Onions and Lemons

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Onions and Lemons
14
Thu, 05-18-2006 - 7:32pm

When Peter was 3: he woudl eat anything; provided it was cheese pizza, and drink anything provided it was blue.

We worked for years to expand his range, one pea at a time.

We created a monster! LOL

Peter now (almost 8) craves intense flavors, particularly lemons and onions. He was home with a sore throat today and DH, about to leave for the Dr's; found him in the kitchen snacking on raw pearl onions. LOL DH said he made Peter brush his teeth twice and then fed him several Altoids, but the onion smell was pervasive. He had to warn the Dr before she looked into his throat

Does anyone know if eating lemons (he will eat an entire peeled lemon in a sitting) or raw onions is terribly bad for one?

Also does anyone have any ideas on how I can control/ replace this sensory seeking behavior?

-Paula

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 05-18-2006 - 9:44pm

I don't know that it would be bad for a person but I imagine that in big enough quantities it could cause a good bit of a tummy ache. That may be something to watch out for. LR will know better than I if it could be toxic.

As for sensory seeking like this, many of us do it but with more socially acceptable things. altoids, gum, etc. There are some gnarly strong flavored gums out there. Have you tried those listerine thingies that melt in your mouth. WOW

2 thoughts on how to decrease it.
1) you could try replacing it with one of those other kind of things. Altoids makes a lemon flavored one that I bet he would LOVE. You will need to hide them though to make sure he doesn't down a whole container in a sitting (dave will)

2) make them unavailable like some of the other poison type stuff in the house. However you hide those things do the same for the onions and lemons. Perhaps you can store them in the garage in some sort of storage container and put a lock going out to the garage. We have these hook and loop things from Home Depot that take 2 hands an a good bit of fine motor agility to undo. We have that on the inside of the garage door. If I need to keep them out of the garage it is enough to do so. Cait could do it but even Mike would take a while and would likely get frustrated with it. It at least would still slow him down enough if you aren't there to watch and worry about his getting into them.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Fri, 05-19-2006 - 6:47am

Dear Paula,

One of Malcolm's best buddies has a girl cousin, ADD and SID, who eats entire lemons. Sucks them, craves them, etc. I don't think she has had any stomach troubles that I know of. Echoing Renee's suggestion of locking things up, but I'd let him have a little now and then as a special treat, why not?

I will call you soon, let's hang again...

Sara
ilovemalcolm

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Fri, 05-19-2006 - 7:18am

No real ideas for you, but just to make you feel better -- I also LOVE lemons. Can't imagine snacking on onions, lol! But I have been known to eat an entire lemon. Sometimes it gives me a little bit of a "sour stomach" but that's it. I wouldn't let him do it on a regular basis, but there's probably nothing wrong with it as a treat.

Some other ideas of foods he might like (and that might be a bit more appropriate): pickles, particularly very sour or intense dills; if he's allowed candy as a treat, sour patch kids are great; and perhaps you could try introducing him to some very intensely flavored ethnic food, such as Indian food... very healthy and also very spicy, might give him some of the input he craves?

Just some thoughts!

Jennifer

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2003
Fri, 05-19-2006 - 10:10am

I've also eaten whole lemons, lol. My craving for them kind of went away though. My sister used to eat whole raw onions. Untill one made her sick to her stomach that is. I believe onion is a sulfur food. Most autistic kids need more sulfur in their diets. My ds craves garlic, a sulfur food. (he also loves hot sauce and puts it on everything) There are some people who are too high in sulfur and eating sulfur foods will make them feel ill. (I feel sick if I eat to much garlic)

I personally don't see anything wrong with letting him eat those things except maybe the onion breath, lol. But if you really don't want him to the gums or mints might be a good idea.

Samantha

Samantha
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 05-19-2006 - 10:22am

I'm with Jennifer on this.....I love lemons and have eatten whole ones before (my niece does too) but I'd never snack on onions.

I'm glad to hear that your son has overcome his food pickiness (with great effort and patience on your part, no doubt). I am just starting the slow introduction method to my son.....we are starting with carrots. Right now he has just had the carrots next to him at dinner and seen me, his little brother and step-dad eat and enjoy them. It's a start. Hopefully he will be touching them some time next week......still a long road ahead.

