Grilled Cheese & Nuggets | Autism PDD

I have asked this over a year ago, but Nicky only eats Basically Grilled cheese and chicken Nuggets for dinner with the occasional Pizza with no cheese. He is 5 and a half and I'm starting to worry about his diet. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I told him last night that this summer he has to start to try new foods. Bad thing to do bc he had a really big MELT DOWN

I once read that having a feeding tube as an infant can cause picky eating when food is introduced.

My youngest son (probably NT) was born with an infection and was in neonatal for a week, and part of that time he had a feeding tube. He turned out to be a picky eater. My autistic son didn't have a tube and has very few food issues.

my son same way when young. school helped with teaching him to try new things. some he eats some not. he is instructed that he must only taste the new item on his plate. if he wants the foods he likes he must try the new item first. try one at a time. put items he likes with it. if he likes nuggets try some other fried items. my son loves fried food. fish stiks are good. try some fried chicken only try one new thing at a time. he would not eat veges but will eat stuff like fried eggplant etc. i think all young children finicky eaters but as they get older they will eat more. I wish I had some answers also but my son is 5 and will only eat fast food nuggets, not store bought, waffles and peanut butter sandwiches, now of course some days he only wants to eat waffles and nothing else, it is frustrating and I worry all the time about his health, I give him a vitamin and hope that helps a little.Sarah was same and it changed for her in kinderkids at 4&5 years old watching what other kids ate for lunch and snacktime..she started requesting pb & jelly sandwiched, goldfish crackers, apples~never touched them before but now she loves them. Sometimes if they get exposed to them outside of us they are more open to eating them..she will eat whatever other kids are eating at school but not so much at home. She started out with just chips, nuggets, fries and apple juice..now she will eat pb& jelly, any chips, pizza, spagetti, mac and cheese, hot dogs, corn dogs, fish sticks, ....still not good but she blends in better at school lunch and more variety at dinner:) I pretty much have the same problem with my son who is 3. He also seems to like something for a time and after a while does not want to eat it anymore. He seems to like crunchy things. If you go on wrongplanet.net I saw one of the kids with Autism write that he can eat Pizza for 2 weeks straight get sick of it and move on to something else. I tied the soy Nuggets from Trader Joes and the "veggie" chips, I also took chocolate milk out of my house since he was like an addict with that!! It's really hard sometimes he does not even eat dinner or lunch at school. I was told the best way to try a new food is to give him food he likes and add 2 or 3 pieces of something new on the same plate, does your son take a multivitamin? Let me know if you hear anything, Good luck!.. It drives me crazy we will sit there for like 40 mins.. trying him to get what we are eating Then yes he throws himself under the table and crys he hates us.. What a dinner time.. More like a Nightmare.. The dr. said try to push the fruits and veggies.. fruits he will eat no Veggies but some corn on the cob always on the cob.. He is gaining weight and grwoing and taking his vitamins when i can get it in his mouth.. Crazy what we have to do isn't it.. It sure is. We started to give Gummy Bear vitamins. He will eat them at least
We have a "mix textures" problem here. Took me months for pasta with sos. Also a big problem fruits and vegetables. In one year we managed to advance from banana to apple. Now I'm working on salad (you don't want to know).

I have to confess that my son meltdowns are mostly about food. The sensory is so powerfull that he can not self-regulate himself. It looks like torture but with practice and in a long time I saw results.

And yes mom6, he tends to get stuck on certain foods that's why I change it all the time ..... he is not fooling me anymore. Change something, anything, all the time even the brand. When they get used with the idea of changing ... it gets better.

Example:

- starting from Mcdonalds chicken nuggets, try some diferent shape of nuggets (when they are very hungry) and then a fish nugget and then not-miced meat breaded

- pasta ... plain like boiled in soup, then colored with tomato sauce just a pale color, later on sone meat ball (plain) next to it

- fries , add some parmesan on it (just for the smell), later on visible

- chips/popcorn ... there are a lot of flavours out there ...

- there are pasta in shape of animals/letters and different shapes of nuggets

- omlet plain and cut into sticks, then omlet with a litthe sausage in it or mushrooms .... (the same for pizza)

It helped a lot to see other kids eating (daycare). He was curious to try it but not eating it. Also eating in the park (when very hungry) no other options.

