limited diet

Amy - posted on 02/06/2012

I wish I could help, my husband had to restrain my son while I brushed his teeth when he was little, he screamed so loud I was sure the neighbors were going to call children's services on us! Is your son good at imitation? I would say "do this" and brush my own teeth in the mirror next to him. It just gradually got easier and now he brushes them himself, although I still have to go over them to make sure he got everywhere.

I used to slip his medicine in applesauce or juice bc sometimes he would make himself throw up if I squirted it in his mouth. We just this year got him to take small pills by sticking it in his mouth and giving him a drink really fast, I was scared but amazed he didn't choke.

Brenda - posted on 02/05/2012

Thank you Candace and Amy! You both have great ideas and you never really know if it will work til u give it a go! Since we're sharing ideas, any suggestions for teeth brushing or taking cold meds/aspirin? Both these activities result in major restraining and force, and are generally avoided so no one gets hurt!!!

Amy - posted on 02/05/2012

My son would only eat french fries, crackers, and milk (no water or juice) until he was 5 yrs old. The specialist we took him to said as long as he drank 3 Pediasures a day he was getting 80% of his nutritional needs. Since vanilla Pediasure is close enough to milk he would drink it.

When he was 5, we did an intensive feeding intervention supervised by Children's Hospital. It was hell but it did work. It consisted of 3 meals a day for 30 minutes on a timer, at the end of the 30 minutes the food got thrown away in front of him. We had to put him in a high chair to keep him in front of the food. Fortunately he started drinking water on the first day, but he did not eat one bite of food until the 6th day even though he was obviously hungry. His first bite was of a piece of ham and he gagged on it and the therapist had to shove it back in his mouth with her finger and he managed to swallow it. It was so sad because I could see the conflicting emotions; he was hungry but couldn't handle the sensations of the food. During that meal he only ate the ham but it opened the door and it was easier the next meal. Once he would eat potato chips we were able to use them as a reward for taking bites of other foods.

That was 6 years ago and although he is still reluctant to eat foods he doesn't recognize, he eats pretty much like a normal kid now. We still can use favorite foods as a reward for trying something else -- like hold up a Dorito, tell him to eat one green bean, then quickly give him the Dorito. He has discovered he likes new foods this way but would have never tried it to find out if he liked it without the initial reward. Of course there are still foods he just doesn't like but I think he would still only be eating 3 things if we hadn't done the intervention.

Hope that helps! Hugs to you!

Candace - posted on 02/03/2012

I know what you are going through. Currently, my son is 3 yrs old and hasn't been diagnosed with anything but a developmental and speech delay because in our area there is only one Developmmental Specialist. We are waiting for an appt. As far as his diet goes, he only eats certain types of chicken nuggets, prunes, chips, crakcers, soy yogurt, and little franks. He used to eat pizza but in our area you can't find pizza with soy cheese. To get nutrients in to him we do a few things. First I bought a liquid vitamin by Natrol online that he will take with no problems. We tried other vitamins but he has an oral sensitivity to certain textures so the liquid just works better. He doesn't even like the gummi vitamins. I also buy jar food sometimes becasue he loves the taste of bananas but not the texture of the fruit. This way he gets the nutrition without having to deal with the texture of biting into a banana. I also buy the squeeze fruit. Gerber makes some called Grabbers and Beechnut makes some called Fruities on the Go. They are a mixture of fruit and veggie. My son doesn't mind the texture of them and he can't see the color so he doesn't realize that he may be eating outside of his color comfort. The Grabbers have two servings of fruit and veggies and the Fruities on the Go have one serving. I hope this helps.