY SINGLE time you eat them (even if they are leftovers from the day before). This could be as minimal as licking it. My son takes mouse sized nibbles. That's how he finds new foods to eat all day, every day, for 6 months at a time before he never touches them again. That's our ongoing battle with protein foods in a nutshell. He finally eats sandwiches now! (2 slices of bread with meat and nothing else, but still the food is touching!)

Do your best to NOT make food an issue. I know this one is super hard, but the more it becomes an issue the more of an issue it will become, if that makes sense. As long as he is healthy and not losing weight (mine was at one point) things aren't the end of the world. I swear he lived off of fiber one bars and plain potato chips for 90% of his food intake for awhile, but then he found things he would eat (because we made him taste everything all the time....)

The breakfast shakes are a great thing! If he'll drink them make them the entire meal. Don't expect him to eat other food with them, but add weight gain powder or protein powder or anything he's willing to ingest into it to boot the calories. Try blending in avocado, coconut oil, heck any oil... And let him eat as much of what he will eat as you can. Any calorie is a good calorie! If possible try to make sure he's taking some kind of multivitamin though. If chewables are repulsive get him to swallow regular pills. Bribe him with not bugging him as much as about food if necessary.

Oh and see if you can figure out what really bothers him. My son has issues with both taste and texture. He can tell different brands of things apart when no one else can.

Remember above all, your son isnt' being bad, he just can taste things you can't. Imagine if people tried to make you eat the grossest possible food you can think of morning, noon, and night, food that made you gag. That's pretty much the place my son was in before we let up on the food struggles and just focused on basic calorie intake and "tasting" everything. Everyone is much happier here now and he eats a lot more foods than he used to.



Last edited by puzzledoll on 13 May 2017, 10:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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13 May 2017, 7:59 pm

TxnMom wrote:
CWA wrote:
So I was going to post suggestions on how to broaden his palate UNTIL I got to the end and saw that he is severely underweight. He is 60lbs at 4'8". In other words literal skin and bones. So clearly he isn't even really chowing down on the foods he doesn't hate which would make trying to introduce new foods difficult and might also negatively impact his already unhealthy weight.

PERsonally... I would take him to a doctor who specializes in weight gain and nutrition. Also you might consider switching ADHD meds, I know you want them to work, but he needs to put on some weight.

So in the meantime, or in the absence of a qualified professional, one option to consider might be a shake or milkshake of sometype if he likes milkshakes. You could get one of those high end meal shakes like shakeology and mix it with icecream and make a rather tasty shake with it. Sure, he's getting icecream, but in this case thats calories that he needs plus he is getting the shakeology which is pretty decent nutritionally speaking.


TO CWA: Thank you.

He is more than skin and bones, but yes, very lean. He is muscular (as we are all very tall and slender in my family. I am 5'7 and 110lbs at 33 years old).

He used to eat several different things, that he will just refuse to touch now. It has been several years of this uphill battle to get him to eat new things. As much as I'd love to even just get him to eat different things, regardless. It is SO difficult. And yeah, even on things like his chicken nuggets, it is literally an hour battle of "you aren't getting up until the plate is gone".

We have done a lot of switching on his meds (and were actually just at the pedi yesterday who decided a larger dosage but not switching). He is currently on Concerta, which has zero additional side effects for him - outside of suppressing his appetite.

Unfortunately, we just don't have the extra funds to see a nutritionist right now. I am a single-working mom, so every penny counts. I have researched nutritionists in my area, but I just cannot afford their services.

And also unfortunately, he doesn't like ice cream. He refuses to eat anything cold. :/ He will eat the Breakfast Essentials from time to time (I still call them Instant Breakfasts), but he won't do it every day. Sometimes, I struggle with even giving him that, however. Because when he does drink it, he enjoys it... but will chug it, and then fight that he is no longer hungry for his breakfast or dinner, whichever meal he has it with. Then it's playing the stubbornness rounds all over again to get him to eat the rest of his food and protein.


Has he had a GI workup to make sure he doesn't have anything physical going on with him? Also, there are eating disorders doctors who specialize in very picky eaters. There are also appetite stimulants.



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13 May 2017, 9:26 pm

TxnMom wrote:
My son is 9 years old and HFASD. And he MAY just be the pickiest eater in the world.

He enjoys eating chicken nuggets (but only ONE specific brand), ham, eggs, frozen waffles and pasta (required to be plain noodles). And SOMEtimes, he might drink a Breakfast Essentials.

