Support for child who won't eat at school

[KeiraDaily]

Hi, I hope this is in the right place.
I really need some help with my DS's eating but don't know where to start.
He is 10 years old and has Asperger's Syndrome.
He has always been a "fussy" eater so at home we just give him whatever he wants to eat. I know some people will disagree with this approach but it has been the only way we have been able to maintain his weight and not make meal times a hugely stressful experience.
The problem is that he hates the food at school and has been skipping lunch altogether. This means he is out of the house for 10 hours without eating anything at all and when I pick him up he is extremely emotional because he is obviously starving.
He wants to take a packed lunch to school which might be a short term fix but I am wondering whether I can access any support for him to try and improve his eating?
I have taken him to the GP before but didn't get anywhere. At that time he was severely underweight but he is very tall and the GP said 'it's fine because he's obviously growing'?!
Now his weight is more stable I'm not sure he would qualify for any support but I'm really worried about him going onto secondary school / college etc if he won't eat?
Thank you

I would send a packed lunch.

Have you looked at ARFID? If your local area doesn’t have a team who see those with ARFID you could ask for a referral to somewhere that does. The GP is talking rubbish, you can still be malnourished a tall.

Thanks I have googled ARFID but didn't know how to get past the GP in the first instance. This GP also said that my son's BMI was so low because he is tall. Isn't the whole point of BMI that it takes into account your height and weight?!

He doesn't eat any fruit or vegetables so he is definitely vitamin/mineral deficient but he is a healthy weight so I'm worried I'll just be fobbed off.

Ds has ARFID and one of the things we were told by ARFID specialists is "all food is good food". So you are doing the right thing by letting him eat what he wants at home.

I would definitely go with the packed lunch at school. That should make things a little less stressful for him.

We managed to access a specialist team to support Ds. But before that we had tried, a community dietician, CAMHS and a sensory OT. Ds was significantly underweight but you can also be normal weight or overweight with ARFID.

Could you ask for a referral to a community dietitian to begin with?

In some areas you can self refer to the eating disorder team &/or dietetics. If you can’t in your area you could speak to the school nursing team as they will be able to refer.

Will DS take a multivitamin?

That GP is fobbing you off with nonsense.

Thank you for the advice.

I will start with a packed lunch.

He takes a chewable multivitamin but it's for 3-6 year olds!! He can now manage tablets so I should probably find something he can swallow instead. He takes daily Vit D and drinks milk so gets some dairy (though no meat, fish, cheese etc).

I will ask for a referral to a dietitian. I tried the nutritionist route without any success. The last person i saw said he was anaemic so i needed to get him to eat spinach and liver. FFS!

Hi, have you tried wellkid vitamins goes upto age 12 and you can get it in liquid form. It contains 36% of iron needed. Plus if ds is eating cereal that also contains iron just need to figure out much ds would need to eat of it to boost ds iron intake.

I've tried lots of different types of chewable vitamins, liquids and sprays but he won't tolerate them. But a small tablet would work so i can try that.
He does eat a lot of cereal. 3 x a day!

DS was taking vitamins for 3-6 year olds until he was 16!
When he started treatment for his ARFID, they suggested a multi vitamin tablet and that's been part of his routine ever since.

Not sure if your Ds struggles with the sensory element of food and eating? but a OT trained in sensory integration can be helpful. Ds accessed one through his EHCP, but we do have an NHS OT sensory service locally for autistic children and young people.

Like just says some eating disorders services will help. Our local one isn't commissioned to support people with ARFID and refused to help Ds, even when he was very underweight and unwell. Hence the referral to a national service.

Keep going, autism and eating can be a really complex mix. But it sounds like you are doing a good job.

Right, I've spoken to the school nurse and he will be having a packed lunch from now on. I ordered some tablet multivitamins which are suitable from 11+ years so I'm sure they'll be fine. I got nowhere with the GP (again) so I have made a self referral to my local CAHMS.
I've also ordered some books on ARFID and will start researching that more thoroughly.
Thank you, everyone, for all your help and advice