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Autism and Eating

Lulu
over 2 years ago
Hello all,
I have a neurodivergent 4 year old who seems to be less and less flexible with what she is willing to eat as she gets older. She likes food to be plain, dry, and not touching. She loves crisps and cakes and eats apple at times. Sometimes she eats curry that I make and can handle spaghetti and pasta that is not plain at times (I have no idea what the decision process here is, sometimes she eats it like there is no tomorrow and other times she will not take a bite).
I am often not sure if she has eaten at nursery or not but have held back from giving her packed lunch as she really likes doing what all the other children are doing and is probably more likely to eat there than at home.
Recently, she has been really hard to feed and seems to not be hungry or want anything at all. As a result she is eating very small amounts of processed foods such as fridge raiders, brioche rolls, mini cheese, yoghurt and that is about it. I cannot get her to eat any fruit or veg at the moment- even getting her to eat a piece of broccoli which she used to love is very hard work.
Are there any tips or suggestions of other things she may like that I can try that are more nutritious? We are not trying to convince her to eat but I am feeling a bit worried as she is only on the 9th percentile as it is and I am aware of the links between autism and eating disorders, particularly in girls.
Any suggestions about how to approach meal times/ or other types of food I can try would be very welcome,
Thanks,
Lucetta
Parents
  • over 2 years ago

    I'd agree, you probably aren't looking at eating disorders, especially not at 4.  You'd have to see some obsessive counting of weight and calories, or pre-occupation with her body to get concerned about that one, I suspect.

    It could be that in tandem with any food sensitivities she has, her hunger trigger is inefficient.  I know mine is.  It's not completely absent, but there are a lot of times when my body just does not tell me when I'm hungry, so have to eat to timetable, otherwise I just well, forget.

    You might try sending a food diary to nursery with her and ask them to note what she has or hasn't eaten that day, so you can get a sense of which food groups she may have had something of and then give her some multi-vits to compensate for what's missing.

    Food sensitivities can come and go, a thing which was OK last week, might not be this week, but like wise something she rejected last week, might suddenly be eaten this week.  All you can do is keep presenting her with small amounts of whatever you are preparing and cross your fingers she'll eventually eat it.

    Will she drink fruit juice or smoothies, even if she won't eat a piece of fruit?  That might work if the issue is texture, not obviously if it's taste.

    You might offer a bit of raw veg.  Whether that works will depend on what's up with veg for her.  It used to work for me, though.  If my mother cooked it, I wouldn't touch it and I still hate boiled veg - nauseating.  But I'd happy compel on the raw heart of a cauliflower, she'd otherwise have thrown out. I think it was the smell.  I love fresh smells and raw veg always smelt fresh.  Cooked veg smelt putrid.

Reply
  • over 2 years ago

    I'd agree, you probably aren't looking at eating disorders, especially not at 4.  You'd have to see some obsessive counting of weight and calories, or pre-occupation with her body to get concerned about that one, I suspect.

    It could be that in tandem with any food sensitivities she has, her hunger trigger is inefficient.  I know mine is.  It's not completely absent, but there are a lot of times when my body just does not tell me when I'm hungry, so have to eat to timetable, otherwise I just well, forget.

    You might try sending a food diary to nursery with her and ask them to note what she has or hasn't eaten that day, so you can get a sense of which food groups she may have had something of and then give her some multi-vits to compensate for what's missing.

    Food sensitivities can come and go, a thing which was OK last week, might not be this week, but like wise something she rejected last week, might suddenly be eaten this week.  All you can do is keep presenting her with small amounts of whatever you are preparing and cross your fingers she'll eventually eat it.

    Will she drink fruit juice or smoothies, even if she won't eat a piece of fruit?  That might work if the issue is texture, not obviously if it's taste.

    You might offer a bit of raw veg.  Whether that works will depend on what's up with veg for her.  It used to work for me, though.  If my mother cooked it, I wouldn't touch it and I still hate boiled veg - nauseating.  But I'd happy compel on the raw heart of a cauliflower, she'd otherwise have thrown out. I think it was the smell.  I love fresh smells and raw veg always smelt fresh.  Cooked veg smelt putrid.

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