He refuses to eat, short list: cereals, oatmeal, most types of lunch meat, or regular meat in general, fruits, veggies, mac and cheese, pizza, any canned Chef Boyarde... and the list could go on for days.

He is now 4'8 and 60lbs. But he has been 60lbs for the past year! He takes ADHD medication and a vitamin daily.

Getting him to try new foods has been basically an impossible task. I have offered new foods. I have made him sit at the table until he finishes a plate of nuggets like it or not. I have begged and pleaded. I have explained that if he doesn't eat new things, he will get sick and wind up having to go to the hospital. His pediatrician has even told him the same thing.

If you or your child take supplements for calories... what do you take, or recommend??? I am completely out of ideas!


Does it have to do with texture at all? I myself have some sensory issues with food so could be something related to that. For instance I can eat fries, fried potatos, hashbrowns, potatoes put in with a roast ect but mashed potatoes are a problem because of the texture. I also don't like condiments like mayo, mustard, ketchup, sour cream and stuff like that. Some casseroles have too unpleasant of a texture, I don't like american cheese slices, I hate creamy salad dressings and yeah there are other things.

I also have had issues with food being too sweet, I never liked any of the 'kids' cereal because it was all sweet have you tried just plain cereal? Or maybe dry cereal? I know for a time I'd eat cereal dry and just drink some milk with it. As for fruit will he not eat any whole fruit? will he drink fruit juice?

I mean the big part would be figuring out what is actually an aversion to him, and try to work around those things perhaps...but could also just be general child pickiness and difficulty. The thing is is trying to make him eat foods hes actually adverse to won't help might be hard to understand but like for me if I try to eat the above listed things I will end up kind of gagging on it. Of course may be hard to tell if he actually has a sensory issue with a food or if he's just would prefer something else. I mean my parents didn't know about autism or sensory issues, so I certainly had more than one occasion of being sat at the table 'till I finish it' and sitting there for hours because I couldn't eat it.

In the end the important part is that he gets proper nutrients and calorie intake, not what specific foods he gets it from.

But yeah food sensitivity can be a lifelong thing, but it certainly becomes easier to manage as you age. Also though tastes can change like I have burnt myself out on foods because I ate them so much I had to take a break for a while...so tastes can certainly change which unfortunately just complicates the food sensitivity issue further. Like I have liked potato chips and currently I am back in a phase of not being able to eat them. But as a child it can be much harder to recognize these things and predict it let alone handle it maturely. I mean he might be afraid of trying new things because he's worried about it being unpleasant, because remember with food sensitivities its not a case of simply 'I don't like it' its more like 'no I like seriously will gag if I eat this.' But maybe if you encourage him he can just try a small bite and not have to eat the rest if its bad that would help make it a little less worrying.


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14 May 2017, 1:07 pm

It's an eternal debate.

On the one side, you have Donald Trump's Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue: “If kids aren’t eating the food, and it’s ending up in the trash, they aren’t getting any nutrition — thus undermining the intent of the program.” Also from the Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts: "Try eating a biscuit made with whole grains," Roberts said. "It just doesn't work!"

On the other side, you have Michelle Obama's response: "Think about why someone is okay with your kids eating crap." (That's a verbatim quote.)

I think the main issue is not so much about food. The deeper issue is intellectual development. We tend to focus on the secondary issues, at the expense of not addressing the primary issue. But then, the same can be said for just about everything regarding today's approach to autism.


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19 Jun 2017, 8:51 pm

I had the same issue when I was a little kid. My diet gave me bad stomach problems that continue to this day, and at one point I was really underweight and malnourished. I lived almost exclusively on Cheerios, pasta, and Pizza Rolls. My mom had to put up with a lot, looking back. My problem was at its peak when I was nine, and that was when she finally started trying to push me towards new foods, mostly calorie-dense stuff like Breakfast Mix. With me being one of six, though, she didn't have much time to sit me down. The approach she ended up taking instead consisted of giving me five to ten dollars and setting me loose in the grocery store with the allowance to choose my own foods, with the exception of types I already ate daily. She also gave me a drawer in the fridge to keep my food separate. By doing all this, she gave me as much control as possible while also making it clear that I had to accept new foods as a part of the deal. I think that made it much easier on me. The foods, although new, were my foods. It made them less foreign in a way.


