Before my son was diagnosed, I had major concerns with his eating habits. Two things his doctor recommended were, if all he is willing to eat is XYZ, then feed him XYZ. Don't let him starve. Second, get Pediasure! If he's willing to drink it, it can provide him everything he needs to make up for what he's lacking in vitamins, nutrients and calories. Under doctor supervision, you can substitute their entire diet with Pediasure.

Never crush medications into food or drink unless a doctor says it's okay. Many medications slowly dissolve in the stomach and for good reason. IF you need to give medication and they are willing to eat applesauce or yogurt or pudding, put the pill into the spoon and feed it, most often they won't even realize it because of the instinct to simply swallow it.

Also, find a vitamin he's willing to eat and make sure he gets the daily recommended dose for his weight. I've found that Lil' Critter's Gummy Vitamins taste the most like candy and the least like vitamins.

Continue to introduce new foods in small amounts, encourage him to eat them with praise and let him know it's okay to spit it out if he doesn't like, but only in a napkin or the trash. Reward his attempts. Through this process you'll find more and more foods that he's willing to eat. But when it comes to smells, you're not going to get far with that. If he doesn't like the smell, you won't get him close enough to eat it.

And let me tell you something about the smells... it's actually quite painful - hurts your stomach and your head to smell the things that you don't like. It's not like smelling a bad smell typically.... It's hard to explain. I can smell bad smells (like a dirty restroom) and they are bothersome, but I doubt anymore than to anyone else... But there are some smells that literally hurt to smell... my stomach tightens and my head hurts and I want to vomit... and these smells are perfectly fine, if not wonderful to others around me. I've never had food aversion but it's other things that bother me, perfumes, deodorants, shampoo and conditioners, even fabric softeners. It's very hard to tolerate. I've left stores because someone was wearing something on their body that was intolerable.

Your pediatrician is the best person to give you advice. Eating habits will change over time. And keeping your child alive and healthy is a higher priority than any campaign against junk. There may also be ways to disguise healthy stuff as "junk" - like spinach in brownies.

If your child is not eating food because of smells and textures then it is actually nothing him to eat it. This is the same as loud notices and flashing lights, it is all sensory. I don't understand why people do not treat food issues in the same way, we have five senses and taste and feel are two of them.

My daughter was this way and it has taken years to get her to eat real food, and even now it is limited. When they are young it is difficult so you have to supplement with something. My daughter could taste any even slight difference in her drink if you crushed meds in it , but again this is sensory. What we ended up doing is vitamin drinks which we got an RX for and had insurance pay for.

The other thing that has helped is have other children eat at the same time and let the child see the other food and children eating it. I am not going to tell you it is easy but I will say my daughter would starve and dehydrate before she ate or drank anything she didn't want to.

My son was the same when he was small about (3-4 ). ate only a particular brand of biscuit all day. he was badly constipated and worse. i took all his snacks away and it broke my heart to see that he was starving.it took two days with only water. but eventually i won. he was so hungry he ate everything i put in the plate. this is no easy work but worked for my son.all the best. all you need is determination.

Right on @A MyAutismTeam Member! My thoughts exactly. And, the entire "They will eat when they get hungry" isn't always true. When it's a sensory thing, especially.

Just feed your baby what he's willing to eat, supplement with vitamins and Pediasure and keep trying to introduce new things, Mom.

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