How long do your ASD children take to eat a diner?

[genieinabottle]

I know it's a bit of an odd question.
I'm trying to fill the dla form for DS who is 4.8y, asd. There is a bit where they ask a question about meal time.
DS on average takes at least 50 mins, sometimes a bit longer to eat his meals, 9 times out of times he leaves lots on the plate.

He fiddles, gets up, hold his spoon up and daydreams, takes ages to chew, picks at his food,.... Usually after 50 mins + i end up giving up i must say. This 50 mins mark is achieved by lots of prompting from us.

Ds's food arrives all cut up for him, i don't give him a 3 course diner either.
DS eats smallish portions anyway, he defo has not got a big appetite. My 2.3 y old DD eats as much as him and in half the time! Usually she has finished her pudding by the time DS is still half way through his diner.

Anyway, a friend of mine have told me that 50 mins is sort of average time for a child to eat his diner.
I was a bit surprised, i though 50 mins was slightly longer than usual.

Sorry, could have asked on the children's behaviours topic 'how long does your 4 y old take to eat?' but posting on there worries me. i might have got flamed... maybe i'm paranoid!!!

I think that is a long time, it must be very cold by the end.

Yes it is usually. But DS doesn't like 'hot' foods. He is quite sensitive with temperates even when it's just warm, he tries blowing on the food for ages.
The 50 mins does include his pudding too btw.

'temperates' ...temperatures.

my son has ASD and ADHD and he takes FOREVER to eat, it gets really frustrating, to the point where i sit there and feed hin otherwise he just wouldnt be bothered about eatting. He is just like your child, daydreamy, cant use a knife and fork and wont chew or over chews food etc. I put down about an hour on my forms and was awarded high rate care, but that was due to the waking up in the night and bed wetting as well

sorry should have said in title 'to eat his evening meal' as it includes the pudding too, not just the main course.

Nicky693, yes if i tried to let him eat all of it by himself and expected him to eat most of his diner then we'd be there forever .

It is frustrating, repeating the same things 50 times at each meal, and sometimes DS puts lots of food in his mouth at once and keeps it there, looking like a hamster!! until we give up and tell him to spit it out... arghhhh!!!

If ds hasnt eaten what is on his plate in 15 minutes, then he is not going to eat it, how ever long he sits there (never a dinner as such) and he never eats anything without prompting.

My 5 year old has autism and eats way to fast, cramming food into his mouth with his hands. He has to be supervised incase he chokes and also to make him slow down, he can't use cutlery. My 7 year old has asd/adhd and he wriggles and squirms, runs around the room, jumps around on his seat, fusses with the food. He takes over an hour to eat with lots of prompting and reminding.
It is exhausting. He also eats very little, and often spits out food because something minor in the texture upset him. Meal times are very stressful in this house.

My ds does not eat a full evening meal. For example, he might eat the fries and then goes off and will be hungry and have meltdowns within the hour.

50 mins does seem like a long time though - it does not ake my NT dd anywhere as long to eat that.

My DS doesnt eat very quickly, and he doesnt eat very much. He likes to recycle what he eats, so he chews it, spits it out, plays with it then does it again. Depending on what he is eating he does that two or three times for each bite.

He is very fussy so eats Ham, Grapes, babybels and sometimes toast. It can take him 45 minutes to eat a slice of toast and he still wont eat it all.

He is 3.5

My DS tends to eat to fast and can demolish a favourite meal in minutes. DD NT and picky can take 50 mins to finish a meal.

I would put on his form that it takes 50 mins with help from you, also put about his temperature issues

Sometimes it's gone before you've lowered the plate all the way to the table

Other times it will remain untouched altogether.

This is what I always find difficult about the dla forms - they expect that such things will be the same always. When it's all so unpredictable.

In fact, I always go with the varies varies varies and use the page at the back to write loads and loads of examples and issues.

And I always finish by saying that it is really difficult to convey exactly how things are, so it might be best if they send someone round.

To date - they never have.

DS1 is variable. If it's food he likes and at the correct temperature (he hates hot food and will wait for it to cool down far longer than he needs to, so I don't present it roasting hot any more,) then you are talking 5-10 mins. If it's something he doesn't like, or want, or is wrong in some way, then he will not eat it regardless of how long he sits there, so I generally just take it away again. I have always refused to replace it with something different, but his range of foods has really narrowed, so may have to rethink this policy!

50 mins sounds about right and all cut up, we generally end up feeding ds as otherwise takes forever, oddly pudding only takes him 5 min (well custard)! Yes and has never eaten a hot meal, waits till cool.

tends to eat a mouthfull then says he needs to move, or gets distracted, infact most things interest him whilst eating

but will not eat anything with red bits in, luckily is happy for us we are allowed to take them out.

Just to let you know the SALT who dealt with my DS2 with AS helped with feeding issues but always advised if he didn't eat what was presented within 45 minutes to remove it cos it was causing more stress for all and that he would be unlikely to eat it at that stage anyway - so that might be an indication of the outer limit of what is "normal" - whatever that is...

Thanks everyone for your input on my question.

Well i write on the dla form 50 mins +, with much prompting and reminding to eat coming from us.

Sometimes i just don't know anymore what is considered 'normal' and what isn't!
But DS is always the one with his plate still full after we all have finsihed.

It looks as if they are either very slow eaters or very fast ones. DS is of the crammer variety, 5 to 10 minutes, cheeks like a chipmunk and he's moved on to something more interesting.
At least if they take their time you don't have to run after them at restaurants?

Both my dd's are on the spectrum, dd1 will eat quite fast (but doesn't eat much), Dd2 will take up to an hour but will eat every last bite .

My kids vary. With DS1, it's either gone in 10 minutes or less, or he won't eat it at all. Rarely, DS2's food doesn't even touch the sides. More usually he'll take a few bites, or eat a few chips, then wander off to look at something or run a few lengths of the room before coming back for a little more. I don't let any of his food sit around for more than an hour, though.

ds2 gulps everything down in a matter of seconds and if we didn't control his food in take would eat his way through the kitchen cupboards.
Not convinced its his ASD, maybe just my genes