One little bite won't hurt you....

Every so often, a discussion breaks out on the various boards that I visit regarding our special kiddos and their picky eating behaviors. And it just never seizes to amaze me that quite frequently the causes for the picky eating behaviors are deemed by the 'experts' to be sensory or behavioral. While I do not discount that for some kids the reasons are sensory or behavioral, I also wonder how many of these picky eaters have had a full food allergy/food sensitivity work-up....

Please, please, please, - if your child self limits to only certain foods, seems to throw up after certain foods, seems to gag on certain foods, or seems to only want to eat certain textures, or certain color foods, if your child is not gaining weight, loosing weight, is sick all the time etc, SERIOUSLY consider doing a full food allergy(IgE) and food sensitivity (IgG) work-up, even if you have been told that it is 'all sensory or behavioral.'

Especially if your child used to be a pretty healthy or 'normal' eater and seemed to have gotten 'picky' or 'selective' in the toddler years. And even more so, if the food issues are accompanied by diarrhea, constipation, waking up screaming in the middle of the night or after a nap (indication of reflux), gassiness, not gaining weight, losing weight, periods of uncontrolled rages, periods of sleepiness, spaciness, headbanging, etc. (and run like hell to a specialist whenever your pediatrician tries to convince you that your former 'eating everything in sight' child with above described symptoms is displaying 'typical toddler behavior' and is 'trying to manipulate or control his/her environment').

I too was told that the reason that Salamander was not eating or only eating certain foods was due to oral defensiveness and behavioral issues, or a result of an ASD child's need for 'sameness'. At 5 years of age, Salamander's behaviors were detoriating rapidly and we were caught in a downward spiral. He would only eat very limited foods and only a few bites at each meal (his foods of choice were PBJ sandwiches, apples, mozzarella sticks, chicken nuggets and french fries). Frequently, after a few bites, he would say that he was full and at least 2 times a day this announcement was followed by projectile vomiting, or explosive, foul smelling BMs.

He was 33 lbs at his 5 year check up and looking back at pictures of him around that time, I can't help but cry. You see a picture of a very sick little boy, that looks like a starvation victim - stick thin with a big bloated belly, black circles under his eyes, red checks, puffy lips and face, red ears, and a very spacey, doped up look on his face (but, per the experts, he was following 'his own growth curve', so I had nothing to worry about..)

Funny thing though, when researching on the web I stumbled across a lot of information discussing links between ASD, ADHD, SPD and certain foods. Too much information for it all to be a coincidence, in my opinion. Based on that research and the similarities in presentation between Salamander and the kiddos described in the various case studies, I decided to take several foods out of his diet.
At the age of 6 years and 2 months (when he was 36 lbs), I started by replacing as many foods as possible with their organic counterparts, I removed artificial colorants, flavorings etc, and then removed casein and gluten. And over the following 15 months or so, we also significantly cleaned up his environment (removed artificial scents, changed laundry detergent, bath soap, etc., no longer use artificial cleaning products in the house).

[Subsequent trips to the region of Dietary Interventions in BiomedLand landed us with a diet that is gluten free, casein free, soy free, limited nuts, egg free, yeast free, shelf fish free, no canola oil, no mustard, no onions, no bananas, no pumpkin seeds, and a whole bunch more free - all based on the outcome of a comprehensive IgG food sensitivity test. We continue to remain artificials free (modified Feingold), avoid meat derived from livestock fed with antibiotics, organic as much as possible, no pesticides, etc.]

I cannot even begin to describe the difference this has made for Salamander. He is now approaching 50 lbs and is starting to look so much healthier. No more vomiting, unless there is an infraction. Same for constipation and diarrhea. He eats like a healthy boy of almost 8 should eat (and despite the food limitations that we have - let me tell you, there are plenty that he can have and he eats them with gusto). His sensory issues have diminished greatly and his behavioral difficulties have improved tremendously too; overall I have a child that is 180 degrees different from the way he was pre food interventions.

So the moral of my story is, keep the whole child in mind. What may appear as sensory or behavioral may have an actual physical cause (or in Salamander's case multiple causes). Unfortunately a lot of specialists dismiss our kids' symptoms of the bet and will tell you that your kid is a picky eater 'because they have ASD, or because thay have SPD'. Balooney!!

It's almost a chicken and the egg problem - do they have ASD/SPD and therefore have GI issues, or is it that they become ASD/SPD because they have GI issues (and thereby the proper nutrients are not reaching their developing brains) ??? I suspect that, for a lot of our kids, their eating, behavior and sensory issues are directly impacted and related to their diets.

Salamander's situation may seem extreme. From conversations with other moms with ASD kiddos who have gone the dietary intervention route, I know that Salamander's situation is far from unique.
Like I said, I am sure that there are situations where our kids' eating issues are purely sensory and/or behavioral. But for those of you that are still looking for a cause, or causes, I hope my story will give you some food for thought (no pun intended).

Excellent books that have gotten me started on this road are "Is this your child" by Dr. Doris Rapp and "Children with Starving Brains" by Dr. Jacqueline McCandless. If it hadn't been for these two books, I would never have been able to get Salamander to where he is now.

Just take one bite, it won't hurt you....
Well, maybe it will.......