Daughter 4, food avoidance

[mummy2three2014]

Hi,
I apologise in advance, im not actually sure if im posting in the correct place.

My daughter, 4, has some issues regarding food.

At 6 months she took an extremely bad reaction to some baby food whilst we were on holiday which resulted in us going by blue light ambulance to hospital as she was quickly swelling up around the face / mouth. She was given steriods and antihistimines, she ws left with very bad blisters across her face which took about a month to fully heal and go, i has left her with weakness in her face with sun ect.

After some testing we discovered she is allergic to egg and apple.

Weaning was extremely difficult and in the end we had to ask for assistance from our health visitor as i was worried about her, by the age of one all we could manage was some fromage frais and watery weetabix, our health visitor guided and said that it was all down to perserverance and trying new stuff, she would gag and be sick at anything any thicker than these two foods.

she has been checked and there are no reasons in her throat that would be causing this.

fast forward 3 years and we have a diet which is, nectarines, plums, bananas, oranges, weetabix, porridge, fromage frais, potatoes baby or mashed, milk, white bread, diluting juice, sweetcorn, beans. if we are out as a family and call at mcdonalds or any other fast food place, she will only have chips, would never entertain a burger ect, if given a hot dog will leave the hot dog but attemp the roll. she will eat a chocolate oreo and a packet of prawn cocktail or ready salted crisps also.

she is due to start school in a few days and i know that school dinners are going to be a complete waste of time, for packet lunches though she will not take anything on a sandwhich only bready and butter, will this be ok?

My other big concern with her is at the moment she refuses to eat any food that has been touched by anyone, for example if i offer her a biscuit and have held it, she will refuse it to me, however if anyone else offers, she will accept politely then at the first chance bin it. when giving kids ice lollys in the summer hers can not be opened you have to hand it to her she inspects then gives you it back to open in front of her, same goes for her crisps, strangely she is fine when you are preparing her dinner.

i have made her dinner or maybe a bowl of tomato soup and perhaps tried with a spoon on the tip of my lip to check temperature and she is horrified that i would ask her to use that spoon, she has to get her own cutlery from the drawer.

the school she is going to is really big on getting the kids involved in cooking and food prep, how should i raise this with the school?

do you think this is something that i need to raise elsewhere? for example with my doctor, she seems very obsessed with these things and it is getting worse.

Yes, I would raise it with the doctor and/or HV, who might refer her to someone like a speech therapist or occupational therapist to help, and mention it to the school. I think if you put bread and butter in lunchbox along with a fromage frais and banana, that shouldn't raise any eyebrows. Have you tried her with a cheese spread at all e.g. Dairylea? Is she pernickety in any other areas, e.g. fussy about where toys are kept, doing things in the same order each time, that sort of thing, or is it just the food?

Hi MoMandaS thank you for replying to me, all you hear about is lunch box shaming on facebook now lol. Food is the only concern I have with her, i have tried the spreading cheese and it was a no go unfortunately. I am curious with regards to the speach therapist?

Can I ask are you questioning for Autisim ect? Only reason I ask is i have just posted on the SN board reahrding my son and his traits, but none of these show in her, she is infact out of the two the more confident one, who shares and plays well,apart from the food there really isnt anything else that worries me with her.

Thanks again for coming back to me

Yes it crossed my mind because my son is similar in terms of diet, though doesn't mind food being touched etc., and he has a provisional diagnosis of ASD. The paediatrician mentioned referring him to a service that would help him with the food thing and I think speech therapists are involved in that, I suppose because they have specialist knowledge of the mouth, swallowing etc. But in his case I think it's more a sensory thing to do with textures, as well as not trusting unfamiliar food. Good luck, I know it's so frustrating when you just want them to eat well!

Hi MoMandaS
I am so frustrated, and she is so good at telling people that she is allergis to egg and apple, if someone offers a cake or an apple she refuses straight away. But really does have a phobia over the handling of food. I feel my little boy has some traits to be honest but strangely will eat anything, sometimes you just cant win can you?
Thanks for taking the time to reply to me

I wonder if a social story might help with the food handling thing - do you know about social stories? I think you'd have to write your own but the National Autistic Society has advice on how to do it if you do a search on their website. I'm not saying she's autistic but I think as she's still so young a visual, simply worded explanation as to it being ok to eat food handled by other people might help. Do you know why she might have this fear? Is it something she's heard about germs,maybe?

You might find that being involved in the preparation of food may actually help. Ds is under the dieticians for his restrictive diet and that is one of their suggestions - not necessarily eating what is made (although that is ideal of course!) but just being involved

Thank you everyone, we just had our first day at school . I made up packed lunch buttered breads sandwich, nectarine, 2 little oreos, orange juice carton and a little yoghurt drink. She's came out saying she ate nothing?? I don't believe that though as the yoghurt drink is down her blazer and tie and there's nothing in the lunch bag, the school have said that what's not eaten will be sent home so we can monitor. So I think all has went well today, long may it continue x

That's really good, glad to hear it

I sympathise - I have a son with SED / ARFID - have a google and see if you think this sounds like your situation. FWIW she sounds like she has a great range of acceptable foods, I promise you it could be much worse!