Single Moms Raising Autistic Sons


city map

Followers

Friday, November 26, 2010

Eating Issues

Griffin and I went over to my sister's house for Thanksgiving and had a great time. It was good to see her, my two nieces, Marty and Marvin too. Pictured here are Griffin and myself of course and my sister with my youngest niece Emma who is 5 years old. She and Griffin played the Wii game, Griffin had never played before. The ones that he was able to play were fishing and bowling but he got frustrated with the bowling and had to be encouraged to continue on or else he would have just given up before really trying it. I don't think that it would be worthwhile to get him one even if I could afford it because he is just not that interested in playing.

We had a lovely meal that my sister prepared but Griffin did not try anything except the turkey and declared that he liked the skin but that was all. So he ate the pizza that I had brought for him and I know that he has got me trained because he is so picky but as my friend Amy put it, that food is the one thing in his life that is comfort for him that he can count on being the same all the time. And if he has other challenges in his life then it is best that he keep his diet as it is and not be expected to try new foods all the time. I am not completely convinced of this but for now it works for me and since I don't cook big meals for me, because I eat so little, it works out that he eats what he does. Griffin just refuses to try new foods each time that I buy something new for him to try it ends up as just another obstacle that we have yet to overcome.

I have a menu for him and he chooses from it what he wants to eat for each meal and I prepare it for him. I told the doctor about how he eats and she said that as long as he has a good multi-vitamin then he should be all right. Mostly Griffin eats carbs with some protein with fruits and hardly any veggies. I have talked to his OT about working on getting him to try new foods and it is part of his goals but is in the future as she is focusing on fine motor skills. Perhaps one day we will get to the point of eating more veggies and getting more nutrition into his body but for now he is healthy and I am so grateful for that alone.

5 comments:

Pierrette and Lorna dEntremont said...

While reading your post about your son's eating issues, I thought of this resource called The Eating Game. The Eating Game, a revolutionary game that was created for a little boy with autism who was chosing to only eat a few foods. He is still using it everyday to plan his meals (for 4 years almost) and is eating almost everything now. Kids love it because it is fun. The bonus is they learn a lot and plan & eat healthy meals. Parents love the results. Want more info? www.theeatinggame.ca Hope this helps, Lorna d'Entremont

dluvscoke said...

You definately want to choose your battles and it sounds like you are. If he likes to eat pizza on Thanksgiving, so be it! :)

Jean said...

I like your friend's observation, that if food provides "sameness" in an uncertain world, then so be it. Wise lady XXX

Casdok said...

C has grown to over 6 foot with out ever eating any fruit or veg!

MommyToTwoBoys said...

As far as I know this is very common in kids with Autism. Eating issues is one of the symptoms/results (not sure which should go here...) of Autism. My son was really picky for a while, but had gotten much better. He still only really eats his 5 or so "favorite" meals and lots of fruit. Everything else we can only force him to eat a bite and then leave it. That's our rule, one bite. But he gets it. Before he didn't and it wasn't worth the fight, at all! But now he knows, understands, and accepts the one bite rule.

In the long run, so what! Get him to eat what you can when you can. You know we have so much more on our plate (pun intended) to deal with!!!