Mommy, I have a surprise for you...

[aidliz]

My son Aidan has oral sensory issues.  He has never been able to eat a variety of texture of food. I know this is going to sound awful but his diet is basically crunchy carbs, waffles bagels toast french fries, dry cereal, pretzals (his ultimate fav.) and applesauce which is the only mushy food he eats.  It isnt that he doesnt want to eat different food its that he actually cant! This is very difficult for most everyone to understand.  I have taken him to a number of specialists and he has had therepy for it, but nothing seemed to work for us.

He loves to help me cook and always sais when he gets bigger he is going to eat new foods and he will get bigger, It is very sad its like he is afraid of the food.  Reciently on occasion he has, on his own taken bites of different things, which made me very happy, but the look on his face when he is chewing is like he is going to gag, he doesnt spit it out, but he wont take another bite. He wants to eat what we are eating but he CANT.  This worries me a great deal and I was wondering if anyone else has had these issues with their little ones?

Oh yeah.... to my surprise this might sound like big whoop to most of you, but it made me sad and happy at the same time...

I was in the bathroom, he knocked on the door, I thought, cant I just get one minute... He said Mommy I need you, just a minute Aidy, but Mommy I have a surprise for you!  I opened the door, he took my hand and led me downstairs, peeled a bannana, gave half to his sister and said watch this and started to take a couple bites, gave me a bite and took one more bite and gave the rest to his sister.   

This broke my heart its like he wants eat stuff but he just cant.  He is 4.5, I think some of his behaviors have become behavioral in refusing to try different things, but honestly this is a huge issue and  there has to be something to help us, we just havent found it.  I was hoping he would grow out of it but that doesnt seem to be the case, in the near future anyway.  Any suggestions....please....

[deb]

This is part of my world, so I can sympathise to some degree.  In our case my older DD will NOT drink (or eat, come to think of it) anything "powdery," so no rice milk or mixing supplements in drinks. Makes it hard for us to make sure she gets a balanced diet, especially since she's so carb-crazy.

Highly recommend The Out-Of-Sync-Child Has Fun by Carol Stock Kranowitz - http://www.amazon.com/Out-Sync-Child-Has-Revised/dp/0399532714/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207710766&sr=1-1. Some great activities in there! One that comes to mind (that I have to try myself) is trying a "theme" meal for kids who might otherwise not try or eat a particular food. For example, with a "circle" theme, you could do spaghettios, jello in round molds, cucumber slices, that kind of thing -not just meals, but a whole DAY of maybe even crafts with circles. For kids with tactile things you could do meals with no hands or no utensils; the novelty might be enough to get them to overcome theirnormal day-to-day aversions to dirty hands or particular textures or colors or whatever.

The book The Sensory Child by Lucy Jane Miller is another gem; even better than The Out-Of-Sync-Child.

Meanwhile, can you mix veggies in with carbs? I'm thinking banana bread, carrot cake, that kind of thing. I've even, believe it or not, taken veggie soup, pureed it, mixed it with flour, and made pancakes! Seriously, fried soup pancakes! And believe it or not, as long as I cook it "just right," my kids like porridge made from cooked whole grains that have been soaked overnight at room temp on the counter.

You may also want to check out the book Nourishing Traditions for some other interesting ideas on food and nutrition. Oddly enough, one of my kids LOVES kimchee, which I never would have thought to give a kid; she likes it with yogurt, actually - go figure.

[aidliz]

If you dont mind me asking, what does her normal daily breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks consist of?

[deb]

Josie's breakfast and lunch alternate between PBJ and yogurt with lemon fish oil (Nordic Naturals makes a YUMMY non-fishy-tasting fish oil! and vanilla and some stevia that actually tastes kinda delicious! From time to time I can get her to eat carrot sticks and guacamole or ranch dressing, but for some reason she's gone off cucumbers. Younger DD will happily chug rice milk mixed with awesome tasty rice protein powder mixed in; the powder has all manner of green veggies and spirulina mixed in, and I could even conceivably mix in calcium powder if the rice milk weren't fortified, but older DD will have NONE of that powder stuff. Thank Heaven for Jarrow's sugar-free chewable vitamins. (Sweetened with xylitol - Josie's sugar and carb intake is restricted because she gets behaviorally off-the-wall with sugars.)

Supper is occasionally (once or twice a week) macaroni and cheese or pasta with lots of butter, salt, and garlic and whatever veggie I can hide in it; meat (DH and the girls in particular are quite the carnivores ) is always a big hit; Nat actually likes broccoli but Josie likes okra (whatever, we just go with it! . Stir-fried veggies are sometimes fun too, especially if some of the veggies are potatoes. Got some mileage out of mashed potatoes with a beet cooked and mashed with them for a bright magenta color, FWIW.

The girls also like SnaPea crisps - http://www.snapeacrisps.com/ - and other veggies and even herbs right off the plant in the summertime. Grilled veggies are yummy too: we like to pick zucchini and eggplant and grill them, but we have different texture issues here; the girls WILL eat those, at least a little bit, most of them time.

Oh, and I can also get Josie to eat lunch meat sandwiches with lettuce IF, and only if, I put enough mayonnaise on them.

I'll get back to this tomorrow for sure; got to get to bed now as at least one kid is going BACK to school tomorrow after chickenpox but not so sure about DD#2.....

[aidliz]

Sorry about the chickenpox...hope it wasnt to awful.

Well, Aidan will eat NONE of the things you mentioned unfortunatley.  No yogurt, maccaroni, veggies, meat, pbj, nothing mixed, and if i try to mix things he knows right away  oh and no dipping either.

[deb]

Wow, no macaroni..... I have to say, I'm at a loss. I would for sure check out the Snapea crisps though if you can get them where you live. They're actually made WITH PEAS and they are SO GOOD!!! We can go through a bag in a single sitting.

I'll try to get back later with more thoughts....