older children with eating problems/phobia

[miggy]

Any one have an older child with an eating problem and has it got better?
Have whined about DS1 (12) here before as he has always been pathologically fussy with a really narrow range of foods that he would eat.
He asked for the Paul Mckenna book-change your life in 7days (I know this sounds odd!) so that he could try and "cure" himself.
Now he is eating things like Pizza and today had a burger with chargrilled chicken, lettuce,tomato and gherkin (both prev unheard of).
My problem is that he chooses to eat these but he looks really stressed when eating them and today he gagged and was nearly sick whilst eating the burger. He wasnt making a fuss, tried to pretend it hadnt happened actually.
Is it right or wrong to let him push himself? I do think he is food phobic, he hates mess/dirty hands/germs etc, cant bear to have dirt on clothes or body, wont touch animals etc.
Just dont want to make things worse really.

Hi, my ds is nearly 8 and has always been a fussy eater, he lives on cereal, toast and fruit and choc, he will not touch hot food, has to have his hands wiped after eating, will not wipe his own bottom (too many germs) and likes his school work to be just so. I do worry but have learned to live with it, he has just started to eat chips (oven) and looks pained when eating them, but insists he is enjoying them. Have you seeked any professional help?

he sounds just like my brother! he is dyspraxic and a lot of his "fussiness" was basically because he could not stand the texture of things.
so he likes the taste of tomatoes, but he just cannot eat one.
he was also the same as your son with the dirt and mess etc

so food-wise it could be a similar thing. not that he doesn't like certain foods, but that he just can't handle the way they feel in his mouth?

it sounds like he WANTS to eat more though, especialy witht he book and stuff. perhaps he has got some flak from friends for not eating things?

maybe you could ask him what it is about certain things that he doesn't like? and help him try new things so that he has a wider range that he can eat.. but leave out anything that makes him gag!

Sounds a little similar to my son (19 now) also - he ADD/Dyspraxic - not so much a fussy eater but did have problems with texture and also a little obsessional about germs/hairs/dirt in his food - he still picks all food to death to check for fat, veins, dirt or whatever in his meat; is still very fussy about utensils, plates being scrupulously clean and if I accidentally dare to breath in the direction of his food or plate/cup etc god help me! The thing that I have never been able to work out is why he is able to eat out at places like maccy dougals or chinese etc when he knows they may have breathed on it!

tan that is my brother to a t! he is 27 now but still the same,.
he eats at all kinds of places out too and doesn't appear as fussy as when he is at home

at home he will also pick meat over for bits of fat etc and will go through casseroles picking out tiny pieces of onion and stuff!

That's my boy - bless his big cotton socks!!

Thanks for replies-glad he is not alone!
Have long given up on his fussiness but what worries me is that he has decided to try these things (with the help of Paul Mckenna!) but it cant be nice eating something that makes you gag, was wondering if you thought that the gagging might be something you sort of had to "go through"

have you seen the house of tiny tearaways? It deals really well with food phobias

When I was 12 I had a eating phobia which started from a chocking incident. I just became petrified of eating food for fear of chocking again.

My mum and dad sought help from a few people and spoke to the school I attended so they would make sure I was eating something but I think the general advice was not to make a fuss of it if I was eating something.

Soup, I would eat but when it came to things like apples or anything thats quite hard to chew, I wouldn't bother with.

Eventually I snapped out of it, in fact I remember like yesterday what happened. My mum and dad went out to get a chinese takeaway, it was always my fave food and I must have been so hungry that I asked for some and ate the lot!
From then on I was fine.

I think it's good that your ds is making the effort to try new things but I'm sure the gagging thing is quite normal especially if he's anxious about trying the food. He could be swallowing the food and then having a second thought about it straight away IYSWIM.

In fact when I was going through it my mum took me to the gp who actually gave me some "medicine" which apparently made the throat slippy so food would go straight down. I haven't a clue what it was but it certainly helped me at the time.