Nutrition

[MaeinTX]

S is struggling with food big time right now. He doesn't want to eat! Dh is so frustrated with him. I am at a loss.

I am waiting on all our new insurance and stuff but then going to try to get a referral to a Dev. Pediatrician and/or nutritionist. I don't even know where to start.

He has cut his eating down to pretty much bananas, bread (I buy honey wheat or wheat-white), some peanut butter, vanilla pudding (premade ones), dry cereal such as frosted flakes, frosted wheat squares, cheese pizza, top ramen, mac-n-cheese, spaghetti noodles plain with parmesan. That it. He likes most sweets- pop tarts, brownies, plain sugar cookies. He doesn't do cakes. Does like vanilla ice cream and sherbert. The only muffins he will eat lately are Sheri's banana muffins. (I don't put the choc chips in). He does not do veggies. He used to eat raw carrots but not lately. He doesn't like most fruit though occasionally he will eat a fresh orange.

I don't know anymore whether to make him eat what we are having or let him eat off his above list.

Tonight we insisted one bite of meat and he gagged and it came back up. So basically he did not eat dinner. No potatoes. No watermelon (and he always has ate watermelon until recently). There is just no way he can survive on this. He doesn't like milk though he will drink chocolate milk.

I am at such a loss. He will drink Pediasure or Ensure chocolate but then he gets to the point he wants that over food and that doesn't help.

:help:

[MaeinTX]

popcorn (he loves it!)
hot dog or hamburger buns
saltine crackers

He likes sandwich type cookies (vanilla oreo, oreos, cheaper ones)
He'll drink most juice.

He doesn't do cheese. He doesn't do lunchmeat/hot dogs. He won't do yogurt though I am going to try to save some pudding containers and put vanilla yogurt in there and see if I can fake him out (doubtful but will try!)

I need ideas for getting protein and iron in this child. Thank you.

[Kelly]

I think peanut butter and banana sandwiches on good bread would be good meals for him.
banana muffins sound good,too.
In my opinion,that is about as healthy as you can get.
My dds love yogurt smoothies,will he drink those---they love the no fat strawberry or peach ones.
I personally wouldn't give him the cookies,junk food and maybe he will be hungry and eat more of the good stuff.
Maybe apples dipped in peanut butter?
Popcorn is good.
Will he eat beans or homemade oven fries?
Potatoes and beans have a lot of iron.
Lunchmeat and hot dogs aren't that great,anyway,they have nitrates and all kind of chemicals.
will he drink OJ?
He could survive very well on peanut butter,whole grain bread,bananas and some oranges and other fruit and yogurt or milk,but he does need some kind of veggies,too.

[EllieFunt]

Not that this is much help, but I have seen a protein mix that will go into juice.

Soy hotdogs? :dunno: He would get some soy protein. I've never seen them, so I don't know how different they look from other hot dogs. Then there's the texture/taste difference.

Muffins - you can sneak some flax seed & wheat germ in for extra vitamins.

PB on the crackers.

If you try and make him eat what you're making you might risk the same gagging experience. Perhaps keep asking him to try the new foods. :dunno:

My oldest has now refused to eat canned veggies because of texture issues. Its all fresh or frozen for us. Now I know.

[DevNAbbyMom]

With DS's issues, our ped said that as long as he is eating something, just let him eat it. Our DS get's his protein from peanut butter and sometimes chicken nuggets (the only meat product he will eat and only in this form...no chicken legs or anything). DS insists on a poptart every morning and nothing else.

The thing is when you are dealing with a child with other issues, you take what you can get and just make sure they always have at least one thing on their plate that they will definitely eat without a doubt. If they just eat that one thing...then so be it. I still present the other things just to see if he'll try but most of the time he won't. Special kids call for special situations with food.

I was also told by the behaviorist the same thing. Forcing him to eat what he won't (for whatever reason that he won't....texture, smell, site, color) will just make feeding him harder and will give him a negative view of food making things harder for us in the long run.

I just give him a Flintstone vitamin everyday and hope that helps make up the difference. I put yogurt into his milk and shake it up. I give him Ovaltine (for extra vitamins). I sneak whatever I can into whatever he'll eat where I can.

I hope that helps. I don't know what else to do myself so we just manage with what he'll eat. DD is a piggy and will eat EVERYTHING so we lucked out there.

[Kelly]

I was thinking a lot of cereals are fortified with iron and Cheeerios has a new cereal with yogurt and loads of vitamins and Iron and what I thought at the time was a HUGE amount of protein, way too much for a regular kid. but that might be good for your DS.
I am trying to remember the name of the new cheerios,I saw an ad somewhere,but I just can't remember. I know it has protein clusters in it as well as the cheerios and I think they are coated with yogurt.

