Hi,
My partner has a 5 year old non verbal autistic boy and we are at a loss as to what to do. We struggle to get him to consume any type of drink and it has got to the point where his lips are severely dry, cracked and bleed.
He takes some sips of tea and diet pepsi and might have the equivalent of 1 cup of fluids in a day. It doesn't help that he only accepts sugary drinks which we realise does not help the situation greatly but it is the only type of fluid we can get in him.
We try to encourage him to drink but too much persistence results in rejectment. He won't eat liquid rich foods and has a very beige diet.
As a result of his cracked lips (the cold weather is also a big contributing factor) he gets really upset and screams the house down. We try to comfort him but it can be very hard as we can't communicate with him other than him grabbing our hands and placing them on his lips which is him trying to tell us it hurts. We try to vaseline them when he is asleep as he wont let us put anything on when he's awake.
Besides the cracked lips we are very concerned for his health as he is clearly dehydrated.
Is there anyone in a similar situation or has any advice? It is very upsetting knowing what he needs but being unable to explain to him if he drank more the problems would go away.
We have tried straws, ice lollies, different cups/glasses/mugs and gently forcing fluid in his mouth but this is not a solution.
Any help or advice is appreciated.
