Feeding Therapy with PDD Child | Autism PDD

I went thru something quite similar with my son around the time he was the same age. we were giving him carnation in his milk and that was the problem - it filled up his tummy completely. he also had acute constipation at that time. we began by distracting him with t.v. / his fav shows to feed him with fruits first -started with grapes, ... he just turned 4 last week and now he eats everything - all friuts / veg/ chicken - papayas, pineapples, strawberries, spinach, ... needless to say constipation is resolved. It took a few months of focused feeding but it can be done. Last 4 months we have been GF/ CF and he's doing fine on the diet - can't say I see a miracle, but it forces you to eat healthy, unprocessed food which is good for all.

I would be strict that if he won't eat say 4 bites of grapes I would switch of the TV. A good way would be to start with 1 bite of a fav food and then 1 bite of the healthy one, hold off till she complies, slowly if you are patient and firm the no. of healthy bites increase.

Good luck!

Sandy

JuJu,

Hello, just wanted to say you are not alone as this a very common problem in our kids:) Sarah was on a bottle till 3 and would only gerber chic-noodle baby food and gerber veggie crackers..we had a food program for 6 weeks trying to introduce new foods one at a time and rewarding her with each bite..it didn't ever help her try these foods at that time...but later on when she was ready for them. We had a speech therapist and OT check her out for sensory and muscle tone..she had neither as she could eat soft baby food and crunchy crackers and her swallowing was fine.. she was just very rigid and hated change:) We had a nutritionist come to our home and she didn't seem concerned at all because Sarah was at a very health weight and always unusually healthy. She had suggestions for more fiber..Sarah liked all chips so she suggested "Sun chips" and for crackers she suggested "wheat thins" Sarah refused these so it did no good to offer. She also stated to have her at the table with us each night(Sarah liked to eat at coffee table) and for me to offer whatever we were eating on her plate each night but no pressure to eat it..just expose her to it. She still never ate the foods I presented to her. She started a new food perhaps every 6-8 months and not the good ones-chic nuggets, fries, pizza..I was thrilled she was eating them but still horrible diet.. She got into apple juice:) Now at 6 1/2 she will try more foods with maybe 2 bites:) She likes pb&j and eggs now:) I think when they see other kids eating foods they are more opt. to try them..for Sarah it is like that ..she will see kids eat a apple..then she wants it even though I offered her an apple 100x it took her seeing other kids eating it for her to want it.. this only works sometimes as she will eat a different snack food like raisins at school and I would run and get some and she refused to eat them at home. Pedisure is good if you are worried about vitamins and benefiber completely disolves in liquid with no taste or thickners in it for fiber. Don't stress over this too much as I have found it is a waste to force things for them to eat..they will only eat what they want. Good luck!

Blessings,

Shelley

Hi,

I am looking for some feedback. My son was diagnosed with PDD 6 months ago. He is 2 1/2. He is currently undegoing intensive Early intervention therapy. He has a OT, speech and special instruction therapy.

My concern is he wont eat anything, he has issues with feeding. He only drinks a concoction of Milk, rice cereal and baby food bannana's in the bottle. He has a ot for feeding and has had treatment for 8 months, He still has tantrums when being fed and does not eat any solids. This diet is not good for a growing child.

Has anyone experienced this? Any suggestions would be greatly appreiciated.

Ju Ju Mom

My son is still on the bottle as well at 3 1/2 yrs. old. Same thing here, nuggets, pizza, fries, tacos, and limited snacks. I resorted to the pediasure when I noticed he was getting sick more often, and it's helped. I'm currently on visiting my sister in Florida, and I didn't bring any bottles to see, if I could take him off the bottle and hopefully encourage eating more. We are only here three days, so I thought it might be good to try it out. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully, we can carry it over when we get home.

I feel its all trial and error, and I hope that I am not making that many errors. I worried about he's eating habbits and nutrien as well, and I hate that I have to be satisfied with what I can get him to eat, but what choice have I? I hope this is also one of those things that he grows out of.

Have you tried your local chidren's hospital.I know when my jon was having simlar problems I call my doc and he sent me to a feeding clinlic at the children hospital of philadelphia. I know they have a web site that has a alot of information .I think it is www.chop.comYES! Funky eating habits is a common trait of children with Autism. I got so tired of people saying "he'll grow out of it" or "you worry too much". I took my son to an eating disorders clinic at the Autism center here. Maybe you could 'Google' one in your area.

I forgot to mention--these are some things the clinic asked me about......

