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Original poster

I give ds all this to eat and i dont give a crap!!

201 replies

redbull · 11/09/2006 16:08

he has
tea in the morning and before bed
bovril
pizza (everyweek)
chips (everyweek)
crisps everyday
chocolate everyday
fruit shoots most days
sos rolls in his push chair
chinease once a week
billy bear meat
bernard matthews dinosours
youngs flipper dippers
yazoo milkshakes
i dont care if i have to bribe him with chocolate to eat i dont care if he drinks all this crap as far as im concerned with his sensory problems its a blessing he eats this

OP posts:
tiptoes · 11/09/2006 16:54

My DS has a problem with certain foods touching each other.The sauce must not be near other foods on his plate and has to be cut in a cetrtain way.He also hates really messy food that might get on his hands. he will eat some vegetable if they are disguised ie mashed in.

Some of the foods he will eat would be on the no no list but as others have said at least he is eating something.

foods include-
super noodles
tinned beans and sausages
white bread
crisps
pizza
chocolate(of course)
fish fingers
AND although he will drink water it is sometimes mixed with high juice or squash as we call it(call the bad diet police now}

noonar · 11/09/2006 16:57

redbull, your last post, which i've only just read , was really informative. read it after i posted. didnt want you to think i'd ignored what you wrote.

imagine for a minute your ds was born 50 years ago, what do you imagine he would have eaten than- before the convenience food revolution?

misdee · 11/09/2006 17:00

toast.

tiptoes · 11/09/2006 17:02

noonar-which it was as simple as you make it sound.

As redbull said it's also about sensory perception as well,and I know with my ds he only has to smell it or not like the texture of it and he won't eat it.Mealtimes are a nightmare.

Oh what it must be like to sit down with children who eat everything you put in front of them without complaining,I dare say they are few and far between in reality.

aaronsmummy · 11/09/2006 17:02

It is strange how they can tell if you have hidden something in their food isn't it. DS is autistic and won't eat red or green food, he is very 'into' colours. He uses colours to describe things so if he wants pink and white for lunch it is a ham sandwich - yes on white bread but hey rather that than starve, there are some fairly good white breads out there. Redbull I wouldn't give a toss what other people think, you do the best you can for your kids. Well Done!

Tiggiwinkle · 11/09/2006 17:04

I also have a child with ASD-he is 7 and has Aspergers. He will NOT eat many of the "healthy" food options. ASD children will starve themsleves-they do not seem to feel hunger as other children do. My DS was nearly in hospital at one point when he would not eat anything. When that has happened, believe me, you are glad when they eat anything at all.
My DS will not eat ANY vegetables-and if you put them on the plate, he will then not eat foods which are acceptable to him. He also spots any attempt to disguise them in other foods.
I do not think anyone who has not had a child like this can really understand the issues involved.

tiptoes · 11/09/2006 17:11

Well said tiggiwinkle-It's one thing to have an opinion on this but another to live it everyday.

aaronsmummy · 11/09/2006 17:12

Wanted to mention too that food for ds has to be finger food iykwim as he cannot use a knife and fork. I just won;t let him, he is very violent and once stabbed his fork into my arm. He also throws cups, glasses and plates etc.

noonar · 11/09/2006 17:17

you're right, i don't know what it's like- and as you explain it more and more i can only repeat that i'm not meaning to judge. i have respect for you all and the challenges you face everyday. FWIW, i would'nt have got involved in this thread- if i'd realized how big an issue the SN are. but as i was first to reply i posted before i realized. i do have strong food- views, but realize that life's not always simple. good luck with it.

mrs2shoes · 11/09/2006 17:25

dd has just had for tea
5 chocolate crispie cakes and a fruit corner. In a minuit she will have some chocolate and sqash.
she also has coke.
drinks with nno added sugar
for breakfast she has crisps.
to be honest she is a goos eater but i let her eat what she wants as I HAVE to keep her weight up.
ds just had chiken drummers chips and spaggettii
with robinson no added sugar
he eats that most days
I also let him eat kfc/macdonalds as a treat.
he is so fussy it is just a case of as long as he is eating

AttilaTheMeerkat · 11/09/2006 17:26

Tiggiwinkle,

Re your comment:-
"I do not think anyone who has not had a child like this can really understand the issues involved".

Well said!

