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Diet Issues

Muggle

Hello everypne

I'm new to the forum but i have a 15 year old son who is ASD.  Have been a member of NAS for many years but not used the forum up to now.

My son was in mainstream school up until September last year when we de registered him because they were just not addressing his needs, this had gone on for some time and eventually affected his eating and his well being.  Their answer to his sensory issues were " he will just have to get used to it" and went downhill from there, to a point where they were trying to force him to smile when he was unhappy!!

He has had food issues from when he was young and has a VERY restricted diet but we have dealt with things as they've cropped up i.e. packaging changes, things dropped because they tasted or looked different.  But lately he has got it into his head that food makes him sick and has panic attacks when mealtimes crop up.  We have tried all sorts of tactics and some work for a period of time but then the panic attacks return and he is convinced he is going to be sick (he never is) and we have tried to say to him nothing happens but as he said its hard to get that into his head.

We have been to a dietician and she wasnt much use just said try to get him to eat more of what he does eat now.  Not really addressing the problem, we want to try the GF/CF diet but as he eats so little anyway we thought if we tried that he wouldnt eat anything at all!!  We finally tracked down why he thinks hes going to be sick - he said it was a TA at the school told him one of the children was off because they ate too much and were sick.

Now that statement has stuck in his head and we are running out of ideas, so any advice or thoughts would be most appreciated.

 

Worried Muggle Mum

 

 

 

 

Parents

  • Hi Muggle

    Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum.  I am really sorry that you are having a difficult and stressful time at the moment. 

    I have posted a link to the NAS factsheet on diet that might be of some help to you.

    http://www.autism.org.uk/Living-with-autism/Understanding-behaviour/Dietary-management-for-children-and-adolescents/Dietary-management-restricted-diet.aspx

    I also have personal experience of a very similar situation with my son.  He had terrible panic attacks around meal times and used to sweat, panic and gag on his food.  We do not know where it stemmed from but we were told basically that we had to just ensure that he was monitored whilst he ate (just watching him from afar to ensure that he did not choke etc) and otherwise we were to totally ignore him whilst he was eating.  We did not try to make him eat anything new or different and I have to admit that he ate ham and pineapple pizzas for every meal for weeks, but he gradually started to have less and less panic attacks.  He now eats mostly on his own as he does not like to sit with other people when he is eating but he does not have panic attacks and has started to eat a slightly more varied diet - ham and pineapple pizza and Yorkshire pudding and ham and cheese toasties!  He is also now able to prepare these himself which gives him more control.  He does not eat at the normal times with the rest of us but I have taken the view that as long as he is eating then I am happy.  Ideally I would like him to have a healthier diet but that it is a battle for the future.  I would like to point out that despite his restricted diet he is 5'11" and about 10.5 stone so he is doing ok. 

    I hope that something may help or provide some assistance

    Good luck and please let me know how you get on

    ColinCat - Mod Laughing

Reply

  • Hi Muggle

    Thanks for posting and welcome to the forum.  I am really sorry that you are having a difficult and stressful time at the moment. 

    I have posted a link to the NAS factsheet on diet that might be of some help to you.

    http://www.autism.org.uk/Living-with-autism/Understanding-behaviour/Dietary-management-for-children-and-adolescents/Dietary-management-restricted-diet.aspx

    I also have personal experience of a very similar situation with my son.  He had terrible panic attacks around meal times and used to sweat, panic and gag on his food.  We do not know where it stemmed from but we were told basically that we had to just ensure that he was monitored whilst he ate (just watching him from afar to ensure that he did not choke etc) and otherwise we were to totally ignore him whilst he was eating.  We did not try to make him eat anything new or different and I have to admit that he ate ham and pineapple pizzas for every meal for weeks, but he gradually started to have less and less panic attacks.  He now eats mostly on his own as he does not like to sit with other people when he is eating but he does not have panic attacks and has started to eat a slightly more varied diet - ham and pineapple pizza and Yorkshire pudding and ham and cheese toasties!  He is also now able to prepare these himself which gives him more control.  He does not eat at the normal times with the rest of us but I have taken the view that as long as he is eating then I am happy.  Ideally I would like him to have a healthier diet but that it is a battle for the future.  I would like to point out that despite his restricted diet he is 5'11" and about 10.5 stone so he is doing ok. 

    I hope that something may help or provide some assistance

    Good luck and please let me know how you get on

    ColinCat - Mod Laughing

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