How do I get my 3 year old ASD child to eat right?

Hello Ashley, my name is Gina and my son was diagnosed with Autism this past Summer shortly before turning 5. He is a lovely boy, he does not have any challenging behaviours. His main autism 'trait' is eating plain and bland food and my gut tells me that he has ARFID (avoidance and restricted food intake disorder). I have attended workshops for parents of autistic children. I attended these in  order to 'sense-check' my approach at home and make sure I was doing the right things. So I felt compelled to reply to your message to let you know what I have been told at these workshops, as well as by the community dietician. Do not let them go hungry, this tactic does not work for an autistic child. We have to meet them in their world - we cannot expect them to meet us in our world.

Every baby following the weaning stage goes through what is called a 'neophobic' period, which for autistic children can last much longer. My son's list of safe foods have become less and less overtime. We give him comprehensive daily multivitamin supplements that contain omegas 3, 6 & 9 and iron and he drinks milk and he is growing and developing appropriately. Of course continue to try to introduce new foods or include healthy foods at mealtimes and involve your child in food preparation in the kitchen. But also allow him to eat his safe foods as well.

Always keep mealtimes light hearted and without any pressure. Let him see you as parents eating a variety of foods and as he grows up develop conversation and learning around naming foods and smelling, licking, touching foods. It could be that he has sensory issues with the temperature of foods for eating - my son always lets hot meals go cold. Or he could have interoception which means he does not have the ability to recognise when he is hungry. 

Trust your yourself and your intuition because you know your son best and home is his safe place. So long as you see him growing and developing appropriately and not experiencing lack of energy, at his age you do right to let him eat what he wants to and when he wants to. 

Hello Ashley, my name is Gina and my son was diagnosed with Autism this past Summer shortly before turning 5. He is a lovely boy, he does not have any challenging behaviours. His main autism 'trait' is eating plain and bland food and my gut tells me that he has ARFID (avoidance and restricted food intake disorder). I have attended workshops for parents of autistic children. I attended these in  order to 'sense-check' my approach at home and make sure I was doing the right things. So I felt compelled to reply to your message to let you know what I have been told at these workshops, as well as by the community dietician. Do not let them go hungry, this tactic does not work for an autistic child. We have to meet them in their world - we cannot expect them to meet us in our world.

Every baby following the weaning stage goes through what is called a 'neophobic' period, which for autistic children can last much longer. My son's list of safe foods have become less and less overtime. We give him comprehensive daily multivitamin supplements that contain omegas 3, 6 & 9 and iron and he drinks milk and he is growing and developing appropriately. Of course continue to try to introduce new foods or include healthy foods at mealtimes and involve your child in food preparation in the kitchen. But also allow him to eat his safe foods as well.

Always keep mealtimes light hearted and without any pressure. Let him see you as parents eating a variety of foods and as he grows up develop conversation and learning around naming foods and smelling, licking, touching foods. It could be that he has sensory issues with the temperature of foods for eating - my son always lets hot meals go cold. Or he could have interoception which means he does not have the ability to recognise when he is hungry. 

Trust your yourself and your intuition because you know your son best and home is his safe place. So long as you see him growing and developing appropriately and not experiencing lack of energy, at his age you do right to let him eat what he wants to and when he wants to.