Eating problems

Hi everyone

My name is Zec and it is obvious to all of us that my 2 year old granddaughter is on the spectrum and she displays more and more problems the older she gets.

She is waiting to be seen at a local centre that deals with autism.

But my main worry is her eating, sometimes she will happily eat and demolish a plate of food but most of the time it is a battle to get her to eat!

I know with every child the issues are varied but I am desperate for advice!

When she was a couple of weeks old she was admitted to hospital and given a feeding tube, I don't know if that is related?

She is very attached to me and I think that might be because I am a constant? I am disabled and unable to work and so gramps is always sat in the same place when she comes over, she will be here everyday during the week and my daughter has noticed she is fussier over food at the weekend.

It breaks my heart that she wont eat, of course we don't care what she wants to eat, as long as she does!

Is there any advice you can give?

  • Thank you and yes it does help!

    Olivia still can't fully express what is wrong but her speech is good, but now you have mentioned about the food in the middle of the table it has made us realise something. She always says "share" and is sometimes happier to eat from our plates and so maybe she does prefer to just take what she wants rather than have her own plate as that overwhelms her.

  • I've always been a really fussy eater. I would go through phases of not really wanting to eat or only eating the same things. I have massive sensory issues with taste and texture.

    It's hard to give specific advice without knowing exactly what bothers your granddaughter.

    When I was younger I could get overwhelmed by a big plate of food. One thing that used to help me was food being in the middle of the table and you could just pick and choose what you wanted. I would eat a lot more this way and not even realise how much I'd eaten.

    Hope some of that helps even a little. Good luck.

  • Not to over complicate matters but I remember having real problems with textures of food..

    The worst for me though is food pretending to be something it's not.. a good example would be ice cream with crunchy things in it.. you take a bite expecting smoith ice cream and then theres an unexpected crunch.. completely breaks the crunchy smooth law..

    Any way good luck..

  • Thank you, yes it really does help!

    Olivia seems to eat more at lunch or actually eat if I break her sandwich into small pieces!

    We will try this and see how she goes, thank you so much for your reply!

  • Hi.. 

    I really don't like food touching each other on my plate.. it has to be separate. . Also if I have to much on my plate I give up before I begin..

    Today I had a roast dinner.. 

    2 carrots

    2 potatos 

    A bit of swede

    A small slice of meat..

    No gravy..

    Not touching..

    At the end of the day I can always help myself to more..

    I'm no expert and I'm sure everybody's different..

    Hope this helps..