No longer stressing out!

My 10 year old son was diagnosed with SPD a few years ago. We had constant stress over his eating.... only ate macaroni cheese for about 2 years! Tried bribes, rewards, everything! After he was diagnosed we just stopped trying to get him to eat 'like everybody else' and just accepted his own likes and dislikes. It certainly made mealtimes and eating a much happier experience, (especially for him) He gets his main food groups, it is just very limited ( he likes only a few types of veg, sweetcorn and peas and cucumber, only certain types of fruit, apples and bananas and lemons)etc After years of trying to get him to try meat and fish he is now a 'vegetarian' and only eats Quorn and soya products. His dinners look strange to an outsider sometimes eg quorn pieces, plain pasta and peas as a christmas dinner, but he is happy and healthy. As he has got older I have noticed that he is becoming more adventurous in trying new food. Recently he found that he now likes fries. He is very motivated towards 'sweet' foods eg cake so a lot of the time it is 'have a piece of fruit after your dinner and you can have a biscuit' etc which always works!

We have had to use an iron supplement (from his GP) and also vitamin supplements but I am now relaxed about his eating and his is much more content and happy.

We were also recently able to move off baby teeth toothpaste (which is fruit flavoured) to (a very mild mint flavoured) adult toothpaste by mixing the two for a while and gradually reducing the amount of baby teetch toothpaste and increasing the mild mint flavour. Worked a treat!

Now that he is getting older, my son is able to tell me how it feels for him to have textures and tastes that make him gag. I have come to have total respect for what he experiences and try to be there for him in the way that he needs. So far it is working!