To expect DS to eat warm food?

[midnightisaplace]

Until last Christmas DS(3.8) was a fantastic eater. In fact my mum had pointed out to me that perhaps he was taking after me a little too much (I'm overweight). He has always had a little bit of a thing about the temperature of his food but could be persuaded to eat earm things after lots of blowing. Since Christmas though his appetite has disappeared and it is a constant battle to get him to eat. He absolutely refuses to eat anything that is not stone cold. This makes mealtimes quite difficult as we have to put his meal in the freezer to cool down and inevitably we are finished long before he is willing to eat his food.

Gernerally to avoid this we give him leftovers from the day before so at least we can all eat together. However recently even if the food is cold it is a battle to get him to eat. Over the last fortnight I have ended up spoon feeding him his meals like a baby.

I want to be able to say to him eat your dinner or you get nothing but he has had one illness after the other in the last few months and I need to build up his immune system. I have a GP appointment next week as I want to check he isn't anaemic or something. Any ideas?

I was going to say just serve the food, eat your meal and then take it away if he hasn't eaten it BUT , in view of your last paragraph I think you are very sensible to get him checked out and wouldn't do anything until then.
If you can manage it I would try and speak to the doctor first, without your DS hearing, and say that you are very worried and why- and then get him examined.

Thanks exotic fruits. Good idea to talk to GP without him. I know showing him that I am anxious about what he eats is not going to help!

Does he have sensory issues? Some kids on the ASD spectrum have issues with temperature and or texture of food. I have to plate up ds's meal as soon as its cooked & leave it by an open window to cool down. Only when its almost cold will he eat it but atleast we can eat together.

Once when I was very worried about DS I asked to see the doctor before I took him in- I didn't want DS to know that I was terribly worried.

Make sure you get listened too

My ds1 won't eat cold food . He even warms up ice cream .

This results from something that happened a few years ago . He gets very distressed if anything cold is put in front of him , in the last 6 months he is getting better . I broke down telling his head of year . I sobbed in front of her in the middle of his school it all became too much at that point he was starving himself

No one was taking me seriously

Make sure someone listens

Good luck

Will he drink an ice cold smoothie, or eat a smoothie ice block. I have a son with ASD (not saying this might be your issue) he has some sensory issues but absolutely loves frozen foods so we home make smoothie ice blocks. This is one of the only ways we can get him to eat fruits now.
He was great before he had his tonsils out a couple of years ago but has never been the same since. I just go with the flow when I can........

Thanks everyone. He actually wont really eat frozen things either jjgirl. It is possible I suppose that he has some sensory issues. I don't really know anything about what that entails. I will do some research.