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***Work it Mama***
Eating
We've been struggling with C's eating habits. We are still in the process of converting to GFCFSF. Specifically C has been skipping meals all together sometimes two or more meals. I was thinking of creating a picture menu that will show him his meals each day for the whole week so he knows what he is getting. Does anyone else do this? Has it seemed to work?
***Work it Mama***
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Re: Eating
***Work it Mama***
IMO, its worth looking into to go GF/CF however the results are anecdotal. It only works on a select few kids. Auntie has better information than I do. We tried it and it didn't work. What I noticed worked better in our case was DHA supplements. Again, they don't work with everyone as well.
Have you considered feeding therapy? We had my 6 year old evaluated because he is very rigid. He refuses most foods. I'd be concerned with a kid who limits what he is going to eat to begin with and than limiting it more with GF/CF.
Jon's choice of meal this week was hot dogs, cereal, and corn. I got him to change it a bit to hot dogs, home made french fries, and corn. I'd offer one thing that you know he'll eat at every meal and go from there.
I have a super picky eater, but my Pedi told me to just let him eat what he wants for right now. I'm sure my DAN! doctor that I am going to see next months will not agree, but she was really good about being open to all suggestions except changing his diet. My situation I'm sure is different becuase my son is (and has always been) in the 5th percentile of weight so she really is concerned with him becoming undernurished. I have heard about 50/50 response on the diets to most Mom's I've talked too. Like you I was willing to try anything that might help. I will say everything I've read that has positive results is very clear that you must make it an all or nothing approach. Sorry, I know that was not really what you were asking, but wanted to give you a few things to think about since I have been really looking into it recently.
With that said, I do try to get him to choose healthier food. The best thing that has worked for us (I tried a picture menu) is offering 2 choices. Both choices are something I would like him to eat. For some reason the power of choosing seems to help. I use the package or picture to let him choice before I cook it.
Do you have a feeding therapist or ABA team? If your son is getting ABA this is something they should be including in therapy... I always started with my students eating a small amount of desired food and then touching the new food, desired food and then bringing new food to mouth, desired food then touch new food with tongue, etc. Until eventually you have a bite and a bigger bite. Kids go at different paces (often depending on the texture of the food). When this is done as a program it mimicks everything a regular program would, with the same list of targets, mastered items and even a maintenance program. Though, typically you try to keep things fresh and move a little more quickly than a typical program otherwise would. Same exact principles of reinforcement, though.
I paid attention to what textures were a good trend and typically found that kids were more okay with crunchy, though lunch meats and mustard type dips (GFCF) were typically on the easier side as well. The other thing is that I ALWAYS ate what my students were eating during their eating programs. I know as a Mom its not the same and is much harder to do, but at least when you're introducing the food. Also, GFCF food doesn't always taste good and this helped me keep what I was asking them to do in check. (I have allergies and HAD to eat GFCF+ for a while anyways so I was pretty familiar with the foods and which ones I wasn't going to ask a kid to eat).
Was your son picky before he started the diet? I've frequently heard people say that the diet is more successful when you find ways to eliminate the dairy and gluten with out trying to replace the old foods. Ie. Not sure which pasta you have, but most of the rice pasta is horrible. Especially mac and chreese! Ewww! For me (and most of the students I've worked with) it was easier to stomach something entirely different that I didn't have an expectation of taste for. Straight up rice, Quinoa or oats (Bob's has gluten free) are much tastier. Especially if you add a little ghee or jelly to the oats. The allergy board has some pretty good recipes.
***Work it Mama***