Food Refusal

Day 22 of a 30-day series originally published for Facebook April 2021

Earlier in the month, we learned about sensory sensitivities. Autistic individuals are highly aware, or unaware, of sounds, smells, textures, etc.. and one area that can play out is at the dinner table.

Food refusal isn't just "picky" eating. A "problem eater", as it's called, is a person whose food restrictions are so severe that it will likely lead to malnutrition.

Autistic children, in particular, are susceptible to malnutrition because so many have a limited list of foods they will eat. They are 15 times more likely to have feeding difficulties than their peers.

Chicken nuggets, peanut butter, crunchy snack foods are all fairly commonly accepted items for autistic children, but not consuming fruits, vegetables, or foods with calcium is a big problem. It can and will eventually lead to hospitalization.

In our family, food refusal affects our lives daily. Getting in a class with a "no nuts" policy is a bigger issue for us than a simple inconvenience because it knocks out literally the only lunch item M will eat.. a peanut butter sandwich. Don't even think about trying sun butter, he will smell the difference, see the color change, and won't even get to taste the difference because the smell was enough to warn him that it wasn't peanut butter. We have to offer at least one item we know he will eat with each dinner, and he'll do just that. For 4 years now I have provided protein, starch, and vegetable at each meal and for 4 years now, it all goes in the garbage unless the protein was chicken nuggets, sausage, or cheese pizza, or the starch was chips or goldfish.

Meal struggles are stressful and difficult, but we don't "worry" about them necessarily. M will accept a gummy vitamin and he likes yogurt so we don't worry about micronutrients or calcium. It's the bigger stuff that really causes us to panic. Most people don't have to think about what would happen if a natural disaster occurred and our food choices were limited, but we do. M wouldn't just "eat when he's hungry." He would not eat, and then we would have a health crisis on our hands. We have been incredibly fortunate that M has not required antibiotics so far, but if he did, we would have to go in daily for shots, he would not accept liquid or pills. He also refuses fever reducers of any kind, so a high fever is something we worry about. You can force a liquid into a baby's mouth, but not a 5-year-old. It's just not possible.