Hi, it's me again. (LOL) I have been unable to find another autistic child who has such a severe eating problem as mine has.

He is 6 years old and still eats Gerber 3rd step baby food and Gerber Baby Cereal. The only "people" food he will tolerate is applesauce (regular and cinnamon), Yoplait keylime, vanilla, and orange yogurt, strawberry syrup (milk and cereal), dum dum suckers (red and blue and green ), occasionally will lick a red popsicle or cool-pop, and red licorice ( only been eating for a little over a year). He will drink milk, water, and apple juice.

He won't try anything. He won't even taste stuff! He pushes it to the other side of the table, puts it in the sink, or drops it in the garbage. He won't eat other baby foods, other yogurts, toddler meals, regular food, etc.

I have tried tricking him by mixing food in with his baby food and in the jars. I have tried making him eat spaghettios ( 2 years ago) and he would gag it up. He has had a barrium test to make sure his esophagus and stomach were functioning properly and they were. You cannot trick him or mix new things in his food. He notices any slight change of color, odor, or thickness of his food. Cake, candy, cookies, french fries, mashed potatoes, chicken nuggets, pancakes, bananas, ice cream, corn, etc. has not tempted him.

He does not care to try ANYTHING new. His special ed school (very good school and teacher) also have tried. His teacher was in shock when she tried everything she could think of and he wouldn't try it. Once in a great while he will shock me and touch something to his tongue or lick it a little, but then never try it again. Like a biscuit or bread. He drank pop once.

I have heard of autistic kids being picky eaters, but I have yet to come across an autistic child with this severe of a picky eating problem besides my son. None of his doctors, pediatricians, or even his ped. neurologist help with this. They don't know. His OT tries what she can. We've done "brushing" of his skin. It seemed to help at first, but then after two months it didn't. Is there anyone out there who's child is THIS PICKY OF AN EATER? I desperately need some ideas or experience from someone who has had this same problem. I appreciate any responses.

Trust in God and have a great day!

Sounds like a sensory issue going on with your childs mouth...The feeling (texture) of certian foods in the mouth could be to much for your child to handle....overload of to much sensory?
I know my son just has to look at a certian food and will say no to it even before he tastes it...His perception of how he sees things are different than mine maybe its not round enough or square enough , triangle. he sees maybe to rough of a texture who knows...
When he was little he lived on cherrios and apples skin only...

Suzann

My son is 2 and i'm having the same problem. He will only eat stage 2 baby foods,and is very picky about which foods he'll eat. Have you talk to the doc. about a fragile X chrom. , that is what they tested my son for. It is a blood test that tests for this special chrom. If that is the problem then it would be a sensory problem due to this chrom. Good luck

Sounds like a sensory issue going on with your childs mouth...The feeling (texture) of certian foods in the mouth could be to much for your child to handle....overload of to much sensory?
I know my son just has to look at a certian food and will say no to it even before he tastes it...His perception of how he sees things are different than mine maybe its not round enough or square enough , triangle. he sees maybe to rough of a texture who knows...
When he was little he lived on cherrios and apples skin only...

Suzann

Hi Suzann,
Yes, my child has Sensory Integration Dysfunction also very bad. It is his sensory, but I cannot get a clue how to help him try new foods. Thanks for the input. :)
Crista

hi i am 13 yrs old.... my brother is 16 and has a picky eating problem.. i dont know how to compare 16 to 6 though.. but he is a full-out "vegen" he eats NO animal products.. nothing with fat or anything.. EVERYTHING has to be natural.. and he yells at ppl who eat other things and thats all he can talk about.. if anyone is arguing with him about something.. he wil change the subject and just say like.. "well you know waht.. your not a vegen so shut up!" to me it seems that kids dont make much notice of autism when they are younger but between on whole year my brother has changed dramatically and i hate that he is not accepted in school and i cry myself to sleep every night wishing he was..normal.. im so glad that im not the only person going through this.. reply please
sincerely,
worried sibling

I work with an 11 year old boy who won't eat anything at all. He has dropped about 40 or so lbs, and I am worried about him. I think he won't eat b/c of the meds he is on. Does your son take anything for ADHD, stimming, or anything like that? I would also love any tips on how to get him to eat.

Hi, it's me again. (LOL) I have been unable to find another autistic child who has such a severe eating problem as mine has.

He is 6 years old and still eats Gerber 3rd step baby food and Gerber Baby Cereal. The only "people" food he will tolerate is applesauce (regular and cinnamon), Yoplait keylime, vanilla, and orange yogurt, strawberry syrup (milk and cereal), dum dum suckers (red and blue and green ), occasionally will lick a red popsicle or cool-pop, and red licorice ( only been eating for a little over a year). He will drink milk, water, and apple juice.

He won't try anything. He won't even taste stuff! He pushes it to the other side of the table, puts it in the sink, or drops it in the garbage. He won't eat other baby foods, other yogurts, toddler meals, regular food, etc.

I have tried tricking him by mixing food in with his baby food and in the jars. I have tried making him eat spaghettios ( 2 years ago) and he would gag it up. He has had a barrium test to make sure his esophagus and stomach were functioning properly and they were. You cannot trick him or mix new things in his food. He notices any slight change of color, odor, or thickness of his food. Cake, candy, cookies, french fries, mashed potatoes, chicken nuggets, pancakes, bananas, ice cream, corn, etc. has not tempted him.

He does not care to try ANYTHING new. His special ed school (very good school and teacher) also have tried. His teacher was in shock when she tried everything she could think of and he wouldn't try it. Once in a great while he will shock me and touch something to his tongue or lick it a little, but then never try it again. Like a biscuit or bread. He drank pop once.

I have heard of autistic kids being picky eaters, but I have yet to come across an autistic child with this severe of a picky eating problem besides my son. None of his doctors, pediatricians, or even his ped. neurologist help with this. They don't know. His OT tries what she can. We've done "brushing" of his skin. It seemed to help at first, but then after two months it didn't. Is there anyone out there who's child is THIS PICKY OF AN EATER? I desperately need some ideas or experience from someone who has had this same problem. I appreciate any responses.

Trust in God and have a great day!

Hi there,

I know that you are tired, but I would try another approach, one that is more time consuming, but more likely to work. First of all, everyone in the family will have to be involved, and at school if they will. Pick an item that you think he is most likely to respond to, something that is easy to manipulate and chew. Then prepare it for yourself and anyone else willing to help. Do not offer it to him, ignore him. You and your accomplices will then eat said item, often and with gusto and lots of animation. Don't offer him any. Keep enjoying the item until he makes note of what you are doing. Then leave some on a plate, unattended. If he ever touches it, offer it to him. If he puts it to his mouth, let him and praise him, but don't push him. Continue to consume item with lots of gusto as often as possible in front of him. Make the eating of the item, seem like it's better than Christmas, playtime or anything else enjoyable. This may take a while, so you should take care in picking the item and get as many people on board as possible.

That is a great idea, but my experience with an autistic boy is that he doesn't even care what is going on around him. If we become too loud just talking, he often screams for us to be quiet. I think that might cause more of a behavior than getting him to eat. In fact, in the lunchroom, when we have tried it, he either looks at us like we are crazy or doesn't even notice. For other kids, though--that would probably work wonders! I'm actually going to try it with my 4 year old the next time he won't eat what we are having for dinner!

Nicole

That is a great idea, but my experience with an autistic boy is that he doesn't even care what is going on around him. If we become too loud just talking, he often screams for us to be quiet. I think that might cause more of a behavior than getting him to eat. In fact, in the lunchroom, when we have tried it, he either looks at us like we are crazy or doesn't even notice. For other kids, though--that would probably work wonders! I'm actually going to try it with my 4 year old the next time he won't eat what we are having for dinner!

Nicole
So maybe this child in question has auditory sensitivities, he doesn't like 'loud'. That still leaves 4 other senses to work with. The fact that he looks at you 'like we are crazy' means that he noticed. You want him to notice while still knowing that he is not being pressured to join in. You want to make it intriguing enough to overcome his natural reluctance to cooperate. Try other ways of showing that eating this thing is fun without being too loud. If he notices, that is a good thing. It's worth a shot.

I have a 7 year old son with SID. He eats table food but with a very limited selection. Thankfully his selections are nutrisious enough that it doesn't bother me any more about make seperate meals for him. He has tried new foods (to him) on rare occasion when we bribe him and he usually gags and is not able to keep it down.

Children with SID are visually discriminant, otherwise they would try anything.

Keep up with the "brushing". It is a very important therapy for desensitizing SID children.

So long as they are getting a well balanced diet, take heart in knowing that, even though it's not in the way we like.

Yes, I've seen children who are extreme picky eaters, it's often related to sensory problems. Find an occupational therapist or speech language pathologist with experience with pediatric feeding issues. They can do some gradually increasing methods of stimulation, give you suggestions and guide you along the way!

Hi, it's me again. (LOL) I have been unable to find another autistic child who has such a severe eating problem as mine has.

He is 6 years old and still eats Gerber 3rd step baby food and Gerber Baby Cereal. The only "people" food he will tolerate is applesauce (regular and cinnamon), Yoplait keylime, vanilla, and orange yogurt, strawberry syrup (milk and cereal), dum dum suckers (red and blue and green ), occasionally will lick a red popsicle or cool-pop, and red licorice ( only been eating for a little over a year). He will drink milk, water, and apple juice.

He won't try anything. He won't even taste stuff! He pushes it to the other side of the table, puts it in the sink, or drops it in the garbage. He won't eat other baby foods, other yogurts, toddler meals, regular food, etc.

I have tried tricking him by mixing food in with his baby food and in the jars. I have tried making him eat spaghettios ( 2 years ago) and he would gag it up. He has had a barrium test to make sure his esophagus and stomach were functioning properly and they were. You cannot trick him or mix new things in his food. He notices any slight change of color, odor, or thickness of his food. Cake, candy, cookies, french fries, mashed potatoes, chicken nuggets, pancakes, bananas, ice cream, corn, etc. has not tempted him.

He does not care to try ANYTHING new. His special ed school (very good school and teacher) also have tried. His teacher was in shock when she tried everything she could think of and he wouldn't try it. Once in a great while he will shock me and touch something to his tongue or lick it a little, but then never try it again. Like a biscuit or bread. He drank pop once.

I have heard of autistic kids being picky eaters, but I have yet to come across an autistic child with this severe of a picky eating problem besides my son. None of his doctors, pediatricians, or even his ped. neurologist help with this. They don't know. His OT tries what she can. We've done "brushing" of his skin. It seemed to help at first, but then after two months it didn't. Is there anyone out there who's child is THIS PICKY OF AN EATER? I desperately need some ideas or experience from someone who has had this same problem. I appreciate any responses.

Trust in God and have a great day!
My son is 5 and half and barely eats anything. He eats cheese and milk and thats about it. I know several autistic boys from his school and they all have picky eating habits. One little boy only eat spag hoops. Breakfast, lunch and dinner! Jacob is not under weight or over so the dietician said it's not really a problem right now. Except that he is low on iron with not eating meat.

I feel for you folks, it is very hard as parents to watch your children not eating nor getting the nutrition they need to grow & be healthy. It makes it even worse when you can't reason with them nor bribe them.
I have a son with schizophrenia (parnoid) & he thinks almost everything offered to him is poisoned so I put the food up & he get what he feels is safe. He's 30 yrs old & I don't think he has had a warm meal in 10 years. But he will eat unlike yours. However, none of my 5 children or 11 grandchildren between the ages of 2-8 were very good eaters. They went thru phases of bread, mac & cheese, corn, grits, & mashed potatoes. Mind you not 2 of these at a time, just 1 & if we were lucky we would have 2 on the same kick. This didn't happen very often & as a result the parents had full course meals of carbs leading to fat adults & skinny kids. They still had all the pep & energy they need even though I worried a lot-they did survive.
I'm not belittling your situation at all. I realize how frustrated you must be & how heartbreaking this has to be . Be thankful that he will eat the baby food, at least he is getting some nutrition from that, it sounds like you are doing a really good job with him. I have a grandchildren (8, 4, & 3 yrs old) that will still eat baby food still, & not the sweet ones either, They really like the meats & veggies: needless to say I keep a supply handy at least they are eating.

just a thought- have you tried letting him prepare his food? just kinda give him free hand (within his limits) to fix whatever he wants. I know my kids will eat anything they have "cooked" or helped me prepare. good luck & God bless

My son's a very picky eater as well, our pediatrician has recommended adding more zinc to his diet. We found Schiff's Children's Multivitamin, it has 100% zinc. Apperently there has been some research on this and it seems to help some kids with their 'inner balance' or something...

We just started him this morning, it's liquid and I put it in his morning cup of apple juice.

My son is 4-1/2 and until about a year ago I had a lot of the same problem. He is very high functioning, but I too believe most of his problem was sensory. One of the things I found that helped was involving him in preparing the food with me and really talking it up in the process. Up until his 4th birthday, he threw-up and or gagged on his birthday cake just from the smell. So for his 4th birthday I bought a cookie cake instead and he did fine. He still eats stage 2 baby foods for his fruits and vegtables. He is slowly working into adult vegtables. The only adult fruit he will eat is grapes and bananas. The best advise I can give you is be patient he will come around. Good Luck!
Texasmommy
Hi, it's me again. (LOL) I have been unable to find another autistic child who has such a severe eating problem as mine has.

He is 6 years old and still eats Gerber 3rd step baby food and Gerber Baby Cereal. The only "people" food he will tolerate is applesauce (regular and cinnamon), Yoplait keylime, vanilla, and orange yogurt, strawberry syrup (milk and cereal), dum dum suckers (red and blue and green ), occasionally will lick a red popsicle or cool-pop, and red licorice ( only been eating for a little over a year). He will drink milk, water, and apple juice.

