Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello everyone. As I've mentioned before my 4 year old boy with autism is a fussy eater. Each day I ask him what he wants for lunch ( for school) and I put that in his lunch box. Often when I've picked him up from school I check to see what he's eaten and I'm lucky if he's eaten one thing. Usually a yoghurt. It really worries. I can't believe the dinner ladies allow him to go out to play when he's hardly touched his lunch. I have mentioned it to his teacher. He said they have tried just letting him have some of his drink rather than all of it, otherwise he's full up on just juice, but it doesn't seem to be working.
Please can anyone give me some advice. Maybe your child is the same?
Thank you for reading and I hope someone can offer me some advice.
Hi i have just read your comments regarding how some food stuffs make you feel. I have recently joined a group called autism champions and we each have to find a topic that we are interested in . i chose sensory diet which i have been able to find more information regarding this issue with children. I would be very grateful if you would be able to share some of your experiences with me that could enlighten me more and i can share my findings with the group. Do you think you could help me... kind regards
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It sounds like your son is suffering from multiple sensory issues. I do too and have been searching for solutions and therapy. I'm now too old unfortunately but your son is not. Try places like the sensory clinic ( please google as I haven't the right address) or the caudwell children's fund. They might be able to help or give more advise.
Dr3am3r,
Your son sounds like an older version of my son! The only sarnies he'll eat are Nutella or jam! And again he gets bored of the same things but is afraid to try new foods. I got him to help me make pizzas at the weekend to try to convince him to eat them. He couldn't bare the feel of grated cheese on his hands and asked me for a spoon :( He was chuffed he'd helped me make pizzas but refused to eat them and got very upset.
Maybe you could arrange to stay in the school with him for a day and it might give you a better picture of his day, just staying on the side not crowding him so you get a realistic picture. Try to find out if the noise in the canteen is bothering him
Hi Boatee,
Do you know what. I didn't even think about the noise level in the canteen and my son does have issues with loud music/noise. I know sometimes at parties he won't eat any food because he's overwhelmed. He basically has sandwiches, yoghurt, fingerellas and grapes and crisps. I try to get him to have a decent amount of food for his breakfast coz I know he won't eat very much at school. I really don't know how he functions.
Can it be that by the time it comes to lunchtime some of the ingredients are mixed up, or things have gone soggy... both would be an enormous problem for me and I put stuff in a lunchbox so they can't touch each other. Or maybe the temperature in not right anymore.
Please just pack what he will eat as there will be a reason for not eating some foodstuffs. When I was a child I would only eat sandwiches and that's still my main staple and I'm now 47...
You can try asking very specific questions that not require long answers like
Was it too warm
Was it too cold
Was the texture right
Was the flavour right
Just easy short questions to find out why he doesn't eat his lunch.
Also it could be that he is forced to sit in a place he doesn't like or people he doesn't want, could put him right off his food! School canteens can be frightening busy, and extremely noisy places, that can put him off. Did me!
It could be a very small thing that you never realized that is to blame...
Hope you will find your answer, I'm no expert but have lived with aspergers and do know a little... I hope anyway