Nutrition

[ototoxic]

Hi. I have a two patients 4-1/2 and 3 y/o siblings that are both Autistic. Mom is having a difficult time getting the kids to eat nutritional meals. For the past 3 and 2 years their nutrition has consisted of Nutty Bars, chocolate milk, bananas and cheese puffs. She just weaned the 3 y/o off the bottle and is now trying to change the 4-1/2 y/o diet by offering different foods - to which he politely responds "No thank you" and may then kiss the food or even place the peanut butter sandwich in his mouth but will not take a bite. He will drink milk but hasn't eaten anything new that she has offered for the last 3 days. I have instructed her not to give him any of the items on the above list except as a reward for eating a new item. Does anyone have any ideas? Is this a familiar episode for anyone? She tried Nutritional-Dietician counseling, but was not able to carry out any of their suggestions.

[AutMom]

It may be a sensory issue....do they get any sensory integration therapy?

Also, milk can be a problem for many autistic people.

[learning mom]

My son is also a finicky eater and I would love the advice of anyone who could help out. Most people keep telling me not to give him the handful of things that he eats, but he'll go without eating if I dont give him something. He's already such a skinny kid I dont want it to get worst

[AutMom]

Don't suppose any of these kids would take a multi-vitamin/mineral...:confused:
You can order samples to try from Kirkman's.

http://www.kirkmanlabs.com/

[Rebecca]

My 5 year old with Asperger's exists on milk and starchy foods (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese ravioli, spaghetti, grilled cheese sandwiches, muffins, etc) Thankfully, he takes his multivitamin with no problem!

[BeccaG]

There is so much about food preferences to consider. There is the whole getting locked into limited choices thing. There is a food texture thing that goes along with the tactile defensive stuff. There's the food touching each other thing. There is the food intollerance thing. There is the changing the way you are serving it thing. :eek:

Is it possible you have too much change at once?

Sounds like there is a definite preference for finger food...in small bites? and I wonder about maybe more nutricious options that imitate qualities of the preferred foods in some way?

My son had an penchant for dry cerial eaten out of hand. Up to the point that he learned to cook, it was still the staple when what was on my menu was not on his. Happily his food repertoir has expanded with his cooking abilities.

[Carrie]

Well, nutty bars, bananas, and chocolate milk are at least a tad nutritional, I suppose it could be worse (hehe).
Suggestions that were made to me: Get a blender and get sneaky! Maybe this mom could start with combining the bananas and chocolate milk and then start sneaking other things in there a bit at a time. You'd be suprised what a good blender can blend and you can make the shakes pretty smooth/juice-like. My son liked yogurt though so it wasnt too hard.
And how about banana pancakes?
The rewarding idea is good as well. She should start small, for instance, one bite of something new gets a half of banana. But I wouldn't hold out for too long either. I'd rather have my kid eating junk than eating nothing for 3 days!

[Rebecca]

I tried that once. It worked great until my son caught me sneaking turkey (1 slice, paper-thin) into his grilled cheese. Now he supervises when I make them! http://fool.exler.ru/sm/unknw.gif