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Eating and ASD

7 replies

tacal · 03/11/2013 21:50

My ds (4) who has a dx of Autism has always had a difficult relationship with food. Breastfeeding did not go well. He managed bottle feeding ok but was often sick afterwards and would cry. Moving onto solids was a nightmare for me. The constant gagging and me thinking he was going to choke was awful. I will never forget how scared I felt when trying to feed him. Even now he can gag on certain textures and be sick. I still watch him closely when he is eating apples and carrots (things that are not soft foods).

His diet is very restricted. He eats the same things every day and will not accept new foods. He likes his food to be cut up quite small. He eats fast and does not chew things very well. When he tried eating chewy haribo type sweets he swallowed them whole.

He freaks out when anyone offers him crisps, he cries and is angry. He refuses to be around crisps.

Does all this sound like eating problems caused by sensory issues and/or because he has autism?

DS also has a tongue tie and many of these problems can be caused by having a tongue tie. The doctors/speech and language therapists who have seen ds are saying that his tongue tie will not be causing these problems.

I really dont know whether to push for the tongue tie to be cut or accept his eating problems are not caused by the tongue tie.

I would be grateful to hear other peoples thoughts on this. I want to do what is best for DS and cannot make up my mind about the tongue tie.

What if I put him through the tongue tie operation and it made things worse? Maybe it would be difficult for him the accept the change to his tongue.

Any thoughts on this would be very much appreciated. Thank you

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tacal · 03/11/2013 21:54

He also can not look at other peoples food. It is becoming a food phobia. I suppose it makes sense that all this is ASD related.

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PolterGoose · 03/11/2013 22:04

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Shellywelly1973 · 03/11/2013 22:10

All sounds very familiar. Ds8 gas a dx of ASD& ADHD. He has huge sensory issues. I don't worry as much now that ds is older. His diet is vety limited but he's growing!

I doubt the tongue tie is part of the problem. My youngest ds has a tongue & lip tie but has no issues eating.

Its all part of autism unfortunately.

tacal · 03/11/2013 22:15

Thank you PolterGoose. Is your DS ok at chewing? I think the Speech and Language therapist has ruled out oral-motor difficulties after watching him eat a couple of bits of bread and cheese. Do you know who would be best at advising me on eating? Is it SALT or OT or do I just figure it out for myself.

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tacal · 03/11/2013 22:18

Thank you shellywelly. It is reassuring to hear that the advice I have been getting from SALT maybe correct. Does/did your DS8 have problems chewing?

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PolterGoose · 03/11/2013 22:33

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tacal · 03/11/2013 22:48

Thanks again Polter. I have also posted this in behaviour/development because I know there are some people on there who know a lot about tongue ties.

It does sound like your ds has had similar food problems to my ds.

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