tell me about your ASD kids diet

[mountainsunshine]

really I want to know. I have an appt this wek w/an alergist and a dietiction, (have I mentioned that I love the group thats working w/dd?) and I just want to maybe get a lil more familiar with what to maybe expect. TIA
Sarah

[sbgrace]

My son eats a lot of carbohydrates. He didn't always but he has a metabolic condition that makes him unable to metabolize most fat. So we limit fat and use a specific form of fat for needed calories and the bulk of his food calories now are carbohydrates--fruit, rice crackers, rice bread, pasta, rice, quinoa, etc. He's not big on protein but we do make sure we get what he needs to grow--usually in smoothie type drinks. He's an eat a few bites and be done kind of kid so he does a lot of grazing/little meals. The only family meals he eats are tacos and jamabalaya and side dishes of quinoa or rice. Rarely he'll eat some vegetables. I'm working to try to find 7 meals and/or sides he will eat that the rest of us will also like that I can serve as family meals. It's a slow process..mostly because I find it discouraging! He likes food that has crunch, a strong spicey taste or strong sweet taste to it. He's a sensory seeker.

[BookGoddess]

DD is a very picky eater in terms of quantity. She has days where she eats very well. She has days where she eats very little. She doesn't avoid any food so in that respect we're lucky. If only she would take more than 3 bites of something. We have to give her a special protein supplement and other supplements to make sure she's getting adequate nutrition. She also has sensitivities to certain foods so we have to make most of her food from scratch.

[sbgrace]

I wanted to add in terms of what to expect. It probably depends on the expertise of the dietician. We've worked with several over the years. The one common thing is that all of them had me keep a record of what and how much he ate over a few days time. They wanted to make sure we had enough protein and over-all calories especially. Most gave me information about how many calories and how much protein he needed to grow. The metabolic dietician had specific suggestions of changes to make. Some of which I did; others I didn't (so she told us to remove some fat I was adding to a smoothie-I did that; she told me to serve fruit canned in heavy syrup--I didn't do that.)

[bdavis337]

Mark eats rocks, dirt, paper, stickers, crayons, glue, chalk, paint ---- oh wait, you meant food?

He eats darn near everything. I'm not much help to those of you with orally averse kiddos, as we have the opposite problem. It is getting harder to push veggies into him though, which I'm glad for b/c it's age appropriate, and he's also copying his older brother's veggie songs of sorrow, which is also something to be happy about. But still.

[williamsmommy2002]

Parker only eats cheese ,bread, yogurt, crackers, chips, sour cream, waffles, and cereal. I forgot cookies, frosting, and candy but i don't count those. He will occaisionally eat a fake hot dog or corn dog(we are vegetarian).

William eats fake hot dogs, corn dogs, chicken nuggets(all brand specific), noodles, pizza, cheese, cereal, waffles, beans, rice and occasional fruits and veggies. He has gotten a lot better about food since going to kindergarten but his teacher workd hard with the kids last year.

[JessSC]

Jayce's diet sucks And we've been seeing a special needs nutritionist since December and have been in feeding therapy for 9 months.

He eats:

pancakes
mac n cheese (only shape kind from a box)
goldfish
pretzels
cocoa pebbles cereal
apple juice
chocolate ice cream

If he eats a bite of anything else, its usually just a fluke and not a "new accepted food" like we always hope for

[fanniefarkle]

Sid likes:

all fruits except melons
Annie's mac and cheese--microwave variety, no other type or brand will do
cottage cheese, especially with apple sauce
fake chicken patties and veggie burgers
p-nut butter and agave nectar sandwiches
any sandwich that I am eating
green beans, corn on the cob, lima beans, mashed potatoes
cheese quesadillas and grilled cheese sandwiches
uncooked pasta
bean burittos
grits, oatmeal, multi-grain hot cereal, fried polenta
eggs, on occasion
beans and cornbread
the first bite off of french fries and tater tots
hashbrowns
shredded wheat, Go Lean, and Honey Bunches of Oats cereals
pancakes and frozen waffles
Krystal burgers

foods Sid does not like:
english peas
anything (other than a hamburger) made with ground beef

I know that there are other things he doesn't care for, but they are escaping me at this time. He's never been a picky eater

Most of Sid's food issues (to the extent that he really has any) is in the way he eats, not what he eats. For example, he likes to eat apples, but only until there is no more peal. Likewise, he will eat a hamburger around the perimeter (unless I am holding the burger.) These aren't things that are a big deal to me.

