One thing people don’t tell you when you have kids that are Autistic is how much your life revolves around food.
Having the right food, making sure you don’t run out of that food, having to check to see if places you go will have the favourite food. Oh and did I mention that it’s really only about 3-4 different things? I’ve heard about the beige diet and this is definitely a thing. The “My kids only eat chickennuggets and fries and crackers” etc.
Do you know how extremely frustrating it is when you cannot cook one meal for your family? And how many times I’ve heard people say, “If they are hungry they will eat it, they won’t starve.” This is a totally different thing for a kid on the
spectrum.
They will starve.
They will go hungry.
They will throw it.
They will refuse to eat anything if it is not one of their few preferred foods.
Whether it is because of texture, bland taste, salty or sweet flavours, there is the preferred few and that is ALL they will eat.
Now this isn’t to say every Autistic kid is the same with food but the majority I have met, worked with and known are pretty similar in this case. I have never seen so many crackers and so much bread in my life.
In our case my two are a bit different from each other. Ryan will try and eat a couple more things then Cole but for the majority it is pretty similar.
When they were young I of course fed them all the normal things you give babies and toddlers and they ate it all! Pasta, eggs, rice, meat and more. I can’t say I remember when things changed but I do know as they got older they became pickier and pickier.
They both love fruit, and so many different kinds of fruit so that is one thing we can count on. But as far as lunch and supper foods, it is very limited. Crackers, crackers and more crackers. From veggie straws, to vegetable thins, to crispy minis and sun chips, these are lunch staples in our house.
I believe I have packed Cole the same lunch every single day for school for many, many years. We just rotate through the different crackers he likes, and even that is limited. Add in his pickle and his cheese. Sometimes cucumbers. That is it.
Every single day!
Wouldn’t you think he would get sick of that? Nope, not at all. And yes I’ve tried to get him to try something new but nope, not happening.
Now Ryan will at least eat bread. (Cole only likes toast, not just plain bread) So I can sometimes send a jam sandwich or something but even that only happens once in a while. He will also eat pancakes and Eggos so those can be an option. But most days it is the same as Cole. Crackers, some fruit and snacks. At least with Ryan I can sometimes order lunch if it is one of the two he will eat.
Do you know how hard it is to work at a school and see all the wonderful, different lunches some kids have and all of the options and know my kids won’t eat any of it?
So now we move on to supper foods. Most people will say “oh we had pasta for supper” or “I made pizza” or “we had chicken and potatoes“
Not in our house.
We had 3 different meals.
Sometimes 2 if we get lucky and Ryan will eat what we are having. Cole’s preferred meals are, bologna (not fried, just plain) chicken nuggets and fries, he will very rarely eat Zoodles, toast and salami and pepperoni deli meat, then he will thankfully eat sweet peppers, carrots and tomatoes.
That is it.
Every day.
We rotate.
No pasta, no pizza, not even hot dogs.
Oh and I should add he does not like sauce. So no ketchup, no mayo, no ranch, nothing to dip anything in. Very bland.
Ryan will thankfully eat a bit more like I mentioned. He loves pizza, pepperoni, ham, hot dogs, sausage, bacon (all the salty meat haha) bread, bread and more bread. Whether it’s toast, bread with butter, garlic fingers, bagels and more. Some veggies too, like Cole. And he loves ketchup and pizza sauce so will at least dip things.
Do they like snacks? Of course they do.
This is the only time they will try something new. A new chip flavour? A new chocolate bar? Ice cream? Sure they will try it all. Cookies, mini fruits and more. And yes I let them have snacks. They get a lot of fruit throughout the day so we try to balance it out. They also love yogurt and smoothies and things like that.
I’m sure you are thinking “I really didn’t need to hear every single food they like or eat” but think about that. If you list all of the foods your kids eat or ate I bet it would be a way longer list.
It’s funny because some people don’t really think about stuff like that much, besides what do you want for supper, you don’t have to. We make a decision then think, but Cole won’t eat that so what is he going to have?
The part where this gets the most frustrating and hard is when you go away. Go to a restaurant, or stay at a relatives house. You always have to make sure they will have something your kid will eat. And yes my child has eaten only chicken nuggets and fries for both lunch and dinner before because they had nothing else he would eat.
We even went to the Dominican Republic and that was definitely the hardest. We took lots of snacks and crackers for our room but they survived on lots of fresh fruit, veggies and fries. They were fine but I know Cole was sick of fries
by the end of it.
The only time I felt understood was when Cole was around 5 we went to Camp Brigadoon for kids who had Autism. When we went into the cafeteria, all of the parents were eating what the chefs made and all of the kids were either eating a special version of it or something their parents took with them from home. I was so happy to see we were not the only ones.
Working at a school as a TA I see that many of my students are the same. They have the same lunches and snacks everyday. I always want to ask their parents, “But do they eat a different supper or is it the same too?”
I do sometimes worry, are they getting the proper nutrition they need, how are they going to grow healthy and strong eating only those foods but we’ve always heard from doctors they are doing just fine, and they are happy, healthy boys. I guess I just have to hope some day when they get older maybe they’ll venture more out of their comfort zone and try something new and their taste buds will expand.
And for now, I’ll just continue my cracker rotation.
