This fall is our goal to get Nathan eating properly... well.. at least more of different foods. It has been an endless battle between my husband and I for a couple of years now. We are both frusterated with Nathan's rigidity towards foods to the point where if the chicken nugget has specks of black from the stoneware, he won't eat it. Over the summer, during snack time we got Nathan to eat cheese and grapes. Now, he goes for cheese first.. grapes are still inconsistent, but with prodding will eat them. Banana's are still hit and miss. He hasn't eaten his cereal with milk in it since that day he blew me away :( And last week, after a 45 minute battle over toast and peanut butter, he ate cheese whiz sandwhich cut out in cookie cutters in shapes of tools for his afternoon snack.
Now, I know when he does go to school he has cheese whiz and cheese he can take. I try my hardest to keep him on healthy snacks, meals.. but it is always the same. So, fast forward to the now and our committment to get Nathan to eat 'meal food'.
Today, Laura (his worker) and I tried mashed potatoes. It was tough, but with a heavy reinforcer he ate it!!! At supper, with the same reinforcer he ate the rest of the mashed potatoe. My husband wasn't keen on the 'toys at the table method' but it worked. And I have to tell you all.. I broke down crying. All of a sudden my chest and throat swelled up, and my eyes got teary. I got a picture in my head of taking Nathan to my parents.. or the in'laws and putting mashed potatoes on his plate and him eating it!!!
I know we are into a battle. We'll meet many shields and reinforcers will wear off and have to figure out new ones.. and who knows what will happen tomorrow when we try the mashed potatoes again. And then carrots... etc. I'm not going to push meat, he's on chicken nuggets and I want to keep them familiar on his plate as we are introducing different textures, tastes and colours.
If anyone has any advice, recipes or ideas.. please share :)
Right now, he has his breakfast, lunch is PB, supper is smiley / curly french fries and chicken nuggets. His snacks are cheese, crackers, yogurts, fruit candy things.. stuff like that.
I'm not sure how much this will help; Boo is comparatively good at trying new things, though he certainly has his moments. We've sometimes been able to bribe/make deals with him on new foods by making getting his favoured foods contingent on trying them. This is often a drawn out process, but it seems to work except in cases where he honestly dislikes the food we're attempting to introduce. With the bonus of teaching the concept of bargaining (and counting). :)
ReplyDeleteBoo: Blueberries!
Sam: First cucumber, then blueberries.
Boo: First cucumber?
Sam: Eat that piece of cucumber, then get two blueberries.
Boo: Blueberries!
Sam: Yes. Boo eats cucumber, then Boo gets blueberries.
Boo: First cucumber, then blueberries?
Sam: Yes. Eat cucumber, then blueberries.
Boo *eyeing the cucumber slice like it might attack him, then shoving it into his mouth*: Blueberries!
Sam *immediately forking over said blueberries*: Good job! Boo eats cucumber, then gets blueberries.
Boo: More blueberries?
Sam: First cucumber...
Rinse and repeat, slowly demanding more cucumber be eaten per blueberry reward. We've actually gotten him to the point where several of the things we had to bribe him to eat have now become the rewards instead.
Sam, that is pretty much the method we are using. Most times it does work, but Nathan is and has been for awhile very particular of what he puts in his mouth. And that is my hope, that he will open up to new foods, using the 3 things on a plate method with reinforcers.. Today, its a chokolate creamsicle he had NO idea existed, you should see his face with anticipation. Then when he had it, he tried a couple bites, then threw it in the garbage and wanted his regular creamsicle. Poor guy! He didn't like chocolate cream popsicles!
ReplyDeleteSomethings.. we are just happy that he will keep on the plate, to tolerate it, and I know that is a huge struggle for him. Thanks for replying, it is encouraging :)
Oh, just to note, its not only healthy foods. He won't eat chokolate chip cookies ( well, most cookies really) cake, some candies.. all that good stuff that are mind boggling delicious both visually, scentually, and of course flavourably. Now including chocolate creamsicles. Also, packaging is huge.. has to be the same yogurt from the red container, you know.. that kinda stuff that drives us to choose our battles :(
Hee to the chokolate creamsicle issue. Poor little guy. All his expectations dashed. Boo has the opposite issue in a lot of ways. There is no anticipation of new foods or flavours; by default he dislikes and distrusts the unfamiliar. However, if we can distract (hey, look over there! *spoon*) or barter with him and get something into his mouth, 4 times out of 5 he'll keep eating it, at least for awhile...I'm aware we're quite lucky in that regard.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, getting and keeping things on the plate is definitely the first big hurdle. :)
Good luck with the carrots. ;)