[mykdsmomy]

What do you do (is it even possible) to radically change an ASD kid's diet when they are picky?

Ds is VERY picky about what he eats. So if I wanted to see if cutting out gluten (for example) would help, how could I do it if he constantly wants to eat only wheat based products...yk?

Anyone else have this problem?

[mountainsunshine]

Ok so Sierra loves pool noodles, plastic drinking straws, baby teething toys-esp vibrating ones, foam rubber...really most objects will get at least a nibble from her.

AS far as food she will eat a decent variety,but often only if I feed it to her or hold it for her to bite. She doesnt seem to want to touch food. She obsesses over milk even after we switched to soy milk. A GFCF diet may be in our future. How does one manage that sort of thing when there are other children to feed? My baby eats anything and everything. We did the BLW thing with her. She loves all sorts of foods and really seems to lok foreward to mealtimes. Do I make a seperate meal? Do we all change our diet? Do I worry too much lol....

Sarah

[sbgrace]

Originally Posted by mountainsunshine

Ok so Sierra loves pool noodles, plastic drinking straws, baby teething toys-esp vibrating ones, foam rubber...really most objects will get at least a nibble from her.

AS far as food she will eat a decent variety,but often only if I feed it to her or hold it for her to bite. She doesnt seem to want to touch food. She obsesses over milk even after we switched to soy milk. A GFCF diet may be in our future. How does one manage that sort of thing when there are other children to feed? My baby eats anything and everything. We did the BLW thing with her. She loves all sorts of foods and really seems to lok foreward to mealtimes. Do I make a seperate meal? Do we all change our diet? Do I worry too much lol....

Sarah

I switched both my kids to gfcf. Similarly, my typically developing kiddo had allergies and I never fed his allergic foods to his brother either. It just seemed like that would make things harder for the kids. We did still eat the gluten/casein stuff after they went to bed or for lunch for hubby. As my boys got older it was easier for us to just convert the whole family over. Gluten is hard for anyone to digest so better health wise to cut out anyway.

That said, I'm all for trying digestive enzymes first and see how things go (unless celiac is involved). There is a site called enzymestuff which is really informative. We use houston enzymes. Not all kids respond to gfcf.

[Strong Mama]

Oh Josh eats the same things he has been eatings since he was 18 months old:

pizza
spaghetti
pancakes
all meat
french fried potatoes of any kind
bananas
plain ham only sandwiches



and of course cookies/candy/ice cream/CRAP
he has in the recent months added
poptarts
popcorn
cereal straws
and..................................grapes!


so thats it. yes, its boring. but what can ya do?

[Kitsune6]

Originally Posted by bdavis337

Mark eats rocks, dirt, paper, stickers, crayons, glue, chalk, paint ---- oh wait, you meant food?

He eats darn near everything. I'm not much help to those of you with orally averse kiddos, as we have the opposite problem. It is getting harder to push veggies into him though, which I'm glad for b/c it's age appropriate, and he's also copying his older brother's veggie songs of sorrow, which is also something to be happy about. But still.

Same here except when DS turned 4 he finally stopped eating non food items. : He used to be a voracious sand eater. :

He eats a really varied diet with an emphasis on fruit and meat.

[DaughterOfKali]

My son gets Feeding Therapy because he doesn't want to try new foods. And the list of foods that he will eat was dwindling.

[mountainsunshine]

ok so we had RAST testing today and nothing came up. well except for a major meltdown after we got home..grrr.... they ordered bloodwork for celiac becuase sil has celiacs. I am intereste din trying the enzymes again. I had gotten some for her a while ago. poppe dopen the caps and they tasetd horrible. Anyone have any expierence with this?

Sarah

[sbgrace]

We use houston enzymes.
I do pop open the capsules, put in a bit of apple sauce or pear sauce, and give it like that. But my boys have never minded the taste of them. Houston's makes chewables too I know; I imagine they taste good (if ASD kids are chewing them up) though we've never tried them. They sent us samples of their capsules to try; I'm thinking they do the same with chewables.

[JessSC]

Originally Posted by mykdsmomy

What do you do (is it even possible) to radically change an ASD kid's diet when they are picky?

Ds is VERY picky about what he eats. So if I wanted to see if cutting out gluten (for example) would help, how could I do it if he constantly wants to eat only wheat based products...yk?

Anyone else have this problem?

