My son has always been a picky eater right from the start. I have heard from other parents that when they hit puberty they are so hungry that they will try new foods if you encourage them. My son is 12 and I'm waiting for my window of opportunity! :) This is how we have been able to get our son to try new foods. It has taken years for this process. First you put the food by their plate (not ON, but BY) on a separate dish. After they get used to having an undesirable food near them, then you put a very small amount ON their plate. (My son hated each of these steps for the first couple of weeks.) After they get used to having an undesirable food on their plate, you ask him/her to put it on their spoon or fork. That's it. They just have to put it on their eating utensil and then take it off. You may need to provide a clean fork for them after because it might leave particles preventing them from eating their other food. After they get used to that step, you have them put it on their fork and then smell it. Yes, that's it. Just smell it. What you are doing is slowly getting them used to the food over time. If they want to hold it or touch it, encourage that. You can work on manners after they get to eating the new food, at least that is what we have done. Once they are putting it on their fork and smelling it and are comfortable with that step, have them lick the food. They don't have to put it in their mouth or anything like that. Just one lick. If they like the taste and they want to eat it, great. If not, that's fine, too. Be careful at this stage. You might get so excited that you push too hard for them to eat it. (I did this and it set us way back and we had start back at having it on the plate.) Remember this is a long process. Some of these steps took a year or more. Once they are fine eating it, have them put it in their mouth. They can spit it out after they have it in their mouth for a second or two. Once they get comfortable with that step move to chewing the food. After chewing, they may want to spit it out. That's fine. One step at a time. After they are comfortable chewing it, then encourage them to swallow it. I found that this step was the easiest for my son after all the other steps. My son will now eat a little peas, apples, and corn on the cob. This is huge for us. He only ate oranges for many years. No other fruits or veggies at all. None. So all that to say, it takes patience and a plan and lots of time. We are still working on it, but this has helped us soooo much. Hope this will somehow help. If not, just disregard it, ok? Good luck!

My son has Asperger's and the sensory integration was a big problem for a while surrounding food. When he was 8 I decided to take him to the market and let him purchase 5 meals for family dinner. I told him he had to keep everyone in mind. The first meal was "Mac & Cheese" from a box and chicken nuggets. The second was hot dogs and french fries....I was beginning to panic but as he walked around the store he began to see things the rest of us ate and asked me things like how long does it take to roast a chicken and which is the best steak to buy and what's a side dish. He picked out three pretty balanced meals. Of course two night the adults had to eat the hot dog and mac and cheese meals but he ate the other three because he had picked them out. He widened his taste and felt better about having a choice. Now he eats almost everything but his new obsession is salt which we have to limit by hiding the shaker....lol....but it is a minor problem to have in the eating department......

My son is going to be 7 next month and he is also a very picky eater. Currently eats pizza, mini vanilla wafers, apple-cinnamon rice crackers and grapes. And he only drinks apple juice. I have been trying to get him to eat a variety of foods for years. Last night we ate at Souplantation and I was eating dessert, apple cobbler and ice cream. I took a spoonful and offered it to me son. He quickly directed the spoon back to me and fed it to me. I took another spoonful, this time only spooning the apple cobbler and offered it to him. He opened his mouth, garb the spoon from me and let the cobbler touch his tongue for a few seconds. Then he fed it to me. We continued to play this game and he tasted the cobbler one more time. I was amazed and know there is a light at the end of this tunnel. My OT said to start him off slowly and have him play with his food so he becomes comfortable with the sight, smell and feeling of the food. It's a very slow process but it's all worth it.

I do two different things. First, let me say that angel loves (LOVES) broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce...stuff you think she would hate. But there are loads of "average" things she gags over. So has to eat one bite -- only one -- of something she thinks is nasty to get something she loves -- but only occasionally. Maybe once a week, so that she doesn't get out of the habit of trying new things. I admit, once or twice I have told her "we are going to thus and so and you HAVE to eat some of X, they will not understand" and she understands that other people have different rules she considers weird, and won't understand why she feels the way she does. In cases like that, she gets money for her junk food of choice afterwards if she manages to eat whatever it was that got served. Do I feel guilty? NOPE. People who clean toilets for a living get paid to do it, eating a couple of bites of seafood at a wedding or other event we must go to is no differnt, except that she has finally learned to smile and tell them how lovely it is, thinking of the broccoli and hot cheetos she can have later with the cash she will get. BTW......I don't expect other people to think my choices are right for them. That's okay, cause they are right for us and she is now able to go loads of places she wouldn't be able to go even three years ago. After all, she has already been invited to the prom at the local high school (we homeschool, but she will be going with her childhood friend), and she has to be ready! PS, I can't wait till we start looking for a frou frou dress that doesn't set off her sensory stuff,heaven forbid she sneak into the lady's room and take it off because it scratches!

I just have to share this funny with you guys. When my son was about 4 or 5 My best friend and I were always loading up the boys (her grandson is 9 months older than Matt) and taking off to parts unknown. Well Matt with all his sensory issues and along with that is smell some smells make him gag and throw up (pickles is at the top of the list) Danny Joe (friends grandson) would get sick and gag if he saw you eat a food that he didn't like. I can just think of what people thought here sits these two old women just eating and talking as if nothing was happening and one kid was under the table so he couldn't see and the other was trying to eat with his shirt over his face. I never really thought about it much but we must have sure been a sight. I amazing the things that come natural to you after awhile.