Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi , my little boy who is 6 and has autism is very overweight . We have had to buy him age 10-11 elasticacted school trousers. I feel awful , I know he has such an issue with food and that he only eats a handful of things but most are the wrong things, he hasn't really wanted do much through the holidays, he has been swimming a few times and just explodes if things don't go his way. I feel exhausted all the time and to be honest I give in to him very easy. I know all the things I should do , for one not buy the pigging stuff. (Crisps and chocolate biscuits) .
i suppose I just wondered if anyone who had been through the same and could give me any strategies that they had used to help their children.
I feel like a complete failure as a mum , I'm supposed to be giving him the best in life instead I'm turning him into an overweight little boy who will probably end up with health problems if I don't handle it now. His waist measures 31 inches , which shocked the hell out of me.
sorry for going on and Thankyou for reading
lukes mummy,
Firstly, one thing stood out in your second post - you say he eats lots of fruit - this could be your key - try reducing the 'bad' foods and replacing them with more fruit - one can get almost all the nutrients we need from fruit and veg.
Secondly, if one does enough exercise one can eat any amount of anything - as long as one burns off excess calories one will maintain a steady weight (and if one burns more calories than one takes in one will lose weight) - so try to encourage him to do more exercise - this may not need to be a great deal, just 30minutes walking everyday to start with, for example - and, to help with this, you could use his favourite foods as motivation (just make sure you do make it reward-based ("If you do X you'll get Y") not punishment-based ("If you don't do X you won't get Y")).
Thirdly, make an appointment with a nutritionist.