More Food Issues

[Eshkenazi]

My son is 3 1/2. He doesn't have a diagnosis yet but all the signs are there....he's been receiving Speech and OT since he was 2. Lately his tactile defensiveness has gotten *much* worse. We're actually not sure what the cause is except that there have been some significant changes in his life recently (we abruptly changed both of his therapists and started him in preschool).
At any rate, when he was younger he had a great diet. As he got older it became more and more limited but was still okay for a toddler. Now his already restricted diet is getting worse and worse. For a while he would eat rice, mashed potatoes, pound cake, apples, cookies (yeah...sweets), icecream, bread, cheese sandwhiches, plain bread, plain pasta and corn (on the cob only)...and fruit roll ups.

Now we're down to pound cake and fruit roll ups. Sometimes he eats rice or pasta but he mostly refuses them. He drinks soy milk mixed with pediasure and sometimes orange juice.

His OT's approach is to basically choose a food he doesn't eat (randomly pretty much) and hold him down and force him to take a bite. It takes about 30 minutes to get about three *small* bites in. He screams the whole time. We've been doing this for a few weeks and the results are....well...not there. If anything it's even worse. We're at a complete loss. He's *never* been this bad before. :confused: Is her method out of whack? Should we try to see a dietician (assuming we can find one who works with children)? Should we try to go back to our old approach, which was to let him 'graze' (ie...we put out several things and let him choose what he would eat and when. He didn't sit with us at meal times.) Should we stick it out? Is there another option?

We are freaking out here...help please!

[StrictNon-Confo]

I believe the OT you mention is working along the lines of him being difficult just for the sake of being difficult, and is forcing him in hopes of breaking him, much like horses are broken into submission. Your OT is a fool: get another one. Using physical force to make someone eat will NOT have the desired long-term results. How many kids have you heard of that learned to like eating sand (or something else), just because a bully made them eat it?

When it comes to food and eating, it's very useful to know the why of something, and if the diet has changed down to a minimal diet, especially combined with all the other things mentioned, it sounds like it's time to see if there's something physically wrong or different that wasn't present before. Sensitivities come and go in strength and severity, and are often worse depending on the mood and physical wellness of the individual. The OT trying to beat him into submission like described is NOT helping, as you can see.

Perhaps you could try a bit of reasoning with him, and explain that if he tries a little bit of something you'd like him to eat or drink, he can have however much of something else he wants afterwards. Also, if the only thing available to eat is something he hasn't shown an interest in eating recently (but has in the past) hunger (don't push this too far, but a few hours is not likely to be harmful, barring certain health problems) will convince most anybody to try to eat something they know is food, even if they don't normally want to eat it by choice.

[Eshkenazi]

It is definitely something we're going to discuss with the developmental pediatrician. Maybe she will either discover the reason (I will sing her praises forever if she does) or at least suggest someone else we can take him to about it.

I do agree that part of the problem getting worse is due to the approach we're taking. He starts crying if I even mention eating and as soon as we get to the OTs office, he grabs me, clings to me with arms and legs and puts one hand firmly over his mouth. At the very least I'm going to point out that her doing this is counter productive to the therapy session because he hates her and there *is* no session. He holds onto me and cries even if she asks him to do something he *likes* (like swing or play in a ball pit).

I think we are going to try more of a positive reinforcement approach and see if that will work better. Thank you so much for the encouragement and advice! :)

[Muddy]

Get a vegetable juicer, juice simply things at first like say just carrots. No he won't drink a whole glass at first, but you can use a dropper and squirt a few mls in his mouth. Of course initially you will have to corner him(I don't recommend force) and of course the first few times he will probably spit it out. Sooner or later he will swallow and you'll be on your way, not only are you getting nutrition(all broken down for his wee tummy) in him he is getting used to the tastes of other foods. My son drinks full glasses and even asks for the stuff(by taking the carrots out of the frig) :idea: