To give my dd Innocent smoothies?

[Mummylion9]

DD is 12 and has autism and sensory issues which makes eating very difficult for her. She eats no fruit or veg other than a small piece of broccoli and/or apple or cucumber which I insist on but it's difficult for her.

She does like the individual Innocent smoothies so I buy those for her, she might have one or two a day certainly no more.

But then I start to worry about the sugar and how we are supposed to be cutting down on fruit juice etc.

So good or bad in these circumstances? I give her vitamin tablets too.

I have spoken to my dentist. He is perfectly happy that DS drinks a carton of smoothie with his breakfast and feels, as I do, that the benefits outweigh the downsides.

It's not ideal, but nothing about struggling massively with food is ideal. You have to make adjustments and you have to get what you can into her.

Have you come across the concept of food laddering? If not, it's worth looking into. It really helped a relative who struggled so much with food that they had a Great Ormand St advice and guidance referral.

Yanbu. She has sensory issues which no doubt ties into food aversions. I would continue to let her have them as there's no need to limit her likely already limited safe foods/diet.

If DD tolerates cheese give her some to eat after her juice as this helps to neutralise mouth acid and limit damage to her teeth! If not get her to rinse with water if possible. Also don't get DD to brush her teeth directly after juice and wait a while as the enamel softens after juice and it can be scrubbed away quicker this way.

Whatever works. It's different when your child has any issues which means they have a restricted diet.

My son won't drink smoothies but he has milkshakes way more often that I imagined he would. Anything at all to get something in to him.

When they find food tricky you sometimes have to relax your idea of what you should do.
That doesn't mean you stop trying solid fruit and veg but you don't make it an issue.

One of mine doesn't do well with fruit and veg so has a glass of juice each morning.

But it is only one glass a day ( I would probably make smoothies a once a day at most occurrence because of the sugar.

My guess is that you have tried all of the fruit and veg and keep trying but because my picky child is perverse we found
Raw carrot more acceptable than cooked.
Avacardo always acceptable
Broccoli stems only (this was a revelation of years of being told it's too fluffy)
Dried mango.

I can find no rhyme or reason to their choices I have given up on what would potentially be considered as conventional we have a handful of options that work so we stick to them

With food sensitivities you just need to give whatever they will eat and if you can get healthy food in then it’s a win.

Hoping she’s good about brushong her teeth.

A decent dentist or hygienist will not recommend she limits her child's already limited diet further. They will recommend the things I've said to minimise any potential damage.

I have an autistic child with extreme food sensitivity. On the advice of his dietician, I give him whatever he will eat.
Would it be preferable if your child would eat a variety of fruit and veg? Of course. But that’s not the situation you’re in. So an Innocent Smoothie, under the circumstances, is fine.

Are they served at mealitimes? During the day is probably not ideal as the repeated contact with teeth will be damaging. Would you be able to gradually dilute them and drink from a glass?

Our dentist said that we should follow the advice of our dietician and feed our child whatever he will eat, and just to make sure we brush his teeth well.

My DC drink these, both autistic with limited diets. DS eats no fruit or veg at all except baked beans at the moment. So I'm pretty sure these and apple juice are stopping him from getting scurvy. He has it with a meal which helps the teeth issue.

Just one and with a meal.

There’s no real reason to give them in place of fruit or vitamins. So if you’re doing vitamins I wouldn’t bother. If she likes them as a drink then I’d limit it to 1 a day.

Whilst I appreciate that it must be a nightmare to have a child with an eating disorder, the dilemma with me is, how do such children know what they like or not? They must have been given that food at some point. When their diet is extremely limited, is the focus on getting them to eat absolutely anything or should it be on getting them to eat something that is beneficial for them? What sort of advice do the expert medics on such things give to parents?

My DD’s 29; she had an innocent smoothie almost daily from the age of 3 til high school. Also had/has sensory issues with food and fruit phobic. This, of course, was way before Innocent became the work of the devil.
Her teeth are fabulous, never had a filling .

My son is under a dietician and the advice is eating anything at all is better than eating nothing which is what the alternative often would be.

I’m sure the OP is perfectly aware that any ND is not exclusive to this generation.
think back to your childhood, at school, there were children who were always in detention, sent out of class for being disruptive. They grew into adults who were undiagnosed because in the 70’s and 80’s awareness was quite low.

Thank goodness these children are better understood, receive a diagnosis and then and their parents are supported to manage these diagnoses.

OP, carry on as you are. You’re getting some form of nutrition in your DC, that is what is important here. Good dental hygiene is important but you know that.

My kids have them religiously for breakfast plus maybe something else (or could be just that). I think it’s better than a bar of chocolate so eh ho! (The fact that they always want / want me to buy them in the supermarket must mean that they crave the sugar though and I haven’t tasted them - I will tomorrow haha )! And yes I’ve got ASD kids

Iwould let her have them yes, I think there’s a huge health frenzy these days and it’s OTT. It’s fruit at the end of day and better than limiting her further.

Do you have access to a dietician, perhaps you could get referred through school or GP, they’d be able to advise.

My son’s eating is very restricted at the moment.

There was a long wait to speak to a dietician who focussed only on supplements. There was one food ladder hand out but nothing there was time to talk about.

& my kid knows exactly what feels safe for him to eat. it’s not vegetables. It’s not fruit, even though that’s been ok previously. It’s honestly not a choice.

Advice given on making your own or putting it in the innocent bottle absolutely wouldn’t work. My son knows when they change the recipe & another food disappears off the safe list 😭

Hi @Mummylion9 have a look at Jason Vale he’s the juice master I’ve followed he’s recipes for juices and smoothies for years.

I make my own with an expensive blendtec blender they turn out professional standard no bits if that’s what you want. Over years it would work out cheaper than buying them with added preservatives and sugar.

You can also use it to make fresh soups and butters .

Yeah, they wouldn’t have been at home though. My son probably would be locked an institution and no one would have given a shit if he’d starved to death. For children with severe needs this is completely inappropriate. My son could live without them but I’d be looking at severe constipation without them. He drinks plenty of water but serving them with his bland meal is a life line for us.

Does she eat cheese? A piece of cheese after drinking one would be helpful for teeth and using a straw so it reduces contact with teeth. But do what you have to do.

Sounds common sense.

That’s rubbish about the dietician!
Not that what you’re saying is rubbish, but that it’s rubbish you got such poor advice from them!