Help me find something ds might eat (slightly desperate).

[MiniSoksMakeHardWork]

So we're waiting on various assessments and appointments for ds who is believed to be somewhere on the autistic spectrum.

Dh and I agreed which battles we'd fight with him and which we'd ignore. Food was always an ignore as ds would eat bananas, vegetables and sausages until they poured out of his ears. He would also eat chicken nuggets and chips.

Now we are lucky if he eats the sausages. He will eat toast and mashed potato. Veg is fine as long as it is just cooked, no gravy/sauce. He will eat biscuits given the chance but we have decided to ban them until we get him eating more of a main meal. He's allowed as much milk/fruit as he cares to eat on the days where he refused his meals. This is only at meal times though. We've discouraged snacking to stop him trying to insist he is full.

I desperately need new ideas of things to at least try.

Ds refuses pasta in either tomato or cheese sauce, with or without meat/meatballs. He generally doesn't eat meat at all. Even when it's out on his plate and ds takes a bite, he will chew and chew but will not/cannot swallow it. The child cannot live off toast forever and will only eat cheese spread sandwiches at school. I'm currently trying to find out what he eats at snack time other than raw carrot.

I honestly never thought I'd be moaning that I had a child who loves their vegetables!

It sounds like your main problem is with protein.

Houmous?
Peanut butter?
Cheese on toast?

My DS has very limited diet too.

He eats sausages most of the time(although over time we managed to switch him over to those with 90%+ meat content), but recently we've managed to swap them for homemade meatballs every once in a while. He won't eat any other meat or fish. No vegetables or fruits, either :( Bland penne with cream cheese and olive oil accompany the sausages; can't have any 'bits', e.g. pepper, or he won't eat it.

He eats either of quark, cottage cheese or natural Greek yoghurt in the morning (we mash some banana into it, although he can't actually see this happening or he won't eat it), and these are reasonably protein-rich.

He eats porridge made with whole milk for dinner every night. Lately, we've been adding a scoop of micellar casein powder with natural cocoa to enhance protein content and he seems to be happy with it.

Obviously, none of the above would work for you if you are thinking of GFCF diet...

Peanut and almond butters are also good additions, if he can be convinced. Ditto houmous. So far, we have only been successful with an occasional peanut butter toast.

For protein:
Soya beans (frozen like peas, from the freezer counter)
Peas
Crispy bacon
Salami on pizza, pepperami sticks
Tinned tuna in oil (untainted with anything else)

Alternative to bread:
Rice cakes (sorry, it's an obvious one, but will stick it in anyway)
Oatcakes (plain, cheese, fruit)
Plain boiled rice

Home-made pizza using tortilla-style flatbread, with just tomatoes and cheddar (no fancy sauce)

Smoothies might work, with banana as a base - disguises eg bruised fruit that otherwise wouldn't be touched, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cashew butter, soya milk, almond milk (rather than cow's milk if you want to limit dairy)

Keeping food separated on the plate and untainted by 'mixing' can help. So can putting things in the middle of the table in separate bowls/plates and letting him help himself buffet style - gives control and rules out parental serving 'mistakes'.

Does he like pasta with no sauce? My son will only eat it plain, just a bit of butter or olive oil. He likes plain noodles, rice, couscous and gnocchi- can you see a theme? Maybe a little grated cheese, what about the pancetta cubes, can't do much chewing with them! My son won't eat any veg or potatoes and hasn't for 10 years! Basically as long as it's bland and beige he'll have it!

oh and egg noodles can be a way of sneaking some protein in - try completely plain tiny portion first of all.

And cake made with eggs. Maybe carrot cake?

I've had success with waiting till they are REALLY hungry and then giving a portion of food they will sometimes eat but are 'iffy' about (one eg for us was baked beans which became favourite food overnight). Offer the food by itself so that they can't fill up on something else on the plate.

I suppose it's a bit like how great a kebab tastes after a night out, or fish and chips after a long walk in the open air. Make sure that whatever it is, it's in top condition though - nothing burnt, bruised, been open in the fridge for a while etc. Try different brands of things and be mindful of how different eg different sausages can be in taste and texture. Mine are fussy even about brands of ketchup - bog standard Tesco's is fine, but not Waitrose organic!

Hi, I feel your pain, my ds is nearly 14 years old and has only just started to eat anywhere near normal a diet, which just happen one day about six months ago, I think as he's going through puberty his body just needs more of a varied diet. I always mix a raw egg in with the mash potato its something muy mum use to do when we were growing up and is a good form of protein and he wont know that you have done it.

My ds1 eats:

• Cheese and tomato pizza

• Plain pasta with butter (sometimes he will eat it with grated cheese sprinkled on top, but generally prefers it plain).

