I decided to start this blog after my son was diagnosed with food allergies. For the first seven months of his life he suffered with terrible eczema and after a trip to the ER we found out he is allergic to milk, soy, eggs, sesame and peanuts. As a parent of a child with food allergies it is a constant emotional rollercoaster. I have cried at grocery stores, at birthday parties and at night. He has had the Epi injection twice and spent too much time in the ER.

Current allergies: Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Tree nuts
Outgrew: Sesame, Soy

Monday, June 3, 2013

Picky eater or food neophobia




It has been over a week since I broke down and took all the pasta from our house and put it in a big garbage bag and stored it away.  There were about 20 boxes of pasta in that bag. We told Aiden that the mailman took it.   The reason I did this is because he woke up asking for pasta. For lunch he wants pasta. For dinner he wants pasta. I feel like he's getting worse and worse with his pasta addiction so I figured kicking the pasta habit cold turkey would be the best route.


I get so many comments from strangers, friends and family...
                "Just let him be"
                "He won't starve"
                "force it"
                "my kid is the same way"

Well...
                - We tried
                - Yes he will
                - We tried and it back fired
                - really?


Last night I hit a new low.  I tried forcing him to eat pasta with broccoli.  I put him in his little brothers crib every time he wouldn't eat it and only take him out of the crib if he tells me he will eat it.  So after the 6th or 7th time in the crib and many many tears, he fell asleep, hungry.  He lost weight since we took pasta out which made me realize that the comment "he won't starve" is not necessarily true.  I  feel terrible for trying to force him to eat, especially since it didn't work. It only made him resent me.  I'm scared daily that he doesn't eat enough nutrients.   His little brother is starting to pick up his bad habits and he only wants the same food as his big brother, Aiden.   So now we need to separate them during meal time so Aiden can't influence Dylan.  

I did some research online and came across this video "ExtremelyPicky Eaters Fear Trying New Foods" There is an actual name for this -- Food Neophobia.  I'm curious if Aiden has this or if his fear of food is due to his food allergies.  Aiden gags and hits his face when we try to give him something new to eat.  I can tell that he is curious about certain foods but he can't get himself to try it. Even watermelon was an issue this weekend.

Aiden's will only eat the following 10 foods.  I cannot imagine that this little 3.5 year old boy is getting enough nutrients, even while taking vitamin supplements.

Plain granola (most of the time)
pancakes/waffles (rarely)
toast with jelly (sometimes)
chicken nuggets (sometimes)
Alphabet fries (most of the times)
Bagels (every time)
pasta with safe butter (every time)
muffins (all the time)
Cereals (most of the time)
Corn on the cob (all the time)

But his options are endless.

I'm going to step back and let him go back to eating pasta. 


2 comments:

  1. My eldest son has a long list of food allergies (dairy, egg, beef, lamb, sesame, peanut/tree nuts, fish, shellfish, mustard and raspberries), plus he suffered greatly with eczema. My second son has a peanut/tree nut allergy...discovered in grade 1 or 2 when he ate a cake from a bakery. I would have to say, my second son is much pickier about his food than his older brother who wishes he could eat what his younger brother can or will not try. My second son is adverse to veggies...he will gag with broccoli so I gave it up...mind you, he has to have one piece of whatever veggie we are eating that night to at least try it. I too struggled with what to do about his fussiness...ketchup on everything. When he got to be old enough to make compromises I introduced some rules...like the trying of one piece of veggie and limiting his ketchup to just on his meat, eggs and mac and cheese. Eliminating it on his rice and pasta. He is 14 now...still does not like veggies but he will eat more than one pea now! :)

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  2. Thank you! you're giving me hope since all I want him to do is eat one piece.. one little piece. Last night I tricked him to eating one sweet green pea and he though he was poisoned. Took 20 minutes to calm him down and he wouldn't stop gagging. So I might just give it a rest for a bit and only have it available but not trick or force him to eat any for now.

    How old was your son when you created the one veggie rule?

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