Published on 12, July, 2020
My son was diagnosed with autism last year and I'm new to this forum. I would really appreciate some advice on how to make meal times less stressful.
He tends to prefer soft foods and doesn't like things mixed up (so a casserole which has meat and veg in a sauce is a no go). Meat and veg separated on the plate seems work better; but actually he really struggles with eating veg; he doesn't like the textures. So if we insist he eats even a piece now, he screws up his face and looks like he wants to be sick and can go into meltdown...
Fruit is not such a problem luckily (but he will only suck the juice out of satsumas/clementines pieces - doesn't like the skin) and pears need to be peeled. The texture of food really does cause problems for him.
We've recently tried putting the food into dishes (rather than plating up for him), so he can help himself, in the hope that it would make things less stressful for him; but now he really will only choose the meat or pasta (beige food) with mayonnaise!
So my question is, if he eats meat, fruit, lots of milk/yoghurts, bread/pasta, but pretty much no vegetables should we just let him be? It's tricky because we don't want his younger sister who is 3 to be influenced by his habits. And ideally don't really want to be cooking different meals for them both.
I think he is generally healthy, but worried he might not be getting enough vitamins etc. I guess we could give him some supplements, but not sure what?
Any advice, greatly received. Thanks :)
We always made mealtimes fun - no forcing to eat it all - the rule was eat the good bits, stop when you've had enough.
I used to make Jenga towers with chips, Tetris shapes from toast, patterns with toppings on pizza etc. Some kids seem to hate veg but we didn't force anything - just try lots of options. We found tinned fruit and veg better because of the softer texture. We used to have dipping gravy with everything.
Don't sweat it and don't make a battle or punishment out of meal times or you're handing ammunition to him to mess you around.
Some kids eat nothing but cheese - they survive ok.
Their appetite and tastes change a lot when they're at school trying to copy their peers.
Thanks very much! I appreciate you taking the time.