3 year old

by Ashley Allison
(PA)

My son is 3 years old, will only eat Chicken nuggets, poptarts and junk food. sometimes he wont even eat chicken nuggets and has a complete melt down and will only eat poptarts.




We have just started OT and they're working on other issues before they start with the eating.. I just ordered him a NUK brush to help, and we have the sensory brush at home to brush him with every 2 hours... im so exhausted and run down I don't know how to help him.



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Sep 22, 2018
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starstarstarstarstar 		Teach step by step
by: Anonymous

Hi think of it as teaching your child math. You need to start small and build up. You wouldn't start with calculus, but basic counting, right?

Step One: reward your child for simply allowing a new food (pick one) to be on his plate. He doesn't have to touch or eat it. You can use the pop tart as a reward for him sitting with the new food in front of him for 30 seconds. Build up to having the food sit there the whole mealtime.

Give it a week or so, then do the same process with the following steps:

Reward for touching the new food with his finger
Reward for putting the food to his mouth and pretending to eat it
Reward for kissing the food
Reward for putting tongue on food to taste
Reward for biting food with teeth (doesn't have to swallow)
Reward for biting and swallowing food.


Be patient, and write down what happens each day, for your own sanity to track progress, which can be super slow. But you have to start somewhere or he will never learn to tolerate new things. I've seen many children who do not just grow out of it. Lifelong eating deficiencies. See a specialist if this does not help in a month or so.

NEVER force the food into his mouth. Reward and praise any success!!
Sep 21, 2018
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starstarstarstarstar 		I feel for you and your son.
by: Patrick Meehan

I am very sorry to hear about your experience with you and your son's eating habits. I know how at such a young age picky eating is very common, especially with kids with Autism or Sensory Processing Disorder. I hope you could get things worked out and hopefully find a really good therapist who understands your condition.

That's all I could suggest or what you could do is I guess you could put some foods out for your son and see if he would eat what. That's a suggestion,or you could just give this problem some time to go away.

Also, please know this is just a stage that you are experiencing so don't take it too personally.

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