Autism and Food Aversions: Tips for Parents with Picky Eaters
| 4 min read
Research shows children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are five times likelier to have mealtime challenges than kids who are not on the spectrum. These challenges can include sensory issues and limited food selections.
Parents can work with their child to form healthy eating habits that will help them as they become adults.
The connection between selective eating and autism
While more extensive research needs to be done to explain the link between autism and picky eating, factors like sensory differences and anxiety could contribute to a limited diet. Food rejection and picky eating can be two different issues. Studies have found gastrointestinal (GI) distress to be common in children with ASD. If a child refuses to eat a certain food, they may just know that the food makes their stomach hurt. Constipation may also lead to stomach cramping and food refusal. Parents can talk to their child about why they like or dislike certain foods and should discuss potential GI and acid reflux issues with their child’s pediatrician.
Kids with ASD often prefer foods that feel a particular way in their mouths; some may prefer crunchy foods like breakfast cereals while others like foods with soft or creamy textures, like yogurt, applesauce and soup. Parents can run into trouble when they let their kids almost exclusively eat foods they are comfortable with. This can not only cause aversions to foods with other textures, but it could also contribute to an underdeveloped oral motor musculature, according to the Child Mind Institute. For example, if a child with ASD mainly eats soft foods for months or years on end, they’ll likely lack the strength needed in their jaw to comfortably chew hard and crunchy foods.
Additionally, time spent at the table and a child’s behavior can impact how well or poorly they take to exploring new foods. Children with ASD may struggle to sit still and make it through an entire meal. They may also exhibit unsafe behaviors that make it difficult for parents to correct feeding issues, such as throwing utensils or getting up from the table and running around.
Tips and techniques for parents with picky eaters
Here are eight tips parents can try to help their kids become less selective at the dining room table:
- Take small steps toward desensitization: Expose new foods to kids in small doses. Make mealtime unintimidating by letting them touch, smell and even play with a new food to get familiar with it. For example, make a happy face out of banana slices with them. Encourage a couple of small bites to start and move forward from there, to avoid feelings of overwhelm. Praise children and practice positive reinforcement if they take a bite.
- Involve the child: Most children with ASD have increased sensitivity in their senses of taste, touch, smell, sound and vision. Parents can ask children what foods they like and dislike. By talking about textures, tastes and sensitivities, parents can gain a deeper understanding of their child’s sensitivities, preferences and needs to help the child find a greater variety of healthy foods they enjoy and want to eat.
- Avoid constant snacking: Children who snack and have all-day access to food and drinks are less likely to have a healthy appetite at mealtime. They are also less willing to try new foods.
- Stick to a consistent routine: For children with ASD, eating at the same place, in the same chair and at the same times each day can provide comfort and stability during mealtimes.
- Practice pleasant and healthy mealtime behaviors: Kids are impressionable and often model their behavior after their parents. Stressing the importance of a balance diet to kids but regularly eating fast food sets a bad example. Making healthy choices for the entire family can show children how to choose healthy foods. Adults can have fun by eating alongside their children to show the kids they enjoy food, too. And try to cultivate distraction-free mealtimes, without phones present or televisions on.
- Be mindful of textures: Find creative ways to work around textures that make children food averse. Chopping or blending certain foods to smooth them out is one example. Steaming or roasting broccoli so it’s slightly soft compared to raw broccoli is another.
- Offer choices: One strategy is to cycle in new foods is to include it as an option alongside two foods a child already likes. This is called “the rule of 3.” If a child will not tolerate the new food on their plate, place it near them on a separate plate to help the child get used to it.
- Be patient: It can take most kids – and even adults – multiple exposures to a new food before they start to enjoy it. Recognize this can be the case for a child with ASD by being patient and consistent with these tips. Additionally, keeping a food journal to show to a child’s pediatrician is a good way to measure progress and areas for growth, while helping parents stay patient at the same time.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Amy Milewski is vice president of clinical partnerships and associate chief medical officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. For more health tips and information visit AHealthierMichigan.com.