Anyway, I like the idea of allow them as special treats and also introducing him to some spicy, etnic foods. We have a wonderful Ethiopian (sp?) restaurant near us.....at this point, we would never bring son there.....first, he would not eat anything and second, he would hate the smells.

Good luck,
Christie

Avatar for littleroses
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Registered: 03-28-2003
Fri, 05-19-2006 - 10:56am

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Edited 2/19/2008 9:50 pm ET by littleroses
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Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 05-19-2006 - 4:49pm

Onions and lemons are pretty darn healthy foods - both high in antioxidants and onions are a natural antibacterial (lemon might be too). If it doesn't give a stomach ache, I wouldn't worry.

Also - another good thing about onions. They contain a chemical that makes you sleepy. My grandmother used to give me toasted onion sandwiches before bed. She said they helped me sleep and stave off colds. I was pretty good in both areas.... the bread was toasted and saturated in nice whole butter, then a good layer of spcy mustard, and then slices of raw onions. YUM! I'd it it now if it weren't for how bad I'd smell....

With Colin, who eats, sucks, chews, whatever he can do with lemons and also licks handfulls of salt, craving pickles and other strong flavors all the time, we have found that letting him suck on a lemon dipped in sugar is a sure-fire way to calm him down for a bit and we encourage it! We also encourage sucking and crunching on ice and make lemon-water ice cubes, etc.

And finally for more "social" situations, there are some small breath-spray "squirters" that have the tangy strong flavor he craves (he loves the orange one especially but any will do) but with those and strong mints, we have to watch that he doesn't doo the whole thing in one "binge" sitting.

Colin's OT pointed out that every meal we make for him should have crunchy food in it. That has helped with odd food cravings and also clothes chewing.

Jackie

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Registered: 06-25-2003
Fri, 05-19-2006 - 5:02pm

All,

Thank you for your insights.

I don't allow him to eat lemons too often -ya know, the ones out of my diet coke or off the side of the plates at Red Lobster. LR; after hearing that story, I will cut his intake down even more! He only just got his two front teeth! I do keep some lemon juice handy, in case I need to medicate him. He likes to drink a couple of teaspoons to remove the taste of medicine.

Renee, I don;t keep lemons in the house, because he will just eat them. I buy what I need, when I need them. I have hidden the onions. LOL I never thought I would have to do that!!

Jennifer, You hit the nail on the head! Peter LOVES pickles. I haven't tried him with anything exoticly spicy yet. (he didn't like the smell previously). He likes salsa, but not too hot. However I am not a bad cook when it comes to Indian and Thai food (not bad for an Irishwoman, that is!) I might try him with a Korma or something which is interesting but not too hot. Of course he gets his flavor sensory seeking from his old Mom, who can eat half a jar of Lime pickle in a single sitting (and then have heartburn all night!).

Smanatha, Sulphur: Interesting. I had wondered if his lemon/onion craving may be due to some deficiency. I know a lot of pregnant women crave things their body needs such as calcuim or acetic acid -the latter assists cell division. I wonder if citric acid performs the same function?

I'm off to research sulphur & citric acid.

-Paula

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2003
Sat, 05-20-2006 - 9:00am

"Smanatha, Sulphur: Interesting. I had wondered if his lemon/onion craving may be due to some deficiency. I know a lot of pregnant women crave things their body needs such as calcuim or acetic acid -the latter assists cell division. I wonder if citric acid performs the same function?"

I was just reading that lemon can lower body PH.

Samantha
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Sat, 05-20-2006 - 10:27am

Jackie.

LTNT! I hope all is well. Thanks for those insights. I am going to read up a lot more on this stuff. I find it interesting. I just bought a new book: "Enymes for Autism and other neurological conditions" by Karen DeFelice.

I'll let you guys know if it was worth the money -I was in a huge NYC bookstore recently and dropped $100 on special needs books *the guy was: "AD/HD for Adults or Children?" "Both." "...Oh") Now I just have to find time to read them all.

-Paula

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com

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