our spd life: food

Food battles. Sigh. It's no uncommon thing for parents. It's a different monster for parents of SPD kids.

Being hypersensitive to, basically life, naturally includes food. Z has pretty much always been super picky. When we first fed him apples at 6 months he gagged and spit them out. It hasn't got much better since, although we thankfully don't have the gagging anymore. The problem, of course, is trying to figure out the difference between foods he just doesn't like (or is being picky about) and food that he is sensitive too. When I say that he is sensitive to foods, it can mean texture, temperature or taste. It's a struggle. For awhile he wouldn't eat food that was hot or even warm. We seemed to have moved past that which is a GREAT thing. He hates all veggies except maybe spinach leaves dipped in ranch. He still prefers food that is cold and he really prefers food that is soft. Yogurt and pasta are his favorites. Fruit (especially berries and grapes) are also a sure thing. He also loves milk. If we let him, he would be happy having nothing but milk all day long.

So, the mission going forward is to make sure he is eating enough things that are healthy for him and to constantly offer him different textures and tastes. He's much more of a snacker than a sit-down-and-eat-a-big-meal type of kid and we are OK with that. He's been loving apples and natural fruit leather lately, which is pretty great because (besides being good for him) the textures provide extra sensory input. The other project is getting him to actually sit down with us and eat food. It's hard for a kid who needs to be moving, or who may be overwhelmed with everyone sitting down at the same time. He was a no-show for our Thanksgiving dinner of 18 people. We went with it, though and got him some pie when he felt like emerging from the bedroom. That's life with Z: never predictable. I actually think it's a pretty great thing.

He's healthy and growing like a weed, so that makes us feel better. As a super-picky eater myself, I have a little more compassion for him and know that he'll be OK. We measured him last night and he had grown a whole inch in less than a month! After we marked his height on the wall, he measured Buzz Lightyear, who sadly has not grown a bit...