So ds2 has suddenly developed a pretty serious food aversion. Meals he used to eat he will no longer touch. If you try and coax him to take a bite he looks completely terrified to put it in his mouth. And if we can actually convince him to try it he'll shudder and spit it out as soon as it touches his mouth. We can get him to eat so little these days and some nights we can't get him to eat a single thing for dinner. On meals he does eat he now asks me to cut up everything into tiny minuscule little bites so it barely has to be chewed. All this has developed in the last 3 months.
If I look back in retrospect some signs of food aversion where there, as a baby he hated the fast flow of my breast with such a passion that I could not get him to attach. When we moved onto bottle feeding the teat had to be a slow newborn teat until he was about 10 months old. He refused down flat to eat anything offered off a spoon, even ice cream and so always had to feed himself. If he didn't like something as a baby he would not only spit it but scrape every amount of it off his tongue. At around 16 months he became more picky with his food but now is the first time it has got so bad that I am worried its turning into a serious eating issue. I'd like to get it sorted before it gets more serious but I don't know where to go, what I should be doing. How I can help him. My husband is all for just forcing him to eat but I refuse, I can see this isn't a power issue but he seems genuinely distressed to even try the food... He used to eat it though.
Is there any theme with the foods he is averse to - texture, acidity, sweet / savoury / salty etc.?
Is there anything else he is averse to or scared of... or on the flip-side, really unusually drawn to? I'm thinking sensory issues here so things like hating hair-washing or brushing, soft touch, touching wet or slimy things, sand, bright lights, loud noises...
Oh. And I'm with you. DO NOT force feed him. In my experience that will just make things 100 times worse.
Foods he will eat without any issue are toast, pancakes, hot chips, blueberries, chicken (depends how it's prepared) sausages (again depends how it's prepared) biscuits.
Veggies he's about 50/50 he'll eat carrots, pumpkin, potato, peas and corn if he is having a good night, other nights he won't really eat it an it all depends how it's prepared like cut up chunky carrot is ok, grated carrot is not.
Foods he wont touch without a doubt are soups, minces, anything with any type of pasta or rice in it. Anything with any type of sauce eg casseroles, stews. A new development is acceptable foods now have to be cut up into minuscule pieces. Bite size isn't good enough they have to be tiny.
He has other sensitivities like he doesn't like his hands getting messy, any mess on him has to be wiped, there is no chance of getting him to play with paint or dirt or goop. He doesn't like water on his face so has a hard time with hair washing or if in the pool. He has to sleep with a blanket on him even in super hot weather. He HAS to be wearing clothes, he does not like being naked. That's about it I think.
Currently with dinner on meals he won't touch I sit down and offer a blueberry if he picks it up, a blueberry if he touches it too his mouth and a blueberry if he eats some. He shudders when they touch his mouth but we have got that far. Never to the eating part though, anything that goes in his mouth is spat and scrapes straight out.
Just a hunch... not saying this is his issue, but does ring some bells with what you're describing... google 'sensory processing disorder' and see if that fits at all.
Yeah that has definitely been on my mind as I have sensory processing disorder. My ds1 also has it although he has grown out of some of it. Neither of us have extreme food issues though (mine is more skin contact and very sensitive to cold) so I'm not quite sure on how to deal with the food stuff. Might have to spend some time on google and see what the advice is there.
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Food aversion
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