Bumping this up...
I'm having some issues with Jason and food. He refuses a lot of foods. He only seems to want to eat foods that are crunchy, and only specific ones at that. The ever-popular chicken nuggets from McD's...nowhere else will do. Chocolate puff cereal...other kinds get dumped on the floor or ignored. I could go on and on here. I can't force him to eat, obviously, but his stagnant weight gain is starting to freak me out. It didn't bother me for awhile, as he was practically obese as a baby, but now...I mean, how much nutrition can you get from maybe 10 foods, and some of them far from healthy?
I have a consultation with our doc on Friday, and I'm going to talk to him about this. He refused almost all his food yesterday, picked at breakfast this morning, and refused to even try lunch this afternoon...I eat like a bird, myself (only once a day, most of the time), but this is craziness. I'm afraid he'll make himself sick. It's getting to the point that I'm considering giving him those instant breakfast mixes to drink instead of juice, if I can get him to take it. Boost, Pediasure, something like that. I'm going to ask the doc.
Have any of you tried these supplement-type things?
Okay, I know many kids on the spectrum have problems eating certain foods b/c of their sensory issues but my son used to eat meatloaf not too long ago and a much more variety of foods when he was younger. So is this sensory issues or is he just tired of these certain foods and become a picky eater? He'll pick at his food and take forever just to finish and the reason why I insist is b/c he's eaten these foods at one point. What do ya think?My boy takes only broccoli as his vege... he refuses to take any green leafy ones. He adores cheese.... and also ham/cheese sandwich. But throw in a wafer for his breaktime in school and he'll just take a nibble like a mouse. So it's back to sandwiches again.
I guess through time they will take to other foods... but when they are still young we can't really force them, can we ??!!??
Food burn-out is certainly a possibility. Another would be that he got a bad surprise while eating that food once, and is afraid it's going to happen again (for example, maybe he got a bone fragment in the ground beef/meatloaf or he ate somebody else's meatloaf and didn't like it).
Here are my online resources for picky/resistant eaters, in case I haven't given them to you before.
This brochure might help: "Understanding and Managing Extreme Food Refusal in Toddlers."
http://www.infantandtoddlerforum.org/objects/pdf/fact_sheet2 .3.pdf
Here's an article from the Indiana Resource Center for Autism. It's called "Mealtime and Children on the Autism Spectrum: Beyond Picky, Fussy and Fads."
http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/Medical/mealtime.html
Sensory Professing Disorder Companion, a newsletter issue devoted to picky eating, with info based on the highly-recommended book "Just Take A Bite."
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/The_SPD_Companion -picky-eaters-and-resistant-eaters.html
Good luck with everything.