This is what my son (7) eats nowadays:-
chicken
chips (only from Burger King)
ring doughnuts
white bread (no crusts)
prawn crackers
apple (tiny piece of)
plain fairy cakes (no icing allowed on them)

Drinks water (milk refused these days)

I have tried to explain to various professionals over the years (since he was 2) about his eating but till now no-one has really listened. I kicked up a real fuss not so long ago and now someone supposedly proficient in dealing with childrens' eating problems is paying us another visit soon.

BTW the paed referred us to the eating clinic at Great Ormond Street but we were refused on the grounds that DS was now too old to be seen!!.

mrs2shoes · 11/09/2006 17:26

by the way ds is 14 and nt

tobysmumkent · 11/09/2006 17:28

Message withdrawn

MissChief · 11/09/2006 17:29

crisps for breakfast??!

mrs2shoes · 11/09/2006 17:30

noonar stepping away from the sn issue
I tried every thing with ds to get him to eat "healthy" food. It was a case of give in or he wouldn't eat.
as a person who was a fussy eater when I was a child you can't Always make a child eat healthy food sometimes it just won't happen.
I know I am not alone in this as I know people in rl who have the same problem.
Amazingly the kids normally grow out of it in their late teens.

tobysmumkent · 11/09/2006 17:32

Message withdrawn

PeachyClairHasBadHair · 11/09/2006 17:34

chicken skin most days
sweets often
squash for breakfast withpeanut butter on toast (he licks the peanut butter of, on good days when he eats any breakfast)
cabbage
if he is feeling amenable I shove him full of cakes and sugary drinks
he loves pineapples and has just started eating discovery apples too

I put lard in everything even scones

PeachyClairHasBadHair · 11/09/2006 17:42

And its really not a case of what they're offered as I have two other s whose diets are idealistic beyong imagination- Mum, I'm hungry, can I have an organic carrot- etc etc etc. But if your child doesn't eat, you try anything and gradually work down the scale.

DS will only drink squash or sugary fruiit juice (NEVER diluter- not any more). I ahted it until he almost had to go into a hospital with devere dehydration untile got cruddy squash into him; since then I stopped worrying.

Thomcat · 11/09/2006 17:43

These so called food police - are they digging out mums whose children who have special needs??? Are they having a go at you in particular??? Or, and I don't know the answer, are they just discussing how healthy eating, in general, is a good thing. Are these parents the parents of children who are not autistic and don't have a clue about your children sensory issues etc where food is concerned?

I'm massively into trying to give my DD's as balanced a diet as possible. Your lists of foods your kids eat make me sad, but I totally understand and of course all that matters to you guys is that they are actually eating something. Shame that children with autism and sensory problems don't all like broccoli, asparagus and apricots, obviously, but at least they eat something. I'm sure when people understand that they wouldn't judge you in any way shape or form.
Or am i wrong?

TheVoiceOfReasonQV · 11/09/2006 17:48

You're not wrong, TC.

beckybrastraps · 11/09/2006 17:49

I wouldn't judge, and my children don't have SN. Ds is great with food. I was SO smug. He really will eat anything except mushrooms or lettuce. Dh and I preened ourselves on our superior food choices. Dd came along, started well and then it all wnet downhill. Could we get a single vegetable into her? Now she varies day to day what she will eat (although she will never eat any meat), and it's a pigging nightmare. The preening has stopped.

ilovecaboose · 11/09/2006 17:54

Thomcat I don't hhave a kid with sn but my ds is a nightmare when it comes to food. We think part of it now maybe down to an allergy.

I've felt the need (on other sites) to post things like this b4. I think its cos you see all these people getting really worked up over food food and you feel like saying 'take a step back a minute and imagine if the alternative was your child starving themselves'

My ds will starve himself for several days if you don't give him food he likes. He is not yet 2. And yes you do feel looked down on other parents sometimes when people start these threads. Its not there fault and yes they should still do these things. I do believe healthy eating is important. But for some it is a dream rather than an achievable reality.

I cried the day my ds ate a McD's frenchfry. It was a huge step, yet without explaining the background every time it is difficult for people to understand why this is such an achievment.

So every so often people like to start these threads just to point out the other side and while healthy eating is important sometimes you have to let it go to a certain extent to make sure your children eat.

ilovecaboose · 11/09/2006 17:55

That wasn't supposed to be bitchy by the way, just trying to explain

aaronsmummy · 11/09/2006 18:00

I actually feel that it's a shame that we can;t all post what we all actually feel or do about things without being jumped on in many cases. We are all different and deserve our own opinions. Maybe a little more empathy is called for in future on Mumsnet.

Thomcat · 11/09/2006 18:07

I understand, really I do, I was just trying to make the peopel who feel got at, not got at, that's all.