[MaeinTX]

Kelly,
I was just trying to list what he does eat..more for myself last night out of frustration. We don't offer the sweets very often and we always require him eating something else first. He does not eat potatoes (fast food fries but those are definitely not healthy) or beans. Thank you for the ideas though. I had not checked out the yogurt Cheerios- will do that.

Thank you Amy and Ellie.. PB has a lot of sugar in it. I am frustrated on trying to limit sugar/carbs but increase protein and foods with iron. He is so pale and tired right now with school, etc . We have done milk shakes with protein powder but again- so much sugar.

[MaeinTX]

I was also told by the behaviorist the same thing. Forcing him to eat what he won't (for whatever reason that he won't....texture, smell, site, color) will just make feeding him harder and will give him a negative view of food making things harder for us in the long run.


I needed to hear that, thank you. I am going to show dh.

[DevNAbbyMom]

They sell natural PB at the regular chain grocery stores. That is what I get DS b/c it has less sugar. His Ped said that it's better if they want to live on PB over hotdogs b/c at least PB has some nutrients while hotdogs are just filler meats and preservatives. He'd rather hear that they are on a PB diet (their choice) and he's ok with that.

I think my DS could eat a jar of PB a day if I let him.

A tip....since my DS loves PB, I try to get him to dip healthy foods into it like carrots, celery, apples (he loves this) and whatever else I can think of. Same with ketchup. He will dip a lot of things in ketchup. Grosses me out but he eats a little more variety and I am happy with that.

[StillJulie]

I only buy natural peanut butter. Only ingredients are peanuts and salt. See if he'll go for something like that.


((((Mae))))

[4littlelambs]

Oh Mae honey... we could chat now couldn't we??? He eats soooooo SO SO SOOOO much more than Joshua... does that make you feel ANY better?? Man this is tough huh?!!

And this is just another thing that I'm on the fence about... I'm totally on your husband's side and can see his reasoning and frustration... but I'm totally understanding of the nutritionists (who will tell you the same as a behavior specialist)... don't make it a battle! We've BTDT, forced fed (literally, with me having my legs wrapped around him, one arm holding his head back and the other shoving food in)!!! Quite a sight to behold!!

Joshua doesn't do the gagging bit yet... he may learn that tho... please Lord, NO!

I have no advice as this is something that I fight every single day... but I have plenty of (((((hugs)))))

A nutritionist would be a good place to start! There are feeding programs out there too... and OT who specializes in oral motor is another great resource!

[FabTXMomma]

I only have a minute. But some quick thoughts:

You should be able to get Central Market natural PB at HEB. It shouldn't have any sugar in it. You do have to stir it. We get the Skippy brand b/c you don't have to stir. You might look at the ingredients for that too.

HEB should have a ton of Central Market brand stuff that doesn't have as much sugar in it and is not as expensive as other natural, organic stuff. Cereal, ketchup, etc. We've started switching our house to stuff that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup, and that CM brand has been a big help.

I've also been substituting breads that have "whole wheat flour" as the first ingredient, rather than "enriched wheat flour." They usually have a higher fiber content, better nutrition and don't contribute to sugar rush. I switched ds to Eggo Nutri-Grain whole wheat waffles and he tolerated that pretty well too.

You might want to see if you can get a copy of the book "Just Take a Bite" by Lori Ernsperger. Here's the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Just-Take-Bite-Lori-Ernsperger/dp/1932565124/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-4270783-9978346?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188760402&sr=8-1

Check and see if the local library has it OR if the SPED dept of your ISD has it. Our autism specialist maintains a library of books that parents can check out on autism-specific and general disability/childhood development topics, and we can ask her to order stuff so we can read it. I've gotten a lot of books from her and I've also borrowed books from other staff. I think I borrowed this book from the head of the OT dept. I read it about a year ago, and it's been a big help. We're making progress on ds's diet, slowly but surely, even though I have days where I want to throw in the towel. I'm sure if we used the advice in the book consistently, we'd be doing a lot better. :wink:

It has a lot of great advice about how to expand your child's diet without turning it into a battle.

[DevNAbbyMom]

Just so you feel better about this....My cousin's son is 12 (aspergers) and still only eats 16 things. That is it. He used to literally throw up at the table even if they were out to eat if they force fed him anything.

With my DS being only 2 1/2 (ASD PDD-NOS), I'm learning some battles aren't worth an all out war over and they will get their nutrients in ways we can sneak them in. I've made muffins that I've added jars of baby food for the filler (like fruits or veggies) to get some nutrients in. With little guys like ours, it's such a battle and so heartbreaking and that is why I have to choose either letting him eat what he will and continue to introduce items on his plate or fight him every step of the way. I chose the first route. I finally got him to eat mac N cheese (not the box kind, the little container that you microwave) and mashed potatoes. That is a huge accomplishment in my book! LOL The child has never allowed a piece of hotdog past his lips (not that I'm very heartbroken over that, lol) and will go days with eating the bare minimum to get by. He's still alive and stronger then ever and will be fine.