He won't try anything. He won't even taste stuff! He pushes it to the other side of the table, puts it in the sink, or drops it in the garbage. He won't eat other baby foods, other yogurts, toddler meals, regular food, etc.

I have tried tricking him by mixing food in with his baby food and in the jars. I have tried making him eat spaghettios ( 2 years ago) and he would gag it up. He has had a barrium test to make sure his esophagus and stomach were functioning properly and they were. You cannot trick him or mix new things in his food. He notices any slight change of color, odor, or thickness of his food. Cake, candy, cookies, french fries, mashed potatoes, chicken nuggets, pancakes, bananas, ice cream, corn, etc. has not tempted him.

He does not care to try ANYTHING new. His special ed school (very good school and teacher) also have tried. His teacher was in shock when she tried everything she could think of and he wouldn't try it. Once in a great while he will shock me and touch something to his tongue or lick it a little, but then never try it again. Like a biscuit or bread. He drank pop once.

I have heard of autistic kids being picky eaters, but I have yet to come across an autistic child with this severe of a picky eating problem besides my son. None of his doctors, pediatricians, or even his ped. neurologist help with this. They don't know. His OT tries what she can. We've done "brushing" of his skin. It seemed to help at first, but then after two months it didn't. Is there anyone out there who's child is THIS PICKY OF AN EATER? I desperately need some ideas or experience from someone who has had this same problem. I appreciate any responses.

Trust in God and have a great day!

Your child sounds like my MJ who has PDD-NOS. Especially when you mentioned gagging and just licking something to try. MJ skipped baby food altogether. We had a heck of a time trying to figure out what he liked. He will eat 3 different types of cereal for breakfast or he will drink a pediasure. For lunch he will eat Tony's Pizza and Yoplait Custard Style Yogurt. Every once in a while he will eat a PBJ. For dinner it is back to Yogurt and Pizza. For drinks he prefers milk. He will drink apple juice once in a while. For snacks he will eat crackers with cheese, nutrigrain bars, or one of 3 types of cookie. He will also as a treat or reward eat a few M & M's or a chocolate car. That is it. He is even the same way about medicine. Recently he was sick and wouldn't take any antibiotic so he ended up having to get 2 shots in his bottom. He will only take a red medicine which is Robitussen Flu (luckily it has tylenol in it, a decogestant, and an annihistamine). I am at my wits end with this. I did get him to eat an apple slice for the first time last week. He was bribed that he could go to the playground if he ate the whole thing without throwing up. It got hard towards the end. The dentist noticed he has a cross-bite. I use a battery operated tooth brush to try and desensitize his mouth. I don't think it has helped other than tolerating getting his teeth brushed. I tell the doctor about my concerns and since he is not underweight he is not concerned. He said just give him the pediasure (shake as we call it) everyday. We have an appt. soon. I know what you are going through. MJ is the same way. He just turned 4. He has had the same diet since 2.

My mom babysits for a twelve year old autistic boy. He is the fussiest eater I have ever seen. Right now he'll only eat Tony's pizza, Mr Pretzel soft pretzels and Mc Donalds fries. Before he was on a cruncy food kick and he would only eat chips, pretzels, popcorn, cheese curls. Now we can't even get him to eat any of them. If you buy a different brand then he usually gets he doesn't want anything to do with it either. First he picks it up and smells it. Then he picks it up and puts it against his lip. If it's not cooked exactly the way he likes it he puts it down and gets mad. If anything is different about his food he notices it right away.

I work with an 11 year old boy who won't eat anything at all. He has dropped about 40 or so lbs, and I am worried about him. I think he won't eat b/c of the meds he is on. Does your son take anything for ADHD, stimming, or anything like that? I would also love any tips on how to get him to eat.

My son is on Risperdal (only 4 weeks now) because he has severe head banging episodes and it's for his safety. It has actually helped his stimming also. Although he was beginning to stop the stimming somewhat on his own. I have no tips on eating. I have tried everything. My son also has SID along with the autism and is VERY sensitive to smell. That's why I can't trick him and mix foods together. He knows as soon as he smells it and won't even try it even if he is not even in the room to see me mix it in! He will gag food up too if you make him try it. I don't do that anymore because it just scares him away from food. Risperdal actually increases appetite. So, I'm hoping maybe it will help my son try something new. He is really interested in the Tony's cheese pizza in the frozen section. Everytime I make it he touches the sauce and about a year ago he licked it, but never since. I don't know if it appeals to his taste or just appeals to his touch. I'll keep trying. Thanks for all the responses from everyone.