Food jags; number of different foods (under 11 choices is typical); texture; temp of food; family habits such as at the table or in front of the tv, etc

Same thing here, the boys are 4 and still get a bottle. I would never admit that anywhere else. I definitely hide that fact. i have tried to break it but it is really hard. I think I am going to have to now though. They were almost 3 before they really got the sippy cup. They learned about 3 weeks ago to suck out of a straw. i was so excited, so now that they can do that I know the bottle has to go. They do have low muscle tone in their face which is a result of being 10 weeks premature and I have been told by therapist the bottle does not help develop those muscles, neither do sippys. They need to use a straw and that will indirectly help their speech. It is going to be a major tantrum but I am going to have to bite the bullet and do it.

Andrew has gotten much better with food but Nikolas probably has about a 5 item diet. It gets very frustrating.

Hi there - This is a difficult topic because there are so many different reasons for food preferences and sometimes trial and error is the only way to come up with solutions. Sometimes its the smell, or texture, and sometimes it is a physical aversion, such as difficulty chewing. My oldest is almost 9 and even though he still has some issues, I guess I am one of the lucky ones, because he did indeed "outgrow" some of his food issues - at least to a point that we can deal with it. There are still some definites that I just don't mess with - he has to have a straw to drink because he doesn't like the feel of liquid on his lips. When he was younger, he wouldn't eat meat ever and hated fruits and vegetables of any kind. Then one day when he was six, he just said he wanted a steak. He ate the whole thing. Last year he started eating the tops of brocolli (only with cheese) and he will eat other veggies out of the garden but not any other way. The only way I can get fruit in the mix is to blend it very well and add it to icecream to make a shake - but there cannot be any chunks at all - oh and he likes apple juice from a juice box and "no pulp" orange juice or Sunny D. I am sure that for many parents, he still seems very picky, but I guess it is so second nature to me that I only see the improvements. We live in a rural area and good OTs and sensory therapy are not easy to come by, so we had to do this on our own. Anyway, I guess what I am saying is don't give up, try different ways, and I am sure you will find what works. I know it's not easy, but I try to remember that even my friends with so-called "normal" children have similar problems from time to time. Also, Pediasure, or protein powders, etc., can be experimented with. Just because one doesn't work, doesn't mean they all won't. Same with vitamins. My boys only like the gummy vitamins. I long since stopped trying any others. Hang in there and good luck!

Tiredmom39201.0100231481Call and IEP meeting and bring up the issues of the feeding. Ask that they include "feeding therapy" in his IEP. Not everyone can do this. It's an ABA-like technique that encourages eating and it's usually done in a special setting by someone who is highly trained. You can search feeding therapy on this site and also google it for more info. It's CRITICAL that you get this done. It can take years and sometimes has to be the primary goal on the IEP. BUt there are plenty of ASD kids on feeding tubes and you want to avoid that eventuality. I'd pursue the feeding therapy ASAP. My son, 4 yr old, too had major problems with food...he just wanted to eat crunchy foods and no slimmy or smooth textures..last christmas, I took him to an osteopathic ped and he is getting manipulation therapy and the time he focused on my son's lower jaw, he ate pasta for the fist time and now he eats many more foods but the smooth and slimmy are still difficult..enzymes also helped..he would just look at food and spit a little (down his chin)...we discovered that his intestines weren't doing their job and now he is being treated for his yeast problemsTry addeing liquid vitamins in their juice. I would try liquid health. That therapy is great. Pedia sure should be used at snack time. Vegs/ fruits baby foods I mixed 1 veg.and I fruit together when on baby foods. Daniel still loves bite size foods more than the bigger stuff.

Haven't had the chance to read all the posts but I wanted to mention that picky eating in the extreme may or may not be a health problem. If a child is growing and doesn't get sick and his weight is not too low and his digestion is OK, there's probably no harm in letting the pickiness reign. This was the case with my PDD-NOS son until he hit puberty, when he suddenly started eating everything. We kept the pediatirician apprised of how things were going in the food dept. and she kept an eye on his health. It worked out OK for us.

However, there are plenty of kids on the Autism Spectrum whose "pickiness" is life threatening. Those children sometimes end up on feeding tubes. Of course, you want to avoid that. So I would definitely seek out feeding therapy. It's ABA-based. Once a child reaches age 3 and is eligible under IDEA, feeding therapy can be included in the IEP along with Parent Training to learn how to do it at home, too. It can take a LONG time to get an autistic child to eat like other children, but it can be done. Each state's rules for EI vary, so you might want to see if the OT and/or speech therapist can give you advice about this. Of course, it's possible to contact a local hospital about the issue and get help thur insurance, too. Pickiness is not that serious a matter, but what you are describing is next to starvation. Clearly, that's a medical issue and most likely is subject to insurance coverage.

