Poor diet in autistic grandson

[tom_h]

This is my first post in this forum.  My 4 year old grandson was observed today by a respected neurologist at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia and was diagnosed as a "high functioning autistic".  Our grandson is an active, smiling, friendly child, but we always recongnized that something wasn't "quite right", we couldn't put our finger on it.  He was labeled immature, sensory disorder, etc.  He has highly developed motor skills for a 4 year old and spends hours playing by himself with his box of Hot Wheels, but will welcome participation from any of us.

One thing that we noticed early on was his refusal to eat certain foods.  He seems to test a perspective food by first putting to his lips.  There must be some sensory analyzation going on, becasue if it doesn't pass his touch criteria, there's no way he'll go any further and and actually taste it.  Consequently, his diet is what I'd consider to be very bad.  Breakfast consists of a certain flavor Pop-Tart, or McDonald's Hash Brown.  He'll eat an occasional hot dog,  but chocolate milk, ice cream, milk shakes, sweets, and assorted junk foods like Doritos, cheese curls and packaged cookies; all things that we'd regard as not good are his staple.  His protein intake is next to nothing.  He is extremely thin and wiry, but doesn't appear to suffer from his choice of foods.  Is there eanything we can do to expand his diet to include foods that are considered nutritional, or do we let him eat what he wants?  I have other questions as I try to understand his condition that I will ask in another post.

[tom_h]

Thank you for your advice.  I will pass this information along to my son and daughter in law.  Very valuable info.  Thanks!

[skepticalpeach]

Some of the recipes I've gotten are from a lady who calls herself "The Sneaky Chef." She makes different colored purees that can be added to different recipes. She has a great website with some free recipes. :) My daughter also likes the orange puree mixed in her pasta and red sauce. I think she'd love sweet mashed potatoes, but she is stubbornly resisting them, so I don't push it.

[skepticalpeach]

Hi, I have a 5 (almost 6) year old daughter with autism. She is also a very picky eater. I've found that it really isn't worth fighting her over this because I will never win. She does like plain boiled chicken with salt and pepper. She also enjoys hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and veggies burgers. Since we have trouble with veggies I buy her V8 and make a puree of sweet potatoes and carrots. I put this orange puree in her mac n' cheese and she LOVES it! I also buy her chocolate Boost Kid Essentials. It is a nutritional drink that adds a lot of great stuff to a picky eaters diet. So, I guess my suggestion is to find ways to sneak in those good foods because children with autism can be so stubborn when it comes to food!

[specialmom]

Hi and welcome to the forum!!  I'm glad you've gotten a diagnosis that you are comfortable with for your grandson.  Always a tough process of trying to figure out exactly what is going on.  My own son was officially diagnosed with sensory integration disorder at 4 years old.  

We've also had many issues with food and my son.  We actually have worked specifically on eating with our occupational therapist.  We've made progress.  

I'll tell you, the first thing I'd do is rid the home of the cheese doodles, chips, pop tarts, junk food and sweets.  Your fear that he won't eat and will wither away into nothing will not come true, I assure you.  I'd start with the sweets.  Then the chips.  And just keep going until those things aren't options for him.  

Then I'd work  on expanding what he WILL eat.  There is a great book called 'food chaining'.  It takes something a child will eat like a mcdonald's chicken nugget and expands from that in stages.  Then you do your own nuggets at home.  Then you use half the breading.  Then you use no breading.  It is a process of taking a 'junky' type of thing and expanding it so that a child can eat other more healthy options.  So look for the book "food chaining".  

Then it involves exposure to other foods.  We make my son a plate and then I will put in a bowl one new item.  He must try it.  Tiny little taste is all.  If he hates it, he doesn't have to eat more.  This takes the pressure off.  We praise our son like mad if he tastes it and we talk about being adventurers like Indiana Jones (my son is 8) so that he has the impression that tasting these foods is cool.  It will get easier to do that as your grandson gets older as at 4, he's just coming out of the traditional 'picky' years most all kids go through.  I

Dipping is really key too.  Ketchup, barbeque sauce, ranch dressing, honey are all good dippers.  

Get some cinnoman french toast strips to ease him into maybe not the best breakfast food but better than a pop tart.  Serve some yogurt with it.  Will he eat any fruits which are sweet??  A few blueberries or sliced strawberries??  (can put a bit of sugar on if need be at first).  And a glass of choc. milk.  That is a decent breakfast.  

If he likes milkshakes ----  add protein powder.  And start to introduce smoothies.  My yummy smoothie recipe----  chopped spinach (yep), carrot juice, frozen strawberries (still frozen) and apple juice in blender above the strawberries, add a bit of sugar, cinnoman and a banana and blend.  You could throw in some protein powder.  I have served this to about a gazillion kids, all like it.  Healthy and sweet.  

Plain pasta with a bit of butter?  Bean burritos with mashed refried beans and cheese?  an egg to dip toast into?  Zebra spread on crackers (we call the swirled peanut butter and jelly zebra spread)?  

Offer these healthy things and make them look appealing.  Don't offer the other stuff.  good luck