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Raise your hand if you feed your child beige food and no supplements <hand in the air>

24 replies

OnTheBen10DaysofChristmas · 06/12/2011 10:19

I've been reading all about the diets that some of the posters have put their children on with fantastic results. The same with the supplements.

Now I've tried the supplements and he has rejected them. Food is rejected unless it is beige - ie waffles/burger/fish fingers/chips/crispy pancakes/nuggets/macaroni cheese. He will eat lasagne and shepherds pie too. No vegetables. Hardly any fruit ever. I know it isn't as restricted as some of the diets that I have seen on here but still it isn't great.

Feel a bit that I am letting him down as I don't have the energy to do anything about it ATM. He looks healthy although very pale as he always has since birth.

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Triggles · 06/12/2011 11:02

Ben10 We were giving DS2 the omega3 supplements, but stopped taking them to see if any changes, and there weren't. So no point pushing him to take them. We don't give him any other supplements. DS2's diet I think is pretty varied:

rice krispies
cheerios
frosted flakes
sultana bran

toast
crumpets
bread/butter
egg mayo sandwiches (store bought egg mayo only, recognises homemade and won't touch it)
tuna mayo sandwiches (homemade only, won't touch storebought) Confused
bread rolls
tea cakes

bananas
apples
oranges
grapes
raisins
strawberries

peas (cooked, but spends half the time counting them)
carrots (raw)
sweet corn (rarely, usually more interested in counting kernels)

fish cakes
chicken nuggets
fish fingers
chips
roast potatoes
yorkshire puddings
crisps
quavers
spag bol
lasagna (sometimes)
sloppy joes (loose meat hamburger)
cold tuna pasta salad (rarely)
chocolate cake (no icing, will NEVER eat icing of any kind)
banana bread
gingerbread biscuits
rich tea biscuits
peanut butter cookies (occasionally)
oatmeal raisin biscuits
blueberry muffins
little cocktail sausages or pepperami (sometimes)
baked beans (sometimes)
chocolate
pretzels

I think that's it for the most part. He's much more fond of finger foods, as he struggles with a fork, although is pretty good with a spoon. By evening, he's usually so tired that he doesn't even want to USE a fork, so ends up getting some help or eating with his fingers. He is definitely a carb eater! Again, his diet isn't too restricted, but at the same time, we do get a bit tired of the same thing over and over, so tend to have an adult meal later in the evening a couple nights a week, or alternate nights we have stuff he may not eat or that is new, so that he has something he will eat every other night. It does make meal planning a challenge sometimes. He will not touch anything with a mushy or soup consistency, no sauces, no gravies, no spreads (like jam, nutella, marmite... only butter), no mustard or mayo (other than in tuna or egg mayo). He doesn't like the food to touch on the plate. And he doesn't like it getting all over his fingers (which is a bit odd considering he prefers finger foods). Confused And the way the food is put on the plate can put him off as well. sigh. His best meal by far is breakfast.

We have a strict rule at the table - he has to eat 8 bites of his main meal. It used to be 6 bites, but we've recently moved it up to 8 now. We started doing that because he is so obsessed with counting and numbers that he would only eat if we counted it. Hmm Now that he is obsessed with laptop time, he only gets his laptop time after dinner in the evening, and only if he eats his 8 bites. If it's a new food, it's usually started out as a side dish along with his meal, and he's required to eat one bite of it, to try it.

We try to always have something available to him at every meal that he likes, such as bread/butter or raw carrots, but he has to take his bites of the main meal first or he'll only eat the things like bread/butter and ignore the rest. He will otherwise refuse to eat if pushed too hard. As long as he takes his required bites of food at the meal, he is allowed fruit for a snack later (generally an apple, as he eats 2-3 of them every day!).

TOTU · 06/12/2011 11:21

One of my sons is a beige food addict. Bananas, crackers, bread and butter, toast, macaroni, waffles, chicken fingers. Your list is more or less the same as mine. No veg, ever!

And no amount of bribing, consistency of bribing/punishment/taking away food if not eaten will change him.

It is a worry, but I'd rather he ate something rather than nothing. I can't even imagine trying to get a supplement down him. He knows if I vary his food or try to hide something in it (he's like a dog!).

My NT daughter will eat most things. Loves veg (but not peas) and loves salads.

