I wanted to share a really good example of what families like mine go through, just trying to feed our kids. This is an example of my personal experience but I’m pretty sure others can relate.
Emmett is the absolute pickiest eater we have in our family.
Meal time can go one of two ways. It can either be a breeze or a complete nightmare. This seems to be largely dependent on how his day has been up to that point.
On an easy day, all I have to deal with is what you see below in the picture. Basically, all I need to do is peal the lables of his little smoothie container. However, I can’t dent, scratch or ding the container in the process or it will be deemed undrinkable.
On the more typical days, I will have to remake his meal several times before he’s willing to eat it.
Let me clear one thing up right now, because I know at least one of you are thinking this. This is not one of those situations where he will eat if he’s hungry. Kids with Autism and Sensory Processing Issues would go hungry before eating something they deem to be inedible, even if it’s purely cosmetic.
There are times when I will actually have to go to the store because he won’t eat what we have due to the perception that somethings wrong with it.
Maybe his chicken pattie isn’t perfectly round or has some breading missing. Perhaps, I dinged upnthe smoothie bottle while trying to remove the impossible to remove lable.
So far, today seems like a day where feeding him could be a bit less challenging.
I thought I the spirit of Autism Awareness Month, we could share our experience and help the world to better understand our kids on the spectrum. 🙂
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I once bought gluten free bread for my son who is on the spectrum and has Celiac disease. I almost cried when I took out the first *middle* piece and saw that it had a big air hole in it. There was six buck down the drain, as the hole was in almost every piece in the loaf. Even as it diminished in size, I knew he would never eat a sandwich made with that bread. What could I do? Call the company and tell them that oxygen ruined my week? Or bring it to the store and tell them I wasted my money and now had to make homemade bread for the week – which takes 2 hours? Or tell a girlfriend who thinks I am nuts and my kid is “spoiled,” and will launch into a story about how when they were young, they ate whatever was put in front of them. Just one of many episodes….
we have the same issues alot with our son or he’ll only eat one thing for 2 out of 3 meals. for the past month its been nothing but chicken sandwiches with ketchup. do your boys have terrible melt downs if there favorite things are not available? besides autism we struggle with ODD and its a horrible time if he doesnt have what he wants.
Yep, I have one of “those” kids too! http://juliesboyz.blogspot.com/2013/01/picky-eaters.html Hang in there!
I am an INCREDIBLY picky eater. When my boyfriend Michael says there are only like five things I can eat, he’s exaggerating, but not by much. Not only do I need specific foods, but for a lot of stuff I need specific flavors and/or specific brands. I am willing to go without eating long enough to make myself sick (hypoglycemia, etc) rather than eat something I do not like. Everyone says I can get away with it cause I’m young (27) but it will turn around and bite me when I’m older.
I wish people better understood that it’s not about being difficult. Thanks for sharing, as usual. 🙂
lostandtired Michael understands, but that doesn’t mean he likes it. He’s always experimenting, trying to get me to branch out, a little. Like, he took me to some Mexican restaurant and helped me pick out the most bland, unspicy burrito they had, with no sauce or anything on it, hoping I could eat it. I could. I didn’t like it much, but I could eat it without choking, which is saying something.
I’ve gone hungry that way too, recently. Because if I can’t eat it, I can’t eat it. And I’m 20, a college student. Doesn’t mean that I can eat things that are sensory issues.
On a (not actually) completely unrelated note, I wonder why I ate the same thing for lunch basically the entire month I was studying in China… oh, right, because I found a thing I could eat.
Thank you for your amazing insight. 🙂