I need to get DS interested in more foods.

[MarioandLuigi]

DS has ASD and has always been a very fussy eater. e has lots of oral sensitivity so wont use cutlery. This means that everything has to be dry, but not too pungent.

At the moment his diet is consisting of smoothies, rice cakes (the organix blackberry ones, he wont touch the apple ones) babybels, bananas and fruit strings. He will eat white chocolate until the cows come home but I really try and limit this.

He has no idea of when he is hungry. He does drink alot of smoothies which is good, and I hide multi vitamin drops in it.

He is starting school in September and starts visits 2 afternoons a week after Easter, so he will be leaving the house at 8.30 and not coming back until 3pm. He has been doing a lunch club at preschool and he eats the odd bite of babybel and the fruitstring, but leaves everything else.

Does anyone have any suggestions. I will try anything to get him to eat. He is full of energy but he is losing weight.

Hi, I have no experience with ASD but some experience with fussy eaters! Going along with what he is happy to eat, you could try expanding this to:
breadsticks, pasta tubes, home made vegetable crisps, oatakes
strips of chicken, chicken goujons, fish fingers
other types of cheese cut into cubes or with fruit, eg. cheese and pineapple/grapes
fruit skewers with lots of banana and a few small bits of other things, maybe the interest value of serving it on a stick will get a positive reaction?
steamed veg, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot sticks
raisins and dried fruits like apricot for sugar fix

I think all these foods are fairly non-commital and easy to eat and carry around for lunches.

This does not help with main meals as such but if he would expand the types of 'snacky' style foods he eats, at least he would get a more balanced diet. It must be so stressful for you to know he is not eating properly during the day!

In terms of helping him put on weight you could try mixing some Complan into the smoothies. Does he drink milkshakes at all? Ensure is like a milkshake made of protein which also helps put on weight. I think both are available from Boots.
Obviously getting him to widen his food range is the better option but if you are worried about the weight loss this might be a short term solution.
I realise he won't use cutlery but have you tried fromagefrais frubes. No cutlery required, although he might not like the sensation of putting the packet into his mouth.

What about mini cocktail sausages, they have quite a bit of fat in so would be good on the weight front, and aren't 'difficult' to eat.
Also flavoured flour tortillas - you can get sundried tomato ones. You could also try crepes. I know they aren't great because they are basically a pudding but they are carbohydrate so the would fill him up.
I guess you also have to bear in mind that trying to get him to eat something new when he is also in a new environment might be too many news all at once. You might need to rely on bulking out drinks on his school days until he's more settled.