How to introduce new foods
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| Mon, 05-01-2006 - 7:04pm |
Hi there, this is my first posting here and lo and behold, it's to ask for help...
I have a 5 year old son who is going through the process of being diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome. One of the things that is particular to him is that he literally has about a dozen types of food he will eat. He will eat breads, crackers, nutrigrain bars, raisins, chicken (but only in strips or nuggets), and chocolate.... DH and I have tried different approaches to get him to try new foods but he refuses. The EA at his school is asking why we don't offer him better choices for lunch, and when I explain that he will only eat the same food over and over, she doesn't seem to believe that this is the truth. I feel like a bad parent because of this and don't know what to do.
Any help you can offer to get him to try new foods would really be appreciated.
I should also introduce myself briefly - I have 3 children...Darby my 5 yr old son I'm talking about; Molly is 3 yrs old, and Hayden is 2 yrs old. DH is Darren, 37 and a stay at home dad, and I'm 36. We live in Barrie, Ontario. I've lurked around this board for a while now and have never posted but find you all very supportive to each other. It is difficult to talk to other parents who all have children who are "normal" (for lack of a better word) so this is a very refreshing place to come and read.
Thanks, Amanda

Welcome, Amanda,
Nice to have you here. My AS son has become less picky with foods now that he's 8. He craves lots of flavor, VERY sweet, salty, spicy. We have do our moments, though. He eats cornmeal mush for breakfast with golden syrup on it. We have to either buy the golden syrup for $4 a bottle at Cost Plus World Market or have MIL carry it over in her suitcase from Britain (where they practical give the stuff away.) It HAS to be golden syrup. A few days ago, there was only about two tablespoons left in the bottle, and David had a fit at breakfast because he got stuck on the idea that he has to have huge pools of the stuff in his bowl. It was a total AS moment. He latched on to the idea that he needs tons of syrup ("It HAS to be extra, extra sweet!) and just couldn't get past that. He was 35 minutes late for school because of it. There was NOTHING I could do.
My 4.5 yo NT child (who the dev. ped. thinks has sensory integration disorder, but the school people say that is baloney) is a very picky eater. I know what you mean about feeling like a bad parent. People who have non-picky eaters just have no clue. No, I can't "hide" vegetables in a casserole, and expect him to eat it! He'll get up from the table and refuse to eat if there is a speck of pepper or something on his plain, lightly buttered vermicelli. And it's not true that when they get hungry enough they will eat it. They won't. They'll get so hungry that they fall apart, and then it's downhill from there. Many, many, many nights Nathan refuses to eat dinner, and has buttered white bread near bedtime so he's not too hungry to sleep. In fact, I'll tell you a secret: I rarely cook a real dinner. My kitchen is too small for the kids to be in there with me, and they can't be left unsupervised for the amount of time it takes to be chopping up vegetables and meat, or stirring stuff. The oldest one can't manage to get to the table until the food is cold, the youngest won't eat it anyway, and DH isn't even home. That's my big "bad mom" thing, I think. I do try to serve healthy foods whenever I can, but it's got to be real simple. I'll admit, I've kind of given up on trying with Nathan, because it's too stressful on both of us. He won't even try things that you'd think a kid would try, like corn dog bites or little cubes of cheese.
So, I don't really know how to introduce new foods. If you can manage to keep a steady supply of the foods he *will* eat, then at least he's getting a reasonably nutritious diet, since he will eat at least something from a few food groups. I suppose a multi-vitamin wouldn't hurt, provided Darby is willing to eat one. Nathan won't touch a Flintstones chewable vitamin with a ten-foot pole. It has to be these one's that look like gummy bears, which don't have much "vitamin" in them.
Welcome again. Good luck.
Evelyn
Hi Evelyn,
Thanks so much for the reply. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed by all of this. My neighbour has 3 boys and she cooks the same meal for everyone in the house, and everyone sits and eats it. I envy her that.
It makes me feel a little better knowing that other people somewhere are going through the same thing as we are - Darby is exactly the same as Nathan in that if there is anything I try to sneak in, he notices it and then makes a big production of removing it and then being really wary of the food I give him after that. It isn't fair to trick him because then he goes off the food he does like.
You mentioned that David is becoming less picky - when did this start to happen and did you do anything differently?
Thanks, Amanda
Amanda,
Welcome out of lurkdom. Help is what we do around here, so never apologize for needing it or asking for it.
I have soooooo BTDT with food and my son. Check out the picky eaters thread, where we pooled a lot of our combined learnings on the subject! Certainly feel free to ask for questions or clarifications on any matter. we are always happy to help
-Paula
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Welcome to the board, Amanda!