That is a hard one because it's about sensory ..... and everything about sensory was so hard to deal with in my case. For us a "new food" takes months now but it used to take years . It also helps if you can figure out what sensory is unconfortable for them. It's the texture or is the mix of textures or is about smell or taste ..... and work around that issue a while (just for change) then start addresing the specific problem. If it's just a pattern not a real sensory then it should be easier ..... just change all the time.

The idea of reinforcing with favorite food did not work very well in our case because the sensory it's too powerfull and ends in throwing up. So time and change was a better solution.

lilid39220.2398958333My nephew only eats cream cheese and jelly on raisin bread....hows that...hopefully it will get better..We tried a few food tolerance programs but I never stuck with them since I think ds eats a pretty good variety and tries new things occassionally. However, my youngest is very picky and I have been trying to help him along. I pick one food I want him to eat (like steamed baby carrots) and serve it with dinner a few times per week. Since he's little I just put it on his plate and that's as far as we go. With older ds we progress to touch it, touch to lips, put in mouth and spit out etc. It seems to help, he hasn't started eating the carrots onhis own but he started trying a new thing here or there out of the blue, just puts it in his mouth and eats it and tells me "I ate some corn" of course you have to go crazy giving tons of attention at that point!i dont know the specifics with your child and his eating issues and can only speak from exp. with mine. first, for my son i would try slowly changing up his grilled cheese, maybe one leaf of spinach chopped super tiny and mixed in the cheese, on maybe on peice of chipped deli ham chopped and strew across the cheese, will he let you change the type of bread? look for things that llook the same. try and open face peice of toast he can make with ham, and cheese, and maybe some spinach. will he eat mustard? you could let him squirt that on and put in the over or toaster oven and presto. a new kind of grilled cheese. but this sometimes takes months and starts with a half teaspoon addition of a new product. maybe try a different look alike brand of nugget. or first add a favorite veggie or fruit like tomatoes with the nugget it. or serve it over a tbsp of rice or pasta. little steps slow and steady. and you may go through 100 dollars of foods to find one thing he will eat with it.
ok, we were old-school with this, but this was partially because we didn't know the girls were autistic until they were just turning four. Basically, we had two rules that we consistently enforced. The first rule is that all the kids eat what's being served or nothing at all. Yes, it's ok not to eat - that's their choice, but we will not prepare seperate meals for kids. Second, we have dessert a couple days/week, but no one can get dessert without eating what's been served for dinner.

These are old school rules, but they work - at least they did for us. All of our kids eat a wide variety of food. My non-asd son is actually the pickiest eater of them all. My NT nephew is like most of the autistic kids I read about on this board - he'll only eat a couple of things and they have to be prepared in a certain way (PB&Js must have the crusts cut off and cut in triangles - that sort of thing - he won't eat them otherewise).

Yes, our kids have missed a meal hear and there, but they seem to get the point and we've never had a problem with this, knock on wood.

I know this approach isn't possible with all ASD kids - that some will starve themselves before giving up this control, so I'm just describing what we've done without an expectation that it will help anyone else.
fred39220.3279513889John, I don't know how old your son is, but does he show an interest in "helping" in the kitchen at all? My son loves to do that, and I think it helps in having him try new things. He has never had a sophisticated palate ;) , but even when he was younger, while he only ate "kid type" food, he has always loved apples, oranges, bananas, raw carrots and celery, milk, etc. so we were able to supplement his kid-type food with enough fruits/veggies/dairy to make sure he was eating healthy. Now that he is older, he is more willing to try new things, especially if he has a hand in helping to make them.
WOW -- THREE FOODS is a lot
There is a book called, "Just Take One Bite," that you might find helpful. And we find, dd is not above the ONE BITE of anything, if it is given alongside a regular portion of fake nuggets or pizza. EVEN broccoli! I have yet to incorporate most of what she will take one bite of, but it is a start.
I know your son is no longer a toddler, but this brochure might help: "Understanding and Managing Extreme Food Refusal in Toddlers."