Hang in there hon!

[MaeinTX]

Susan..I actually thought about Josh as I was posting my list last PM and thought.. I bet this is longer than Susan's list. (Josh)

We do have the Skippy Natural PB. I should have clarified that. Carolyn, thank you for the food brand. I didn't realize Central Market was a brand. Knew it was a store in Houston.. Learned something new.

I am going to ask at the school for some help, referral on this if they have any idea where/who/etc. I will look into that book.

Today he made popcorn for breakfast before I got out of bed (No fears- 14 yo brother was up and in the kitchen too but he let him).

Today he has ate popcorn, 2 bananas, juice. Not enough calories. He decided no on the PB sandwich for lunch so will see if he'll eat a big dinner :gaah:

just keep swimming...

[Kelly]

Oh,i hope he eats a good dinner.
I didn't realize he was school age.
I thought he was a toddler just learning to eat.
I looked on the Cheerios website and they just had the Yogurt Burst cereal-that isn't the one I meant-the one I saw in a magazine had nuts in it,and the protein clusters,but I am afraid it might have sugar,too.
Will he eat fish? tuna,salmon or fish sticks? I hope you can get some help.
I was thinking maybe you could chop chicken into really tiny pieces and mix it in his mac and cheese-make it so small that he can't gag. Or mix tiny pieces of chicken
in stove stop stuffing,will he eat that> Will he eat soup?

[joy at home]

I don't remember your ds's specifics. We've btdt, too. Ds is 5 1/2 and is getting better with textures and tastes. When he was about 3 we instituted a "no thank you helping" where he had to take at least one bite of the new food - even if it was really, really small. Then he began finding out that some things weren't so bad after all! Now that he's older and accepts more foods, he has to take 5 bites (again, they can be minutely small :wink:) , the same number as his age.

For a long time, I thought he would live off of mac n cheese or pb and j for his whole life! No kidding! Those are still his first choices, but he is slowly broadening his tastes.

Praying that you guys will figure out what works for you!

[MaeinTX]

Our 3rd son is 6-1/2 years old now and has high-functioning autism.

His gagging and texture issues are not just a case of I don't like it. He really cannot do it and has vomited after attempts to get something down.

Once he liked the taste of canned pears but could not tolerate the texture and gagged through several bites. I felt so bad for him because he did like the flavor.

This thread has opened up a lot of communication between dh and myself. We figured out the protein in his PB sandwiches and realized it is better than I thought. We have come to a conclusion. We still will offer our meals like always, then at bedtime we are going to go ahead and start feeding him a PB sandwich to see if we can put some calories on him. Please no tomatoes- this boy will let himself starve if he doesn't get to eat what he wants.

He was actually quite thrilled last night when we gave him his first bedtime sandwich.

Thanks.

[FabTXMomma]

I have a friend with a little one with similar texture issues, although more extreme. He was still on formula up to about 2 and a half, which was just a few months ago. They consulted with an occupational therapist at our local rehabilitation center, and did a "food challenge." This made a world of difference in his ability to eat solid foods. It was a very intense intervention that helped him learn to tolerate texture and tastes.

Perhaps something like this might help? I'll have to find out where she got the information from to know to ask for this. I'll let y'all know if I find out something that can help.

[joy at home]

Thanks for reminding me.

My ds has been evaluated for Aspergers / PDD by the early ed people and was found to be "typical" as in non-AS/PDD (I say "we'll see" as time goes on and he's in school) . Also, our pediatrician said it seemed like temperament and personality. That's why we did what we did in our situation.

I hope you didn't take my comment the wrong way. I'm sorry if I offended.

Glad he likes his bedtime sandwich :clap:

[DevNAbbyMom]

No tomato throwing here. You gotta do what you gotta do to get some calories on that boy. I've been there with giving my DS yogurt at 6 pm just to make him eat something for the day.

I don't worry too much for mine though b/c he is larger for his age in both height and weight. I'm lucky there. If he were to start dropping weight then I would start doing things like PB and J at night. For now...when he doesn't eat much one day I just make sure the next day I offer him more of what I know he'll eat and do an every other day thing. It works for us. I don't worry anymore if he barely eats for a whole day. Now if he turns down his ovaltine and PBJ then I would worry! LOL

[Kelly]

Thanks,Mae. I didn't know about your Son's problems at all.
That is a great idea about the PB-------it is a really healthy nutritious food.
I cannot tolerate or swallow meat at all or eggs .I know what your DS feels in that regard.