4 year old suddenly stopped wanting food at wits end

[fishtank12345]

Hello

I have an anxious 4 year old with autism diagnosis (adhd profile) and she was always fussy with food but ate enough and then she started to complain about teeth (dentists said all good) and now she started spitting out her fav food and then 2 days ago is only taking in chocolate milk and yogurt and I have to really encourage that. She has also been clearing her throat alot in recent weeks. She is able to speak.

Her sister is also autistic and has arfid and pda... She is pretty bad with food, and general attitude actually.

I just cry every day now. I wake up and I don't want to get up to face the day (I have to home ed as they are not suited to being in crowded environments/ expected to learn at someone's request, my pda child tried school several times all different ages and it was a disaster and my 4 year old hits out at others due to anxiety)

I know I am not alone in feeling this utterly hopeless as an autism parent, am I ? Every day there is always something going wrong. That's what it feels like.

It could be anxiety/overwhelm driven. If DD is anxious, is she grinding her teeth? That can cause discomfort.

Has anyone looked at her throat? And have you ruled out constipation?

I would keep offering whatever safe food DD will eat, even if it takes encouragement.

Is DD receiving any support for anxiety and ASD?

Has she had a sensory OT assessment?

Does she have an EHCP?

If you don’t want to EHE, you could pursue EOTAS/EOTIS via EHCPs.

Have you had social care assessments? A carer’s assessment for you and an assessment via the children with disabilities team for DC. And looked at your local short breaks offer.

My son with asd has a throat clearing tic that comes and goes. He’s 5. When he is in overwhelm he struggles to eat/drink/toilet etc.
his tics are always worse when more anxious/overwhelm. Sorry, it sounds like she’s really struggling. We’re getting support from CAMHS at the moment which feels like a bit of moral support

Thanks for the replies. Working on it.

I had something similar with my DD she didn't eat for 9 days , her homeopath gave her alfalfa 6c within a week she was eating her favourites and normal portion sizes . It may be worth a try