Very frustrating and there is no overall answer but, you are not alone! Grin

tocha · 06/12/2011 12:23

snap. only veg he eats is tomato sauce on pasta (tinned pasta or at restaurants, never home made or even supermarket jars with bits) and tomato/onion on pizza bases. and carrot in the form of carrot cake Hmm

fruit is not a worry as he'll eat apples and bananas till the cows come home, sometimes grapes, berries and pear.

I could have pressed this harder when he was younger, I admit but there were so many other battles - language, sleep and toilet training that this took a back seat.

might be worth trying humous and cashew nuts and breadsticks, my little beige eater quite likes those Wink

NoHaudinMaWheest · 06/12/2011 13:02

If its any comfort my DS was a restricted eater who had really odd combinations when he was younger.(I am ashamed to say that at one stage the only breakfast we could get into him was chocolate buttons and grapes.) At 15 he eats quite a good variety including more types of fruit and veg than his NT sister and is farly willing to try new things. Still doesn't like sauce,gravy etc. on his food but has it in a separate pot to dip into.

ouryve · 06/12/2011 13:44

DS2 eats a pretty similar range to your DS, Ben10 - brown or white and preferably crunchy. We manage limited amounts of hidden vegetables, though I made him a muffin pizza with the bolognese sauce we had for dinner last night and he still managed to pick the veg out. His fine motor skills suddenly become fantastic when there's tiny bits of carrot polluting his cheese.

He tends to be on the pale side of healthy.

camilla2010 · 06/12/2011 14:56

I wish my boy would eat a fraction of yours - he eats maximum 4 bites at any
"mealtime" and only white food - toast, pasta white rice.
His pack lunches come home untouched so he goes from about 6 in the morning till 3 with nothing (teacher has asked me for advise - like i can make him eat :0) and still doesn't want to eat.
He is average weight amazingly.
He would no way eat a vitamin - doesn't eat sweets and cannot disguise anything as he doesn't eat sauces.

keepingupwiththejoneses · 06/12/2011 15:49

ds2 is stupidly restricted recently. He will eat, cheese spread on 50/50 bread, chips, banana, red grapes, skips/wotzits, fromage frais and toast, and maybe now and again will have an apple. He has a packed lunch for school with, you guessed it cheese spread butties, fromage frais, juice and grapes. He will not drink water and wont take vitamins. To be honest it is really worrying me at the moment because not only is it restricted he will eat constantly and is already over weight.

Triggles · 06/12/2011 16:18

I have to admit there isn't a huge colour variation in DS2's diet, although he does have a few colours in the fruit/veg area. He eats that much because we are fairly insistent and have presented some of these foods for ages (and got lucky that he finally decided on occasion to try one or two). It was 3 years before he ate peas and longer for carrots. He has a packed lunch every day at school with basically the same lunch, with only slight variations (which he's not keen on but he does eat).

Today he is ill, and not eating well at all, which means he will be very limited as to what he'll eat (hardly anything) for the next week or so.

CarolCervix · 06/12/2011 18:43

Me. DDs diet is very very limited. bread, crackers, chicken, cereal, biscuits, crisps. How she doesn't have scurvey is a mystery.
She has also rejected every single vitamin and supplement I have tried.

Triggles · 06/12/2011 23:20

This is why I don't want to even consider meds for DS2 - I can't get him to eat many foods, certainly can't get nurofen into him without a fight, can you imagine trying to give him a tablet?!?! Hmm

I see these lists of foods sometimes, and I think "hmmm...I'll trade you a fruit for chicken for a week" LOL Like trading cards. It's funny, as other children that are equally resistant to food will scoff something that DS2 wouldn't touch for any reason whatsoever... and vice versa. It is interesting.

OnTheBen10DaysofChristmas · 07/12/2011 07:06

You see I know I'm lucky that he eats what he does but the amount of vitamins he must be getting are minimal and I KNOW that better food would be better for him. I was never going to be a mother who fed their child what they wanted - oh how naive I was Blush. Now I am happy that he eats Grin

....and Triggles, I love how American your list is! Showing your heritage there Grin

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OnTheBen10DaysofChristmas · 07/12/2011 07:07

and I've realised that we have the "how many bites" regularly! Somehow not if it is fish fingers and chips though Hmm

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4nomore · 07/12/2011 07:09

Toast, marmite sandwiches, cheese, plain crisps, porridge, chips from the chip shop (no others), pasta with cheese on top (only at granny's house), the very occasional biscuit and Ribena (with the odd supplement sneaked in!). Although I'm not very convinced that it'll help, I'm waiting to see a dietitian

Triggles · 07/12/2011 08:14

oops, yes it probably is... I didn't even realise, other than sloppy joes... now I have to go look hahahaha

Triggles · 07/12/2011 08:17

okay, maybe a few other things, like peanut butter cookies... and I try to hard to fit in!! Xmas Blush Honestly, I try to stick with UK terms so as not to confuse the children. Xmas Grin or DH Xmas Hmm

OnTheBen10DaysofChristmas · 07/12/2011 09:05

My dad is American Grin. I like Americans :)

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Triggles · 07/12/2011 12:55

I've been here since 2004, so I'm not sure how well I'd fit in over there anymore. Hmm I've been told by a number of my US friends that I've "become British." Grin Is that a good thing? I'm waiting to receive my Eastenders accent. Grin

OnTheBen10DaysofChristmas · 07/12/2011 17:56

My grandma has been here since 1958 and still sounds as Bostonian as they come Grin

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Triggles · 07/12/2011 18:07

ah, well... boston is bawwwwston... not many from Boston I know that have ever lost the accent.. . hahahahahahahaa... my mum is from Maine (DownEast Maine, which I'm sure your grandma is familiar with), still has hers (though she now lives in Minnesota), and I still have a bit of an east coast accent as well.

OnTheBen10DaysofChristmas · 07/12/2011 18:57

My dad grew up in Minneapolis until he was 8 but the "Kermit the Frog" accent still comes out from nowhere suddenly with words like france, europe ........and then we take the mickey Grin

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Triggles · 07/12/2011 19:01

hahahhahahaha kermit the frog accent.. love it!

Eloise73 · 08/12/2011 23:29

Our DD doesn't mind multi-coloured foods, for instance she loves dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, strawberry chocolate ;-)

She loves white bread, white pasta, cheese, crackers (especially fish crackers), cereal, porridge, scrambled eggs, yogurt, custard, milk - heaps of white stuff.

She won't eat veg point blank. I have to hide it in food. I bought a book called 'The Sneaky Chef' to learn how to add fruit and veg to meals she likes. I buy Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (its very very orange and I grew up on this stuff - i'm Canadian!) and hide mashed cauliflower in it. The only fruit she will eat is banana and raisins (which is a bit of a stretch!). My lasagna (which she adores) has heaps of veg blended into the tomato sauce.

It used to bug me a lot but our paediatrician said that her daughter, who is NT, didn't really eat any veg until she was about 14 and she came out fine. She told me to not worry about it and just feed her what she wants. Obviously I do this within boundaries or i'd have to buy shares in Cadbury.

She does however take a multi-vitamin each day (red strawberry chewy things that look like haribo - can't remember what they are called).

When we win the lottery or my husband's book gets published and made into a movie (fingers crossed lol) i'm going to New York for 2 weeks and i'm taking our daughter to see Dr Olive who is like the 'picky eater whisperer' for kids on the spectrum. I saw an interview with her this week on the Autism file and she does one week intensive workshops with kids. She had one boy who only ate petit filous/yogurt. Literally. Within one week he was eating a hugely varied gluten/casein free diet and for his special meal at the end of the week he chose asparagus, pineapple, brown rice and chicken - GOBSMACKED!!!

logi · 09/12/2011 07:59

My son is the same very fussy with his diet and it worries me alot.............he doesnt eat any fruit,meat or veg.

His diet is bread and butter ...sometimes bread and jam (no butter).......waffles.....certain chips....small amount plain pasta twists......dry rice krispies.............spaghetti hoops.......cake (certain one).........blue packet haribo......

He seen a dietitian once but she said there wasnt alot she could help us with except prescribe iron med as he is anaemic and multivit. med which he wont take.(does now take the red chewy vitamin)

OnTheBen10DaysofChristmas · 09/12/2011 08:48

I want to see Dr Olive :) I hate to think how expensive she must be for a week's intensive therapy! You do get to go shopping in NYC though which would be fantastic and DS would love NYC as it is Home Alone City and he LOVES Home Alone.

I really need to try a chewy vitamin. Even if it isn't the BEST vitamin on the market, at least it would be better than nothing. Am going to try this that BlueShark recommended first.

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