Our Picky Eating Story
How We Overcame Picky Eating
The dreaded picky eating obstacle! I understand exactly how hard it is to even fathom a day that your child eats a variety of healthy foods. Here is our story of how we overcame it.
In my son’s regression into autism, Josiah became an extremely picky eater. As an infant he had no problem breastfeeding and eating a variety of pureed baby foods in the appropriate developmental phases. He was actually a bit of a chunk. He was accepting solid foods appropriately at first, but then he started to decline by rejecting more and more food items and even the things he loved, like meat. By around 18 months old, he was only eating a variety of crackers and muffins. That’s it! No stand alone meats, fruits, or veggies. He ate just processed junk really. Even at his two year birthday party, we had cake for friends and family, but he was given his own blueberry muffin with two candles because that’s all he would eat. Blueberry was his favorite.
I had been researching some dietary options and changes and found parents and health professionals supporting a gluten and casein-free diet. We had not had Josiah diagnosed at this time so I had not implemented anything I had researched. When he finally got his diagnosis and we were presented with only therapeutic interventions to help him, I asked the diagnosing psychologist if she could guide us in dietary interventions because I had come across some things that could help. Well, it was quickly dismissed as not having enough evidence to support its efficacy in helping children with autism. She did, however, let me know that we could start Josiah in their feeding therapy program. We were sent downstairs to fill out a ton of paperwork and a blank journal to keep recording his eating habits for the next week to mail back in. After this, we were told Josiah was a good candidate for their feeding therapy program so he was added to the year-long wait list! Say what?? How was I supposed to keep up letting him eat junk for another year?! Well, I added to my list of to-dos to find a local feeding therapy program and continue to research what I could go ahead and start implementing at home to defeat picky eating.
Well, this is where my research obsession began, food. As I was drawn to the more holistic health approach in treating Josiah’s autism, I learned about gut health and how important it was to heal the brain. This is where I adopted the belief that gut health and proper nutrition is the foundation for any other intervention methods to be effective. I gained this knowledge watching and listening to podcasts by biomedical doctors and other health professionals. I started with eliminating gluten, then dairy, then soy. I learned zinc deficiency also played a big role in picky eating. Even though I did not have any labs to show Josiah was zinc deficient, I followed the advice of the podcasters to trial it starting at very low doses. I slowly replaced what Josiah was already eating with a gluten, dairy and soy free version. Even this little bit started to help Josiah seem more aware and interested in others in his environment.
By the time Josiah was accepted into a local feeding therapy, I had learned enough on my own and already started to see improvement that I felt I no longer needed that extra therapy to tote my son to. He was already in speech and occupational therapy at the time so it was a lot on him and us.
I eventually hired a biomedical professional to guide even further supplementation for Josiah on top of what I was already doing. Josiah had added more foods to his list, but it was still pretty limited so we eventually hired another nutrition-based health professional. Her name is Dr. Katie Reid. She holds a PhD as a biochemist. Learn more about her here: https://unblindmymind.org. Check out my book recommendation section for her new book, Fat, Stressed, and Sick: MSG, Processed Food, and America’s Health Crisis.
Dr. Reid really provided some helpful strategies of how to get vegetables in Josiah’s meals and with the use of herbs to help heal his gut. I also did some courses for therapeutic strategies as continuing education for my previous career as a physical therapist assistant.
Today, Josiah is no longer a picky eater. He eats about 95% of anything we put in front of him. He is a happy child that continues to progress in his health with improving language, social skills, self-control, and academic achievements. There are so many challenges we went through combating picky eating, but we have learned so many things from multiple resources. If you need help in your own picky eating journey, be on the look out for my ebook, My Child Can Overcome Picky Eating, where I have compiled everything I have learned to defeat picky eating for good! You can’t beat combining knowledge and experience to help others overcome picky eating in their children who struggle with the symptoms of autism.
