Food selectivity of autistic people. Our successes.

Good afternoon! Today I want to share with you Alice’s successes in overcoming food selectivity.

Until I was about 2 years old, I had no problems feeding Alice. She was breastfed for up to a year, then the complementary food went great, soups, cookies and so on gradually appeared. She was happy to try new products, nibbled apples appetitively and very enthusiastically, successfully chewed carrots in soup. Gradually, she stopped eating some dishes, and it was not abrupt, she just refused the omelet once, then ate it a couple of times, and then refused again, and then more and more often, until she completely stopped eating it. Since the diet was rich and the whole process dragged on for several years, I did not immediately recognize it. Well, the child does not want to eat an omelet today, everyone happens, maybe tired, maybe something else, let him eat porridge. There was an unwillingness to try new products, such a persistent one, to screams and a gag reflex, if I persuaded her to try something after all.

Of the favorite food that my daughter is ready to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week, chicken fillet remains. At one time she was very hooked on kinder surprise, she was 5, we just moved to Anapa and she refused to eat everything except these kinders.

At the age of 6.5, I put Alice on a BGBK diet. Strictly under the supervision of a doctor, only after we passed a bunch of tests and vitamins, probiotics, etc. went into the diet. I wrote here about how the process of getting used to this diet took place. Among other things, the diet also involved giving up sugar and this was not only the most difficult, but also the best solution. Alice’s tantrums have significantly decreased, stories with falling to the ground and wild screams have become a thing of the past.

I do not consider the BGBK diet a panacea for autism. Alice’s speech is still extremely difficult and slow, autistic traits have not gone away. Among the advantages – the craving for sweets disappeared, digestion was normalized, teeth grew, sleep became stable.

Now Alice is 9 years old, we continue to adhere to the diet, but not as strictly as at first. If she suddenly wants to eat kinder, I’ll buy it. It happens once every six months, about half an egg is enough for her, she does not finish the second one. Now her favorite treat is cornflakes without sugar, she likes to sprinkle them with a little salt. At one time, the amount of salt began to grow, we had to solve this problem, it seemed to be sorted out.

I can persuade her to try new products. The emphasis is on “persuading”, and not forcibly shoving it into your mouth, which is a great progress. Now Alice eats soups (though only ground, we are still working on this), porridge, her favorite chicken fillet, cottage cheese with pear and banana without sugar at night, snacks – corn flakes.

The other day, when choosing what she would eat, she stopped at soup. Before that, she ate it, but if she had to choose, she invariably settled on chicken. Hurray! This makes me very happy, the diet is gradually expanding. She learned to bite off again, and this is very important for the development of speech as well. Of course, while she bites off only small pieces of soft foods, but the process has started, we will continue to strengthen.

It may seem strange to someone that I attach such great importance to the fact that my daughter preferred soup to chicken, but for me this is a great success, which is worth a lot of effort. And what products do your children prefer?

P.S. In no case do I urge anyone to put children on a BGBK diet or deny them sugar, everyone has their own way, each child is unique and only a parent can decide what will be better for his child. The diet, if it is introduced into the life of a child, should only be under the strict supervision of a doctor, with mandatory tests. By introducing a diet on your own without knowledge about the deficits and surpluses of the child, you can not only not get the desired result, but also make it worse.