is it really the most important meal of the day? because if so, i am failing the squirt. every morning we get up, i put something on his tray. something appropriate for breakfast. he either ignores it, throws it to the dogs, or smears it all over his face and hair. i don’t believe that any of it actually goes into his mouth.
i am open to non-traditional breakfast foods. i have tried pretzels and peanut butter, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ham and cheese…..the best luck i have had is to make him a juice concoction (apple juice mixed with a yogurt smoothie) and hope it meets some of his nutritional needs. maybe i need to delve deeper into the smoothie idea. protein powder? do we need it?
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hi phrogmom
is he able to communicate/choose his own breakfast? sometimes kids will eat the food if they have chosen it and help prepared it. but you’ve probably tried that already.
one of my quirky kids would not eat a sandwich unless he had a knife and fork. how did i find that solution? i set up a play picnic with all of the play knives and forks and plates, and he tucked into his sandwich using the play knife and fork. he grew out of it after a while but it got him started.
one of my other quirky kids, who is a very fussy eater, started to try some foods after we made smiley faces on the plate with the food.
all good sense says that if kids are hungry they will eat, and with all the starving kids in Africa why should we pander to our kids around food. i don’t make a fuss about food with the kids because they get to loving all of that negative attention, but i have found that it helps to be creative (and you have creativity in abundance).
when i was working with kids with autism, they liked food to be separate, so the peas couldn’t touch the broccoli which couldn’t touch the meat etc. they also liked to line food up, or have it cut up and put in a grid pattern on the plate. as you know, smell and texture is important to some kids with autism.
or maybe he just can’t stomach breakfast?
good luck!
thank you for all the suggestions! sorry it took me so long to reply! it has been extra hectic around here. he can’t communicate his bfast desires at this point. so i just offer and then try to not care if he doesn’t eat. i think the yogurt smoothie prob provides as much nutrition as toast or something would.
yeah, we don’t force anyone to eat around here, and we don’t make second meals if the first one gets a thumbs down. i definitely don’t want their to be drama around eating!
My number 3 was extra fussy.
He absolutely loved tinned spaghetti and wanted to eat that every night for dinner. So I made that the fallback meal. I put out the dinner that we were all eating, but on his plate were very small amounts. We encouraged him to try what was on his plate. He would scream that he wanted his spaghetti. I said that he had to try something from his plate then he could have his spaghetti. When he ate something from his plate we gave him praise for it, which he loved. Then he got his spaghetti. I never praised him for eating the spaghetti. Slowly but surely, maybe over 18 months, he ate more of the meal we were all eating, and reduced the spaghetti consumption. He now eats extremely well, frequently eating more than the older boys, and he tries everything. He’s not great with vegies but he hasn’t had tinned spaghetti for ages. And he’s healthier than the rest of us.
I remember as a kid not being able to stomach some foods because of their strong smell and taste. Mangos were the worst, but now I love them. I think kids with Autism struggle even more because of their sensitivities.