Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi was wondering if anyone can help me my 5 year old soon has just been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and iv knew for a while he was autistic but I’m really struggling has he done way except a few cookies and crisps he don’t like slimy textures only hard textures but still won’t eat what can I do I have tried everything he’s even been in hospital over it I feel useless .. and he’s knows he very hungry but switches off as if it don’t bother him I’m so worried about him he’s on iron and vitamins can anyone help thanks for reading
Veggie fussy-eater aspie here too! When I was a similar age I went through a long phase of only eating satsumas and I was fine in the end (if short, but considering the rest of my family I'm putting that down to mostly genetics).
As said, not making a battle out of it is very important. You don't want him associating food with confrontation, it will just put him off further.
You've already worked out that texture is a massive issue for your son, I wonder if you could try baking different ingredients into a biscuit-like texture. It's a common thing; I had all sauces/chillies/stews/etc. blended smooth until I was in my late teens!
Another thing that helped me when I was young was actually assisting in cooking the food in the first place (even if I was so young that 'assisting' meant 'I put the bay leaf in the sauce'). My mum encouraged this since I was very small.
I've actually grown up into quite a foodie. Love baking, live for curries. It just took a long time and baby steps. :)
Hi, I know how he feels because I was diagnosed at a similar age to your son and I am pretty sensitive to certain tastes; I have a different meal to the rest of the family a lot of the time. I’m vegetarian and a very fussy eater and somtimes I have to take vitamins. I’m 20 years old now and I still find eating very stressful.
Don't know if this will help - we had a very fussy eater - my Asperger's daughter had a very limited diet so we didn't make a battle out of it - we provided a selection on her plate of known good things like pizza & nuggets etc. and some 'stretch' food (veg) that she might try.
McDonalds somehow seems to encourage fussy eaters to get used to burgers, chips, nuggets, cheezy stuff etc. and trips to Harvesters with lots of tasty little starters so she learned to pinch interesting things from our plates like bacon, sausages etc. - the only rules were 'eat the good bits, finish when you have had enough, don't feel you have to eat everything' so that you end up with a large pallete of tastes that she liked and so combinations and permutations meant that she got a - more or less - balanced diet. We refused to let her use food as a bargaining tool by taking the stress out of it and making it fun - not a punishment.
Little things like french-fry towers & tetris toast are easy & fun. Kid's vitamin pills are a nice treat too. .
She's 19 now and eats almost anything but is still not so keen on veg - but eats enough to be ok.
I also look at the fact that a cow eats just grass - and out of that grass it makes up to 1/2 a ton of bones and meat so the nutients are in there somewhere.
Others may hate our approach to this common problem.
Hi NAS38948
While you are waiting for a community response, I thought that you may also like to contact our Autism Helpline team who can provide you with information and advice?
You can contact the team via telephone on 0808 800 4104 (Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm, Friday 9am to 3pm). Please note that the Helpline is experiencing a high volume of calls and it may take a couple of attempts before you get through to speak to an advisor. Alternatively, should you prefer to send a message, you can do so via their webform:
https://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/main/questions.aspx
Hope this helps,
Nicky-Mod