ds(2) and food - will only eat certain things - ideas please?

[hazeyjane]

Ds will only eat certain things, they are

breadsticks and philedelphia
crackers and dairylea
toast/bagel and jam
1 flavour of stage 2 baby food jar
yoghurt/fromage fraise
whole apple
shreddies soaked in milk with fruit puree (from a pouch) on top
smoothies (again from a pouch)
organix crisps
sweetcorn
biscuits
banana bread

and thats about it. He has milk in the morning and at bedtime, it was follow on until recently, but I have switched to cows milk, thinking that it might be filling him up. I give him vitamins. He is a good weight, he started on the 75th centile, went down to 25th centile (tube fed at birth) and then crept up to the 91st centile, recently he has gone down to the 50th. He is only 2nd centile for height, so he is pretty stocky!

He has a poor swallow due to low tone, so used to eat mashed food and have thickened liquids. As he has got older he doesn't seem to like the texture of mashed food, but won't eat seperate things either (he will pick up sweetcorn, but won't pick up a piece of pasta or fish finger or fruit). Texture seems to have a lot to do with it. He won't touch certain foods and clamps his mouth shut and turns his head away when he doesn't like something.

We all eat together (most of the time), he sees his sisters eating, and I try to give him what we are having mashed or chopped up, but he doesn't touch it. I have always been relaxed about it because he is a good size.

But it worries me that he is not getting good nutritious food (I have tried copying the puree in the pouch - but he won't eat it) and that he is so averse to so many foods.

He also has reflux (is on domperidone) and the videofluoroscopy showed that he was at high risk from aspirating.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get ds to eat something other than the foods above?! The HV gave me advice that was next to useless, and I have been asking to see a feeding SALT, but I think because ds is a good weight and 'copes' with food (as his paed put it) we are left in limbo. I am quite happy to spend the evenings making stuff, I have been through the whole bloody annabel karmel book!

I heard somewhere recently to try different foods with a similar texture. So maybe pear as well as apple. Corn bread and maybe you can extend his diet. I haven't tried this yet myself but that's the plan.

Hope this helps

well it's not an ideal diet but it's not dire, it does cover the major food groups (but could do with more protein). My DS's diet was if anything more limited at 2, whilst he is still a v fussy eater, over the years it has much improved, very gradually. But he tolerated cakes/biscuits/chocolate a lot better than anything else .

I agree with chucky egg, it's about gradual baby steps in introducing new foods, and expecting a heck of a lot of wastage, unfortunately, as the first stage of him tolerating new foods may just be that he tolerates it being on the plate without actually eating any!

if he likes smooth textures would it be worth trying humous or mashed up avocado and yoghurt, or even mashed potato? If he will eat banana bread, would he eat other sorts of fruit cake or brioche? If he likes cheese, what about baby bel? or if it has to be spreadable, goats cheese?

His diet isn't too bad, my 8 year old will only eat:

cheese sandwiches
wheetabix
pizza
yoghurts (in the form of a frube)
dried cranberries
Cheese and onion crisps
McDonalds fish fingers

And thats about it

Yesterday dd1 tried an apricot (and what a fuss that was).

I agree with what everyone else is saying 'try and introduce food with a similar texture', dd1 used to gag on everything so lived on pureed fruit for a long time.

DS2 is quite limited in his diet as well. No clever advice from us - we just keep exposing him to foods in every form we can think of - over and over with other foods, and hope that somethings takes. We do have a house rule of "one bite of any new food" even if it is a very small bite. But if he then won't eat more than the one bite, we don't push it. Still offer it on his plate when we're having it, but he can either try it or not, no pressure. It literally took a few years of this to work him into eating anything resembling a roast dinner (yorkshire puddings, a couple peas, raw carrot, a couple bites of chicken - if we're lucky - and sometimes a roast potato or two). Not much food, but we consider it a victory, as he used to only eat the yorkshire puddings and that's it.

Thankyou

Good to hear people saying it is not that limited

It feels as though he eats the same thing every day, although I try him with lots of different things as well.

I think he likes biscuity hard textures and otherwise it is pretty much smooth stuff - I wondered if this was a muscle tone thing, he has low tone all over, and I know that he is like it with textures on his fingers too (so he hates 'bitty' things like sand, i guess because it hasn't got a firmness to it), and his physio said that may be because if low tone.

I guess I just have to relax about it and keep offering different things.

I will have a look at other ways of getting protein into him. I can't really find a meat that he likes, and he didn't like lentils.

If I could come up with a tasty meat smoothie, I could be the next Annabel Karmel!!

Dd1 has low tone, hypermobility and Aspergers, most of her food problems are caused by sensory issues. She also hates the feel of sand (she will now walk on sand but very slowlly). Dd1 wont touch meat, i think its because its too much hard work to chew, i give dd1 vitimins to make sure she gets enough of everything.

HazyJane my ds is the same, have a meeting with feeding Salt in August, hopefully she will come up with some ideas. I do stuff him with linseed oil, liquid B12 and Zinc and Magnesium, he doesn't mind them at least!

I can see that ds struggles to move a lot of food around his mouth, his tongue doesn't move the food around very well.

I'm glad you are seeing a feeding SALT, Babiki. I am seeing ds's paed on Mon, and I am going to push for us to speak to a feeding SALT, it is daft, the one who did the videofluoroscopy recommended that ds have a gastrostomy tube, but she has given us no folllow up.

What about pate on crackers or breadsticks? DD loves pate and it's a good source of protein and iron.

HazeyJane I'm only seeing her as I made a huge complaint regarding put children's services and finally they are waking up. Hopefully she won't be as useless as the ordinary Salt.. Good luck too!