Food issues
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| Thu, 05-03-2007 - 10:23pm |
I'm sure this has been addressed a gazillion times here but could we do it again?
My DS will not try new things. He just won't. And if you make him he gags and throws up. He used to eat everything. He loved veggies, he loved fruit. Oh, he never loved meat and still doesn't. He will eat chicken "nuggets" that I make from chicken breast but that is the only meat he eats. And he won't take a vitamin. Again with the gagging. I've tried the ones that are supposed to be no smell, no taste in drinks or food and he knows they are in there. He just knows. How does he know?
So how do we get past the gagging throwing up thing and get him to try something new? At school they have to kiss the new thing and we do that too but he's never gone from kissing to tasting and certainly not to eating a new food.
And God forbid that he is ever really sick because I don't know how we would ever get medicine into him. Even if he wants to take a med so his cold will feel better he gags and pukes it up.
Any ideas at all? I'm starting to get worried that he'll live on cottage cheese and cereal forever. And what about iron, I worry about anemia.
Today was particularly frustrating with food, that's why I'm asking.
Thanks,
Heather

Heather, check with your pharmacist. I think they make vitamens in round bubble gum forms now. Will he chew gum?
As for the other, I don't know. Ihave a child thats an extremly picky eater. I mean goes into meltdowns if he doesn't or can't have the same thing over and over. I don't think there's anything I can do for my son. I just have to accept it won't happen.
Right now his thing is, he won't eat anything in the house. It has to come from cosco (the hot dog bin) or Mcdonalds. Healthy huh?????
If we don't do these things, he literly STARVES. We don't do them for every meal, but we do just to get something in him. I can't wait until this phase phases out. Its killing me here.
And really there's nothing I can do about it. Just wait it out cuz he will get tired of this and move into something else eventually.
Good luck!
Lainie
Will you picky eater drink chocolate milk? If so, what about giving them Carnation Instant Breakfast or Ovaltine. I believe they are the same thing, so use whichever is cheapest :) I think my oldest lived on that for awhile with his picky eating.
I wish I had answers for you, my 11yo (PDD-NOS) has been a picky eater since he was atoddler. I used to be able to get him to eat chicken nuggest, now? HA HA HA! I cannot remember the last time he consumed a meat product.
Then there's funny things - he'll eat pizza, but not macaroni with sauce on it. Some Italian kid he is!
My youngest is on the spectrum too and is willing to try new things here and there, just asks first if they have what he's allergic to.
Heather,
I bumped up our famed "Picky Eaters" thread. I hope it helps.
-Paula
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
I had to laugh about the pizza and pasta. My 8yo ds is the same way. He loves pizza but ostensibly he hates sauce and cheese and anything spicy, but he can eat the spiciest pepperoni pizza around. He loves pasta but it has to be plain and only certain shapes, though the shape is always changing.
I remember force feeding my ds some Reece's Pieces once to prove to him that he could eat peanut butter in a form other than Reece's peanut butter cups. Of course he gagged and nearly threw up. After getting it down, he ALMOST conceded that he could eat another one if he had to, but he didn't want it then. He's still not super fond of peanut butter, but he tolerates it enough to eat it for lunch at school. Depending on his mood, he'll also voluntarily eat it with apples or on an open-faced sandwich for a snack.
For cold medicines, I LOVE Triaminic ThinStrips. They cost waaaay more than I like to spend, but they can't spit them out very easily since they're paper-thin and dissolve so fast. Triaminic ThinStrips are available as an antihistamine (tho' it's called "cough"), a decongestant, a cough suppressant, and a combo decongestant/cough suppressant. I don't have a great solution for fever/pain medicine yet.
As far as getting the kids to try new foods, what's "worked" for us so far is a combination of time (the kids get older, get tired of eating the same things), repeated exposures, letting the kids help select the new foods, letting the kids grow things they can eat (my kids learned to love eating fresh peas from the garden before the peas fully mature, but it's the only way they really ENJOY peas; even tho' they're not fond of peas except fresh one, they'll still tolerate eating other peas because they know in their minds that they've learned to eat them), and I also build off foods the kids already eat and like. For instance, ds loves pizza. I started offering it in different ways (fast food pizza, frozen pizza, french toast pizza, bagel bites pizza, homemade pizza, etc). Ds still has to eat pepperoni pizza, but it doesn't have to be a certain brand, store or restaurant. When my oldest was a preschooler, the variety in her diet was simply what shape the plain, unflavored pasta was &/or on what kind of plate it was served on. The kids ate a LOT of the same thing over and over and over, but I still gave them opportunities for change within their comfort zone. The more they learned to change within their comfort zone, the more they were willing to try things outside of their comfort zone. Of course, the same ds who is sooooo picky about his food also ate a chocolate covered cicada (like a grasshopper, sort of) one year at an agriculture event. I still can't explain that one!
It was just in the last year or two that we had the first meal ever where the whole family ate and enjoyed ALL the same foods for dinner, and my oldest dd is 12yo, so we've been working on it for many years. Some days are still better than others, tho'.
But the thing is he tries to like it! One day last summer he shoved some fresh lettuce from the garden in his mouth because "it looked so good". Of course he promptly vomited. He will also comment on how good the soups or stews I make in the winter smell, but he can't eat them. On the other hand he will eat this five alarm Habanero cheese by cabot that makes my brain sweat. (Do chili peppers count as a veggie serving?) When we took him to O.T. last year the only suggestion was to mix dried fruit with his ice cream so he could get used to different textures. He wouldn't eat it of course. Is there any O.T. therapy out there that addresses this issue?
Our children all have the gagging thing. only one is on the specturm, he is the worst! Our OT and speech therapist worked very hard w/ Weston this year to get him so he could chew and swallow things that he's had difficulties with before. Part of his issues (esp when they are things he thinks smell good or he wants to eat) are sensory and immature muscles in his mouth/throat. They had him chewing big wads of gum, swallowing sticky things, practice, practice practice. Also they gave him rules for how to eat certain foods (number of chews, which parts of his teeth to chew with, etc.). He still has issues with chewing and swallowing. He was eating a turkey sandwich on Wednesday and I'd told him to hurry cause we needed to leave-- YUP, he started choking and had to go throw up before we could leave. It takes lots and lots of practice for our kids to learn to eat correctly (something other kids just learn) but I'd ask his therapists if they can help.
Betsy