http://www.infantandtoddlerforum.org/objects/pdf/fact_sheet2 .3.pdf

Good luck with everything.
Oh we have this same problem. He will eat

chicken nuggets only if they are fried, no other form of chicken allowed, and there must be ranch or he cannot eat them. oh and they must come with fries and a soda with a lid and a straw, no exceptions

pizza with sausage only if it is diced into bite size pieces and provided with a fork because he cannot touch the pizza

any form of cracker or cookie

hot dogs, diced and provided with fork and ketchup

sausage

pancakes - but only with chocolate chips

Those are the only things he will eat. I have to make him seperate meals when the rest of us eat because he will completly skip eating all together for meals at a time if the correct foods are not served.
These are all wonderful ideas. For my ds it is a texture thing mostly. I did spend a lot of time hiding small amts of minced foods or baby food in his diet. He was very under weight and needed every calorie. For instance you could add a small amt of a mild orange vegtable baby food to the pizza sauce. Juicy juice makes a fruit juice with vegtable in it. As he's gotten older he began choosing a wider variety of foods himself, although certain textures remain an issue for him.
Get them really hungry (like after the park or an outing), and give them the new food. When kids are hungry they will eat anything, autistic or not!!! That is what I do, and my kids eat anything (like their mama
http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/Medical/mealtime.html
Thank you all, and Norwaymom great sites Thank you.Don't feel bad its been hot dog cut up and peeled(skin taken off) for 3 years now.My son only eats strawberries sliced lengthwise, sliced hotdogs and cheezits at the moment. He willingly takes a vitamin and a fish oil supplement so I feel really great about that. I've stopped trying so hard at home - most meltdowns were at meal times. 3 meals x 2 hour meltdown each = 6 hours a day of screaming (plus add all the other hours of screaming for other issues). Now, I always put something on his plate that I know he will eat along with whatever I'm having. Occasionally he'll pick at the new food, but I don't push it anymore. I've heard a lot of stories about kids who only eat hotdogs or twinkies and still grow up fine. You know the cliche "pick your battles" and I've decided food battles are not worth it in my house. His IEP addressed his eating habits last semester and it did help a little (he tried some new foods at lunchtime - peer pressure helped). Good luck with however you approach this. I always saying well as long as they are eating something.. Actually Brett tried a piece of roast beef last night without gaging.. It was great.. He liked the gravy off of it frist then chewed it and spit it out. Well at least he tried it.. Payne will **try**anything, but if he has his choice of what to eat it will end up being pizza, chicken nuggets or a lunchable (same type of foods though). We went to Ruby Tuesday and he actually WANTED the mac'n'cheese and ate my side of "little trees"! Thats great for payne.. I am trying new things every day with brett.. I wish he can be like his brother.. His big brother brandin eats everything in sight.. That is possible why is is almost 100lbs.. But besides that.. He loves foods and good foods also.. Yes, I think it is partially due to his VERY high metabolism...he eats CONSTANTLY but doesn't add weight. I just wanted to say--I know everyone is concerned about what our kids
don't eat...but it was nice to know we are not alone in this struggle. DD has
her few foods--and VERY specific about those (McD's or Wendy's nuggets
only, for example), it's been a frustrating time, and she literally will either
eat what she likes or nothing at all. I don't know if she really ever gets
hungry or thirsty. She has a feeding tube, and we are trying so hard to get
rid of it. It was amazing to read how many others are dealing with the
exact same thing--and really wonderful to read about older kiddos who
have greatly expanded their food repertoire!!
elle, im sorry to hear about the feeding tube, that is one thing i havent had to deal with in my son, however, know that you arent alone in the what they want or starve. my son has absolutely no concept of hungry or full. if he doesnt want it, he will boycott food all together even if days on end.

my theory has always been, what ever it takes to get ANY food in them. when we were gluten free *still dairy free* if he wasnt going to eat anything, well, ya do what ya got to do. you only want wheat *wheel* pasta, thats what youll get.

good luck to everyone!!!!
The eating program the therapy team I work with is...

1. Toleate food on the table.
2. Tolerate food on their plate.
3. Tolerate toching food.
4. Tolerate Kissing food.
5. Tolerate licking food.
6. Tolerate biting food.
7. Swallow.

(If kid isn't too picky, you an just do 4-7.)

I'd recommend not pushing them to the next step until they've done the prior one two times, WITHOUT being forced to. This will give them a lot of time to get accustomed to the food. We also reinforce with favorite foods, once they do (kiss/lick/bite) once, they get their favorite. Once they get to the point of actually eating the food, we match them bite for bite with their favorite (1 bite of nonfav, 1 bite of fav.)

All of the suggestions on making things slightly different are awesome, we do that a lot and it can really help.

Fred-I LOVE how you've headed off the whole issue, I wish everyone would take that approach!

Jess

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