Picky Eating

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Picky Eating & Autism – A Guide for Parents

What is Picky Eating?

Picky eating is usually classified as part of a spectrum of feeding difficulties. It is characterized by an unwillingness to eat familiar foods or to try new foods, as well as strong food preferences. The consequences may include poor dietary variety during early childhood. This, in turn, can lead to concern about the nutrient composition of the diet and thus possible adverse health-related outcomes.

If you are a parent of a picky eater with autism, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

A recent review of scientific studies found that children with autism are five times more likely to have mealtime challenges such as extremely narrow food selections, ritualistic eating behaviors (e.g. no foods can touch) and meal-related tantrums.

So what can you, as a parent, do to gently expand the diet of picky eaters with autism? Here are some helpful strategies:

Rule Out Medical Problems - If your child is clamping their lips shut when offered a certain food, it may be that they know it will make their stomach hurt. Gastrointestinal distress is common among children with autism, many of whom can’t easily describe their distress. Your child’s doctor can help you figure out if this is the case and how to deal with it.

Stay Calm - Many children need to taste a food more than a dozen times before they’re willing to eat it without a fuss. Children with autism-related sensitivities can take longer. Be patient as your child explores and samples new foods. If your child continues to reject a food even after a dozen-plus tries, perhaps he/she just doesn’t like it. Consider trying a different food. Above all, don’t let mealtime become a family battleground. Ignore negative behaviors while rewarding positive behaviors.

Take Steps Towards Tasting - Many individuals with autism are afraid to try new things. Help your child explore a new food by looking at it, touching it and smelling it. When he’s ready for a taste, he can try giving the food “a kiss” or licking it before putting a whole bite into his mouth.

Tune into Textures - Autism often comes with hypersensitivity to textures. So remember that it may be how a food feels in the mouth, rather than its flavor, that produces a food aversion. The squishiness of a fresh tomato is a classic example. Try chopping or blending such foods to smooth out the offending texture. That tomato, for example, can be chopped into salsa or blended and cooked into pasta sauce.

Play with New Food - That’s right. Playing with a new food is another way to build familiarity and decrease mealtime anxiety. Together, try painting with pasta sauce. Use veggies to make faces on pizza. Use cookie cutters to cut sandwiches into fun shapes. While you’re playing, let your child see you taste — and enjoy — the food.

Offer Choices and Control - Your loved one with autism may need to feel some control over what she puts into her mouth. It’s also okay to simply not like some foods. So try to offer a broad variety and allow choices within the categories you care about. For example, you might decide that your child needs to have one serving of vegetables and one of protein for dinner. So put five types of these foods on the table and allow your child to choose at least one vegetable and one protein. Along the same lines, if you’re making a favorite dish such as pasta, ask your child to add one mystery ingredient for other family members to discover during the meal. She gets to choose: corn, broccoli or chicken?

Be Careful with Rewards - In the long-run, it’s important to reward and reinforce your child’s flexibility with food and willingness to try new foods. But blatant bribes can backfire. Your child may eat the food, but won’t learn to enjoy it or understand why it’s important to eat a well-rounded diet — and that’s the goal. Let dessert and treats be part of meals and snacks, but don’t use them as carrots to get your child to eat … carrots.

Most importantly, DO NOT GIVE UP! It typically takes many tries before ANY child will taste a new food.

RESOURCES

Want EVEN more information and strategies to gently expand the diet of picky eaters with autism? Please click the link below for an article on A Parent’s Guide to Exploring Feeding Behavior in Autism presented by Autism Speaks ATN/AIR-P:

https://www.autismspeaks.org/sites/default/files/2018-08/Exploring%20Feeding%20Behavior.pdf

Additionally, please click the link below to watch a video on Tips for Getting Picky Eaters to Try New Foods:

https://www.speechandlanguagekids.com/tips-getting-picky-eaters-try-new-foods/