How do I get my son to try new foods?

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His diet is pretty randomly selective. He is a visual eater - meaning, he decides to try food or not based on how it looks and I can see by his eyes if he finds something disgusting or not. I'll see him involuntarily wretch if he sees something that looks inedible to him.

So, how do I get him to try foods? Now that he's 5.5 and understanding more, is there a way to entice him to try? I don't want to use force as that has SOOOOOO not worked the few times we tried to starve him out or force it in his mouth (around age two - one time only each).

His diet is primarily peanut butter sandwiches and sliced apples and clementines. He will eat breaded chicken fingers/nuggets, rice, spring rolls (from one restaurant only that we no longer live near) chocolate mini wheats, blueberry mini wheats, cheerios, goldfish, milk, orange juice, cookies (some of them), and homemade bread, cakes, pumpkin pie, scrambled eggs, french fries, grilled cheese (sometimes), and cheese pizza. That's it.

Foods he used to eat but gave up (probably from over eating them): cottage cheese, chocolate nutrition bars, peas, carrots, broccoli and green beans.

He has never tried pasta, regular potatoes, most veggies and fruits and meats and cheeses besides what's melted on pizza or grilled cheese. Basically, almost anything you would make for a typical dinner, he will not try. Now, most things, in the past, when he tried a new food, he liked it, but he will not try and says a very sound "no! I will not try it" and gets up and away from the table to avoid it. Even getting him to sit down at the table with us to eat is pretty hit and miss.

Could try breading strips of beef (or fish or whatever) if he's okay eating & looking at breaded chicken. But tell him it's a diffrent meat, or he might get upset at you.
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For other stuff, like beans or whatever....
Make a "community bowl" of one new item every night. For the middle of the table - don't put the new stuff on his plate, rather the rest of you serve yourself from that bowl during the meal. This way a> he watches you partake b> he can choose to try some.

*If you try this, give everyone their own "community serving spoon" and lay one at the top of his plate and explain what it is. He'll probably understand exactly what your plot is, but after a few days of the new routine (the food in the middle & the new spoon) he might just get worn down enough to try a lump.
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Dunno if this will work or not, but it has a few things going for it.
1. it's his choice to take or ignore.
2. it introduces new foods in a non-forcing (non threatening) way.
3. New foods become a part of routine - even if just knowing they are around.
4. He sees you eat this stuff.
etc...

Oh. if you try noodles, start with flat ones or filled ones. Not macaroni.
Macaroni is ugly (unless he's made noodle pictures (you know- glueing noodles to construction paper to make images? They do it in some arts and crafts programs) before, it might not be the best starting choice. If he HASN'T done noodle-pictures, maybe that's a way to get him used to the look of pasta before you serve it to him?

I wouldn't force him to eat things that he has a strong aversion to, however in our house we have the just one bite rule. I make a variety of foods at dinnertime, and the boys have to try "just one bite" but can then choose to eat one of their staple foods if they don't like the family meal (just touching the food to their lips can suffice as a "bite" for a food that really bothers them). This way we keep exposing them to a wide variety of foods and they are at least getting used to the smell and appearance of the foods even if they won't eat them, and most importantly the IDEA that it is good to try different foods. At breakfast and lunch we go with their familiar favourites so that each mealtime isn't a time for trying things outside their comfort zones, which would be too stressful. Also I purposely choose foods that I think they might find palatable, and try to be careful about the textures that I know set them off (like chunky little bits and anything "slimy"). One of the first ways that they were willing to expand their veggie repertoire was in pureed soups that were perfectly smooth in texture and somewhat bland, especially if we named them to coincide with their special interest at the time, like "Ninja Turtle Soup" made with broccoli.

Our boys are also very logical. We have taught them quite a bit about nutrition and the importance of fruits, veggies, protein and avoiding things like trans fats. This means that they are motivated to make healthy choices for their own bodies and it isn't just us forcing it on them. I also include them in meal planning and preparation whenever possible. This is another opportunity to get used to the challenging sensory experience of food, and to break them out of their rigidity a bit. For example during the summer when they have extra time and energy we plan a special Friday night dinner together, and we each choose a new recipe for the different courses and then prepare it together. I have been amazed at what they have been willing to try, when they are the ones in control of the experience!

Last edited by annotated_alice on 18 Oct 2010, 11:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

These are good tries, but we've tried them. He will ONLY eat (should have stated this) mcdonalds or other restaurant breaded chicken - not even frozen ones I bake at home. Now he USED to eat breaded pork and chicken I made at home - devoured it, but not for two years now.

We used to do the spoon on the plate or a few peas. that would force him to flea the table or remove them from his plate. I think because he's a visual eater, just SEEING it throws him into a tizzy. He does watch us eat and we do have everything out in serving bowls on the table. (we don't do the serving from the stove thing - the table is fully set with all food items on the tabe except soup). There are five of us including him - mom, dad, 14 year old brother, grandma and him - the kindergartener. Even that took him awhile to sit with us to eat and sometimes he refuses. So, I guess that's progress as he will at least sit at the table with foods he won't eat.

annotealice - I wish I could force/convince Henry to do ANYTHING he doesn't want to do. that's part of the problem. The only thing I've found so far that will entice him to do ANYTHING is a recent one - he got a piece of chocolate for doing his homework. For 30 minutes before I was coaxing him, offering finger painting, reading a story, etc. Nope. But as soon as I said, "you can have a piece of chocolate if you do your homework - he set right to work. I HATE it was a food that enticed him and I can't get it would work again.

There is no 'rule' he will follow if he doesn't want to. fortunately, for 99% of things he goes along with it easily and once something is a routine, he'll stick to it as it's a routine (brushing teeth, going to school, washing hands, etc). But hwo do you apply that to food. I would be SOOOOOO happy if he would just put it to his mouth (I've noticed him doing that with foods he even likes, but might have forgotten). He's a tough cookie when he reallllly doesn't want to do anything. WHen he was 2.5 maybe 3, we wanted him to try a bit of cottage cheese.Now that USED to be his favorite food, so we weren't asking him to eat anything he didn't like. Well, he didn't eat for HOURS and then eventually went into a low blood sugar crazy fit. So, withholding food doesn't work. Asking him to take a bit of something he doesn't want to try, in his mind, is the same as asking him to eat a piece of poop.

Sounds like you need to start really slowly with food education (books and shows about food and nutrition to open up his mind a bit to the idea of new foods), and then maybe he could start touching food as he helps you in the kitchen if he can handle it (without him being expected to eat the new foods). And then slowly, slowly maybe he will accept the idea of trying the new foods...or maybe not. His sensory system might just not be able to handle it right now, but you could still lay some groundwork for him getting used to the idea of trying new foods.

One of our sons only ate a few foods at your sons age too (almond butter sandwiches, grape or apple juice, apples, raw carrots, cheerios and maybe a couple small pieces of roasted meat on a good day). I worried he would starve to death or get rickets! But he didn't, and as he has gotten older his food repertoire has slowly but surely expanded as his sensory system matured. All we did was work to keep the doors open as far as his rigidity was concerned, by doing the things I mentioned above. My husband also grew up only eating a half dozen foods too, and now he eats almost everything (I've worked on him too! ) Hopefully things get a bit easier as your son gets older too.

I think Alice's idea of getting him to help cook is a good one. In reflection, my mom did this with us and it worked out well. Even if he doesn't eat the food he prepares, he's going to be introduced to it in some way as you cook together.

Liken whatever you're preparing to an arts and crafts project. "And now we have to mix the meatloaf mixture.. It's going to feel like play-doh"

Mind you.. if he's primarily eating pre-prepared foods (cereal and mcdonalds all comes out of boxes and is already perfectly made up with no origin or preparation evident) then maybe it's better that he DOESNT see you cooking. Have you tried microwavable tv-dinners? Let him open the box and stick the meal into the microwave and get it out. See if he'll eat that. They make microwave single serving macaroni and ravioli too...

He likes helping me in the kitchen. He helps me make bread and, when I make them, cookies/biscotti, and pancakes. Oh, forgot that as a food love - we add wheat germ and he tried that without it being in the batter and liked it. So, yes, he does try different ingredients that go into the foods he likes. Saw him trying plain flour for bread too.

I bought the Sesame Street cookbook but still haven't gotten around to using it. Maybe I should... don't know why I forgot about that. Doy! Probably because since the time I bought it, we've moved, joined houses with MIL, remodeled the new house, got the kids situated in school, etc.

OK, I'll try that. Oh, and we talk about 'good' foods and good nutrition. Ironically, we don't eat mcdonald's or pre-prepared food. We home make like EVERYTHING. So, why premade is OK with him is weird!

I'm going to give you a different perspective on this. I am fifty one years old, and only last month figured out that I've had Asperger's all my life.

I am also a terribly picky eater, but throughout the last few years, I've made efforts to understand my eating habits and do what I could to broaden my diet. And since I figured out I'm an aspie, I've used that knowledge to look back and really understand what is happening. And I came up with the following result:

Foods I will happily eat = Those I chose to eat, or made a voluntary decision to try myself.
Foods I can barely (occasionally) manage = Anything I ever tried before under any sort of even minimal pressure
Foods I would rather die than eat = Foods I could never learn to eat, plus borderline items I was pressured to try

In other words, any foods I ever tried without arriving at the decision on my own, no matter how good the motives were for persuading me to try it, are either totally off-limits for me or things I can only force myself to swallow under the most desperate circumstances (and every such occasion does not improve my reaction...).