I had this exact same problem. When I took Jayce off of gluten, he refused to eat any of the GF substitutes of his approved foods. He instead ate only dairy products (pudding, cereal with milk, ice cream, cheese) and popcorn and chips. I wanted to take him off dairy, too, but then he would only eat popcorn and chips. Not a healthy diet at all We did this for 3 months. I saw a huge improvement in his sensory issues and speech, but he was losing weight. We had to stop the GFCF diet so he would eat again.

[VijayOwens]

We tried a GFCF diet but after a while realized that dairy was the real culprit. Even traces will give her diarrhea and sleeplessness and cause her eczema to flare.

Also we saw that if we got rid of wheat she would either starve or nurse 43 times a day. She doesn't have the ideal diet, but we find ways of compensating so that we don't get into battles over food. Smoothies help us get her supplements in (cod liver oil, flax oil, cal-mag, probiotics) and fruit.

She loves fries and chicken nuggets and cries if we drive past McDonald's without stopping so I try to make her healthier versions of what she likes. She can eat an entire box of triscuits in a day and is happy as a clam roaming around the house with a bag of corn chips. She loves popcorn and pasta with olive oil and salt. Frozen waffles (the whole grain kind only) and apples. She used to love bananas but is taking a break from eating them plain right now but still gets them in her smoothies.

I thought my older (possibly Aspie) dd was picky before my ASD daughter came along! Now there is a long list of foods my older daughter will eat that my younger dd won't and vice versa.

So we try to just put various foods out and if she eats them great, if not, we don't worry. We try to fill in the nutritional gaps with breastmilk, special high antioxidant juices, and smoothies with supplements. She is very healthy. They both are.

But my older daughter is so into the computer lately that she forgets to eat! Last night she was complaining of a tummy ache and ate a bowl of cereal and two hot dogs! Considering the fact that she is only 33lbs that was impressive.

-Vijay

[Adamsmama]

Adam eats:

almost any carb: pasta, bread, most crackers, (especially cheez-it or goldfish), cheerios, pretzels

almost any dairy: smooth yogurts, milk, cheese

pizza, ravioli, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, sometimes tyson chicken nuggets, almond butter sandwhich, orange juice, apple juice, apple sauce, canned/jarred fruit cup (peach only), oranges, sometimes banana, sometimes apple, sometimes watermelon (other times he gags on these and spits them out), LOVEs berries -- any kind, ketchup, maple syrup, hotdog buns (not hotdogs) dipped in ketchup, pancakes, waffles, potato chips (loves these), raisins...

Really dislikes veggies and most meats -- on occasion has eaten a meatball (which he used to love), his protein comes from almond butter & eggs mostly -- and the dairy products, too, that he will eat. He likes lollipops and popsicles and extra dark chocolate but really doesn't like most other sweets -- doesn't like cupcakes/cake w/frosting. Will eat oatmeal cookies, though.

I hate that he doesn't eat more variety but I'm thankful for what he does eat.

[Sleepymama]

I found this book fairly helpful (if exhausting) for my resistant eater

"Just take a bite" http://www.amazon.com/Just-Take-Bite.../dp/1932565124

My ds goes through major food jags. Usually he will eat 1-2 breads, 1-2 fruits, and 1-2 proteins. Then a food will "go out of favor" as we say and we'll have a rough few weeks before he finds a similar food to latch onto. It's been this way since he started eating (late, he has an oral aversion).

Right now he eats:
croissants
tortilla chips
Dried mangos
"Flat mangos" (mango fruit leather)
"Jupiter salami" (genoa salami--he says it looks like Jupiter, his favorite planet. we got him to try the salami by telling him it looked like jupiter. recently we tricked him into eating a soy version of "jupiter salami" because we said it looked like one of jupiter's moons--he's obsessed with the planets & space right now)
chicken nuggets with ketchup
french fries, but only from The "M pass-by" (ie drive thru!)

he will also eat chocolate chip cookies if they "look like the kind he likes". Has never been big on sweets either.

He has never eaten anything you have to eat with a spoon--no yogurt, ice cream, applesauce, soup, nada.

He used to be a dairy fiend--cheese, cheese, and more cheese. Then it fell out of favor and he won't touch cheese. Too bad since it was a decent source of protein & fats. He has also generally been good about carbs. He will eat sugar snap peas from the garden but only out in the garden

Protein has always been tricky. We have struggled with his weight as he also has a cardiac condition.

We saw a nutritionist who also recommended that book--it's a kind of "food chaining" where you transition from known favored foods to similar foods. It sometimes works for us, but we usually have to trick him into it.