My kids are 2, 7, 9, 11yo. My 2yo is my only reasonably good eater. I think it is just in the past year that we've made moderate leaps and bounds in eating habits with the older three kids. We made small progress in preceding years, but I think my kids are finally getting bored with eating the same things all the time and are becoming more willing to try new things. And, now that they're older, peer pressure has been helpful, so at parties where everyone else is eating something, my kids have sometimes been motivated to try eating it, too (pizza, for instance).
What's been most effective for us is building on the likes the kids already have. If they eat store bought chicken nuggets, then make homemade chicken nuggets. Once they get accustomed to homemade chicken nuggets, try homemade grilled or baked chicken pieces (nugget shaped). And/or, if they like nuggets with sauce, change what sauces they dip the chicken in. When my kids finally started eating pancakes, I switched to french toast instead. Then I fed them eggs with syrup (tastes like french toast). Then they finally got to where they could sometimes eat a scrambled egg without syrup. One dd even likes eggs with cheese now. Since your ds likes raisins, would he eat grapes once he learned (in a book, perhaps) that raisins are dried up grapes?
We also discovered that my kids prefered less common fruits. Belatedly I realized it was probably a taste/texture problem. They didn't used to tolerate apples, bananas or oranges, but they loved canned mandarin oranges, fresh mango, kiwi, etc. They hated store bought applesauce but loved fresh homemade stuff (the reverse is now true). You might want to try a variety of fruits to see whether there are some your ds tolerates better.
I agree that you can't "hide" fruits/veggies in most things, but we've been successful at masking the flavor/texture of a few fruits/veggies. My kids like fruit smoothies (tho' right now they'll only drink smoothies made from banana, canned peaches, and milk -- and we call it a "milkshake"), they like carrot/zucchini/whole wheat muffins, and homemade fruit leather (sometimes with pumpkin added). Once my kids got used to eating my muffins with carrots/zucchini, they actually tried eating my meatloaf that's loaded with shredded carrots/zucchini and a couple of other veggies.
We tried a little bit of container gardening and discovered my kids would eat fresh peas off the vine, especially before they're fully developed, so they're smaller and sweeter. Same with young spinach plants. Also, the things the kids personally help plant/tend, they're more willing to taste. The kids are generally willing to at least try foods that they help harvest at local pick-it-yourself farms.
A couple of years ago I also just got tired and mean. My kids had to at least TASTE a vegetable. They can now eat between a spoonful and a full serving of veggies at dinner, depending on the veggie, where before they were only eating 3-5 peas/corn/whatever. They're not always fond of the veggie, we eat a limited selection of veggies, but the kids are eating 'em! One time I also force-fed my ds Reese's Pieces candy to prove to him that he DID like peanut butter in a form other than Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. He thought he was going to die at first, but when he calmed down he realized it was good. He eventually tasted a peanut butter sandwich and, while they're not his favorite, he can eat them now.
We still celebrate meals where we're all eating an entire meal of all the same foods, but at least there are enough foods they eat now that we can now go out to eat with friends and all my kids can find at least one food item they can fill up on without my having to bring in their own food.
It's a frustrating battle (though outsiders still think we're picky, I think we've made great progress)! Best wishes!!!
Hi Amanda,
Welcome to the board! My son, Nathan is 7 and HFA. We've always had food issues with him, even when he was on the baby food!!! When Nathan doesn't like something he will vomit! So.....that's how we learned NOT to feed him something he says no too. Unless we feel like CLEANING UP at every mealtime!!!lol We tried alot of different things to get him to eat. And to be honest, it just didn't work. He has come around though....on his own. It's really hard when they are younger to try and force foods they don't like. As he has gotten older, and his speech and understanding have improved....he's been more willing to try new things. Sometimes he says no....other times he tries it. I have also talked him into taking "1 bite" to see if he likes something. And he trusts me when I tell him, "if you don't like it, you don't have to eat it"....mainly, because I have proven to him that I won't "make" him eat it.
As you can see, we all have our own little ways of getting our kids to try new foods. I think the best advice, is to see what works well with your child and with your family. Mealtime had really become stressful for us. And I just didn't like it. I wanted him to enjoy mealtime...as well as the rest of the family too!! lol So, this approach worked best for us.
I also wanted to add that we also tried the home garden (like someone else had mentioned), and this worked a little too. Nathan enjoyed being Bugs Bunny...and will eat carrots from the garden. IT'S THE ONLY VEGGIE HE WILL EAT! lol
I'm also not too concerned because his weight and size and overall health is really good. And we always take a multivitamin and extra vit c too. His food range has stretched some over the last couple of years, and he also exchanges foods for other foods.
I hope you find something that works!
michelle
Thanks everyone for all the tips and advice, and for bumping up the picky eaters postings. The common theme is to find what works for Darby and then take little baby steps so that's what we'll do...
Amanda
This is not the thread I was looking for, but there are some good ideas here. Bumping this up for some of the new people.
Paula, maybe you can find the original you wrote, it was so great. I'll keep looking. Know it's here somewhere!
Katherine