Hello,

I can totally relate to your story. I have some parents that you will want to get in touch with regarding picky eating habits and what they've done to improve this. Please email otelizabeht@sbcglobal.net

Elizabeth

If you believe that the diet isn't safe, then don't do it. The school board can be aggrivating...don't believe those poeple either. I would not put their trust in mine unless if I were sure. Be very careful, they can fool you at some points...

my 2 year old boy is failure to thrive because of the eating problems. My daughter had problems too. When she had her first dentist visit at 31/2 they gave her a pamphlet that had pictures of rotten teeth. She was obsessed with them and how this happened. I explained that this person didn't brush their teeth and didn't eat the right foods to grow healthy and strong and their teeth are very sick. I wasn't thinking and she had a meltdown. I explained to her that if she brushes her teeth and eats the right foods then she doesn't have to worry about tooth decay. She started eating. It takes 2 hours most of the time to finish a meal but I'm not worried about her health.She had also started talking too maybe that helped. I think the first time she actually said she was hungry I must have made 10 different things for her to eat! I feel a little guilty about they way this happened but she is eating.

This problem is what brought me to the board yesterday. I was frustrated as my son was throwing up again and reached out to my sister in law who came back with I must be feeding him too much. I finally realised they just can't understand what we're going through.

Hi there!

I just happened to see your post about the eating issues. I will try to make this short. I have 2 boys, ages 4 and 2, both have Autism. My oldest son was a very picky eater, only diced pears, peaches and cheetos and dorritos, the youngest one quit eating all together when he started textured foods. I could only get him to eat ritz crackers and cheetos. Last Jan. he quit eating those. He had been drinking milk, pediasure and decaf tea and that is what he had been survivng off until this past May. My youngest one also was diagnosed with Pica, an eating disorder related to Autism where he would eat non food items, paper, sand, dirt,hair. etc. (gross!!!!) Luckily a Dr. at his Pediatricians office sent us to Richmond (we live in Virginia) to the Childrens Hospital. They evaluated both boys and we got into their feeding program. I cant say enough about this program. Both of my boys are now eating good and healthy foods. Of course I have to puree all of the youngest ones foods and they both have opposite allergies, 1 allergy to milk and the other to soy!! Both allergy to egg so its a challenge to find things to fix but at least they are eating. We attended this program for 7 weeks M-F all day long, it is about 1hr and a 1/2 from where we live. But it was well worth the ride every day. My youngest was real close to having a feeding tube put it. If you think you might be interested in contacting them please email me and I will give you the info to contact them or if you have any other questions I will try to help.

Spectrummom

This is my first time on this site. I really like the fact that there are so
many people wanting to share their experiences with their children on
this site. I recently took a course on ASD and learned about PECS.

PECS sounds like it would be good for everyone to try in this form. You
could make a long card with velcro and stick a picture(with velcro on the
back to attach) of a food that you would like to introduce to the child and
a picture of a bottle. The child picks the picture off the velcro and hands
it to you. Praise Praise and more Praise. After this give the bottle.

Hopefully the child will learn from the board. Don't introduce to many
items on the board. After the child has learnt how to ask for things you
can introduce more items on the board. I am not sure if I am explaining
this properly, I am very tired.

Always remember to say "When and Then"... When you eat your carrot
then you can have a bottle. Don't give to much on a plate or in a bottle.
Remember a smarty can be cut up into 8 pieces as a reward!! Rewards
don't have to be big... Bottles are filling. I hope that this may have helped
a little to some people.

Cheerfully,
Dee
Having another kid eat it is good.

My nephew came and ate something that my daughters both told me were bad. He ate them and then I had to go buy more.

Another thought that might help the younger crowd is to take your child to the store. My daughter will eat Yoplait Yogurt. She likes the container, but since SHE picked it out then she wants to eat it all of the time.

Maybe try letting them help make it. That is a big one that works.

My daughter sticks to the same things for months. She also loves smooth.

Peanut Butter
Macaroni and Cheese with peas
Hot Chocolate with milk (nestles w marshmallows)
Spaghetti with little meatballs.
Oatmeal- Cinnamon and raisin.
ICE

Or a tip from Martha Stewart is to hide veggies in things. Shredded Broccoli in Spaghetti Sauce. Cauliflower in Mashed Potatoes,
I have to get some grapes.