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01 Aug 2017, 9:34 am

I was a picky eater as a child and also very active. I was thin until I was in the third grade, when I really began to have an interest in all types of food. Unfortunately, there was a time in junior high and early high school when I became too sedentary and ate too much, and gained a lot of weight. Today, I make sure to have the right balance of nutrition and activity.



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01 Aug 2017, 12:46 pm

My son is NT and he is a picky eater. He will not try new foods and he will only eat certain kinds. Luckily he likes bananas and apples and oranges and cereal. I also let him go hungry and refuse to give him anything new because anything that has been made, I refuse to make something else if there is already food made. Kids are allowed to dislike foods (my daughter doesn't like boxes mac and cheese that has powdered cheese) but my son is so picky, he isn't allowed to dislike foods because he dislikes anything so him saying he doesn't like something isn't an option, think of crying wolf. He is also skinny but he isn't skin and bones.

My niece is also picky and it turned out she had food allergies and she also would have starved herself to death. I was annoyed in my apartment when my husband used our money to buy her food because she wouldn't eat what we made everyone and I was like she can just go hungry. But luckily when she got older, she would bring her own food over because she knew she couldn't just have us cater her and use our own money for her feeding. If your son complains about anything in his stomach, get him check out for any food allergy. That was a mistake my husband's family made with my niece because they would ignore her complaints about her stomach after being forced to eat foods she didn't like and they thought she was just being manipulative and was just complaining. They had to make her eat foods before letting her eat foods she liked. It was very hard. Now she has an excuse for her picky eating. :D

Also can you sneak in some extra calories in his food? Add a supplement. Is there anything you can slip in his drinks that has calories so he has supplements?


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24 Aug 2017, 5:24 pm

Im a bit of a naturalist when it comes to handling issues with autism related disorders, Medication only treats the symptoms, not the cause of the problem. Unless your child has some comorbid condition such as Schizophrenia, I'd advise against giving them pills versus what you can do by giving them a constructive hobby, a calm environment, and cultivating interests that lead to useful skills. My girls when they got into their teen years took an interest in cooking after watching shows like Bizzarre foods, and Good Eats, then began experimenting in the kitchen to the point they want to make dinner for themselves. I think a key thing is with children on spectrum is that they know what their food is made of and how its made, because if I eat their leftover meals, they get ticked.



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31 Aug 2017, 6:12 pm

Tell him he can eat what you made or he can choose not to eat

You are not a short order cook

Or creatively disguise nutritious food as ham (which you said he eats)

:mrgreen:

When I was twelve years old, I told my precious lil "parents" I was becoming a vegetarian

:evil:

They kept telling me off

:cry:

They did not cook separate meals

They verbally pressured me :x

Overheard my precious lil "mom" say she was hiding meat in the vegetables

And I am 34 now

She dropped dead two years ago

And I still hold an intense grudge against her

:heart:

So


:wink:

Feel free to

Plagiarize her


:D invention 8O



:idea:



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03 Sep 2017, 10:17 am

Something else to consider..

Is it physically hard for him to actually eat?

This will not be obvious.

My husband has low muscle tone especially in his jaws, tongue and hands. Eating actually wears him out. He says it takes forever for him to chew to where he actually feels like he can swallow it. I'm talking down to puree level chewing. Small chunks make him gag. He has to really concentrate to cut up his food and get it to his mouth.

So...if you add in texture issues (huge issue for husband), smell/taste (another huge issue), and the bonus round physically eating is like running a four minute mile for him, you can see why eating is not high on his list.

Feeding issues are not usually for kids with all sort of developmental issues. Chewing, swallowing, drinking need all sort of muscles to work perfectly together. Because of your son's weight, you probably get him into a feeding clinic for an evaluation. People like speech pathology will see if there is actually something physically wrong with how his jaw, tongue etc work while he eats.

My son's friend was tube feed as a baby, and the feeding clinic actually taught him how to eat and drink. (Child has a normal IQ). The child had huge sensory issues because all food and drink was gross to him. Every food taste was overwhelming, because as a baby, he never put anything in his mouth except an ice cube.

Big university hospital will have feeding clinics, and the major hospital by me has one. I'm pretty sure with your son's diagnosis and weight, insurance should cover at least one evaluation.



shortfatbalduglyman
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04 Sep 2017, 2:26 pm

Take you son to a psychologist to discuss

Anorexia

Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder

Eating disorders not otherwise specified

Take your son to a medical doctor

See if any physical problem or disease is causing the problem