• Fish in batter (used to like fish fingers too)

• Those yogurts in little bottles (Actimel?)

He sometimes eats ham but only if it's in thick chunks.

It's only since the big growth spurts started (he's 13) that he's started to feel hungry for the first time in his life.

a vegetable eating child! wow!

some vegetables are more protein rich than others. If I remember correctly, brocolli and cauliflower - the 'seeded' veg - are good for protein

After a disaster holiday in Italy last year … [WHat child does not even eat plain bread, plain pasta, and ice-cream ???, even if it is very hot ???] … I came home v worried and put DS with ASD on vitamin tablets with iron. [Monkey ones, from Saninsburys]. His appetite has really taken off, and he now eats quite a lot.
Also, my DH hates this : but, I realised that DS doesn't eat because he often has no interest in food. So, to get him used to eating, and to develop an appetite, I sit him in front of his favourite tv, and spoon the food in automatically. Otherwise, he's too bored.

He doesn't realise he's eaten everything until after the tv program. I'm sure this is frowned upon, but it got him liking food again.

Maybe this will help?

there's also odd tricks that DS will or won't take to, depending on his whim. Once, it was just giving him the tiniest morsel, that could barely be cut up/was visible, and then he'd agree he liked it and wanted more. Other times, [and this only lasted for a few weeks], he would agree to eat anything as long as you waved it under his eyes first, then told him to close his eyes, and open his mouth wide. [and it had to come with those exact words].

They do keep us on our toes .

My Ds refuses all tyres of fruit or veg. He refuses pasta, potato and rice. His diet consists of cheerios, toast, chicken nuggets, fish fingers, pizza and ice creamhe also eats the occasional yogurt and totally refuses anything new. He would drink diluted fruit drinks all day if I let him. Its a daily task tryin to feed him. He is allergic to eggs and nuts so all that has to be factored into his diet.

Dd1 has always struggled with eating meat. One route I tried was to concentrate on eggs - egg fried rice, French toast, etc. it took a while but she did accept them eventually (a little too well )

Would you be able to introduce other foods if they were mostly vegetable? Am thinking of thugs like courgette cake, or savoury veg muffins etc? A revere of the usual hiding veg in familiar food - more using familiar and accepted foods to introduce new textures/presentations?

I'm sorry for not getting back to this thread earlier. I thought I had!

Well there are certainly plenty of foods for thought lol.

Tea tonight was one quarter of a chocolate spread sandwich, chocolate licked out first. Followed by a plate of sliced & peeled pears and carrots. At least he ate them and it's something I can do in his lunch box.

Preschool tell me he eats all of his sandwiches but rarely anything else. Even his crisps usually end up mashed to bits but uneaten. I was thinking he was eating them as they weren't coming home. He will eat the carrots and most fruit at snack time.

I'm grateful he's a veggie lover. I've also looked up sone veggie meals with no meat replacement to try. Fingers crossed.

Thanks also for the tip about foods not being mixed. He's much better, eats a bit more, if there are definite gaps between foods.

Hv coming out Tuesday so we'll see what they have to say.

Ds is 6 and also eats very limited protein, he would live on toast, bread & butter, crumpets, rice cakes, dry biscuits, dry pasta, chips, crisps, raw peppers, grapes, apples, bananas, oranges, pears, melon, carrots.

He loves cereal with milk, rice pudding, jelly, yoghurt (no lumps).

Recently he has begun to eat cheese and tomato pizza, homemade pancakes and yorkshire pudding and ice cream (vanilla)

He will eat sometimes eat a chicken nugget and small sausages and sometimes a few baked beans.

I struggle to get him to eat protein - at least now that he will eat pancakes and yorkshire pudding he is getting some egg!

Every new food item is a huge success - I made some homemade burgers for tea today and he ate all the bun and two small bits of burger, next time he may eat three bits...........progress is slow but it's worth it.

DD is 4 and survives on fishfingers, hummous and breadsticks, croissants and fromage frais. No veg at all. I'm trying to reintroduce pasta and pesto which used to be a favourite but was rejected when she bit a hard piece of pasta and freaked out. I'd try hummous for protein - when all else fails DD will usually eat it.

This may sound a bit yuck but I find corned beef useful fir getting dd to eat meat. The ingredients list on the one i use isn't too chemically. I fry slices of it with cooked potato cut into chunks to make corned beef hash. It looks unbelievably gross sliding out of the can and smells like dogfood! But once cooked its nice and we all eat it quite happily but the key thing is its mushy so she will eat it by the handful no chewing required

I also peel the skin off sausages once they have been cooked and the cooked sausage meat finds favour. I fry them to seal then put them in the oven with some onions apples and water. Cooked this way the meat is squishy but not crumbly