Yes, there are broad categories of foods I don't think I could ever have learned to eat. I've analysed enough of a pattern behind those dislikes to realise they are just a part of who I am. But there are also broad patches of other foods that I might (in fact, probably would) now be able to eat that I will never be able to, because I wasn't left with the freedom to make the decision to try them myself. This is more than just a theory: I've validated it experimentally by trying foods I've never tried before that are somewhat similar to the ones I tried and now dislike, and in almost every case, I have learned to like those foods. If they are too similar, then I have much stricter requirements for what I will enjoy. If they are somewhat similar, but not enough to trigger a real connection, then I can now enjoy them freely.

And the really annoying thing is, some of those foods that are off limits are ones I now wish I could learn to eat... (I can't. I will retch. I had and still have your son's reaction to food I find objectionable. In such a case, what goes down... must come up.)

premade foods alot of the time have chemicals in them that make the person eating them more hungry, blocks off the "stomach full" receptors, and is addictive unless you get organic. these chemicals are listed under "natural flavors" approved by the FDA to list these chemicals as such. In fact people with chemical sensitivies cannot eat any food that contains "natural flavors".

Well as for me, the only food I wanted to eat at that age is chef boridee ravioli...everything else caused a meltdown, but once I got in my teens, i would try everything at least once and into my adult years I eat stuff even my parents wont...like sushi.

The cooking with you idea...is a great idea, so is the smelling the food. Dont expect him to each much of what he wont eat until he get into his tweens. But in the meantime, make sure he takes a multi-vitamin everyday.

My son is 9 and has a very limited diet and is a visual eater too. He will eat some foods at school that he won't eat at home, so having a hot school lunch every day has opened up his food choices a little (just not for my benefit).

I've had a little success in getting him to try new foods by going to buffet style restaurants and putting a very small amount of different things on a plate for him to try. I will reward him for just touching a new food to his tongue (not even having to take a bite) because every effort makes a difference as far as I'm concerned. He's moved up a little, in that now he'll take a small nibble of something new instead of just touching it to his tongue. We're taking things very slowly because I don't want to make it a battle. Unfortunately he hasn't added anything new to his list of approved foods, but we have seen an increase in the willingness to try new things. This week he picked out coconut, sweet peas, a raw carrot, and strawberries to try. He didn't like any of them but I'm thrilled he is making the effort!

Oh, and keep reintroducing things. My boy used to love watermelon. One day he accidentally bit a seed and I couldn't get him to eat it again for a very long time. We bought seedless watermelon but he could see the little white seeds and refused to try again unless he couldn't see any seeds at all. Recently he tried again after someone convinced him to see if he could tell he was even eating one of the little white seeds. He was so hungry he caved and found that he didn't mind the little white seeds after all. Now he's back to (occasionally) eating watermelon again.

When my parents tried to get us to try new things they would some times gave us a choice in how the food was prepared or when to serve it. I guess it gave a false sense of being in charge tricking us to think we were having a say in tring something new. I was afraid to eat batter fried mushrooms but my mom got me to eat them to the point she got sick of making them.

When I worked in a resteraunt I would not eat my chicken wings with bluecheese sauce which here in Buffalo is just about considered blasphomy. One day at the break table three people were begging me to try one chicken wing with bluecheese on it. I got up from the table to answer the phone they poured bluechese on all my wings and fries so I had no choice but to eat them, and I loved it.

To get someone out of thier comfort zone, I think you have to remove them from it, and not make them able to come back to it. I was a real picky eater. I couldn't even eat a sandwich because I hated multiple kinds of food touching each other. What turned it around for me was when I went to cub scout camp. I was away from anyone who would cater to me for a week. If food was put in front of you, no matter what it was, your choices were to eat it or not. I could hold out some, but sooner or later, my hunger overrode my pickiness.

Extreme picky eater here. I don't think there is anything that would have made me try new foods when I was younger. I had to examine every single bite of food before I would eat it. I would THOROUGHLY turn each piece in front of my eyes and if I seen any speck of anything I didn't deem right I wouldn't eat it.

The only consolation I can provide is it does get better when they're older, at least it did for me. I still eat only a handful of foods but I no longer have to examine my food and I eat more than 3 foods. I still use the same spoon and the same bowl etc for specific foods. I think it is a sensory issue and an issue with change. But I'm also okay with trying new foods on occasion as long as I know exactly what it is -- get to read the ingredients or watch it being prepared. I think learning about healthy eating and having fun examining food labels helped things, too.

Also, you might feel better if you sneak some type of liquid vitamin in a drink or get gummy vitamins if he'd eat them.

I highly advise against this. Autistics are known for their stubbornness and some foods from sensory issues will make them feel sick. Using this method on me... I'm 100% sure I would have just starved.