Just Some Thoughts

In my experience most people make the assumption that Jack is just an extremely picky eater. And though its not as simple as that, he is. He's 27 months old and eats less than 10 foods. His current diet includes GoGurt, Applesauce, Stage 2 fruit baby foods, Gerber Puffs, Gerber Fruit Strips, Graham Crackers, Popsicles and Fondant. (Yes my kid that doesn't eat anything can tear up some fondant, he's a weirdo, what can I say!) He drinks 1% milk, Pediasure, Apple Juice and water. 


According to the Kennedy Krieger Institute's website on Feeding Disorders, "A child with a feeding disorder may only eat a few foods, completely avoiding entire food groups, textures or liquids necessary for proper development."  
Here's a link to the website =] Pediatric Feeding Disorders- Kennedy Krieger Institute



In Jack's case, his symptoms include: trouble/refusal to accept or try new flavors or textures, severe meal time tantrums, and refusal to eat certain food groups. 


Mealtime is not a fun time at our house. A typical meal with Jack can go like this:
He gets into his highchair and is presented with his meal.
IF its a non preferred food, he immediately throws it on the floor, starts screaming and beating his head on the back of his highchair. 
IF its a preferred food, there is a 50/50 chance that he'll try a bite. 
IF its two preferred foods mixed together (graham crackers IN GoGurt) there's about a 10% chance that he's going to actually try it, even if he watches you put the yogurt in the bowl and then show him the graham crackers that you put in)
IF he does eat what's offered (again, only about 50% of the time) he'll finish, hand me his bowl and spoon and get down and play. 
IF he doesn't its a fight to try to get him to NOT throw it on the floor. He'll scream until his face turns purple and start crying. He'll cover his face with his hands so you don't try to make him take a bite and he'll beat his head on the back of the highchair. 


It usually doesn't end there. Once he's out of the highchair the tantrum can continue for up to an hour. He'll walk around and throw things and knock things off tables. He'll throw himself on the floor and beat his forehead on the ground until he bruises. He'll hit himself in the face, pinch himself in the arms and bite his fingers. 


All of this is just after ONE meal. Multiply that by 3.

I have to say, I'm surprised that I'm sharing this. In the last few months we've avoiding having people around at mealtime because I was so embarrassed of his behavior and I was terrified that people would assume his behavior was a reflection of our parenting. As hard as its been to deal with this and to go see all the doctors and specialists and to hear things that we didn't want to hear, I learned one thing from it all... 

We didn't do this to him. His non- eating is NOT our fault. 

Let me tell you, its been a LONG, HARD road to admit that to myself. There were many, many, many days where I felt like a failure as a parent because of his non-eating and his tantrums. To be able to admit that it wasn't us makes me feel... freer. Now that I've (we've, Steve included) admitted this, I feel like we're 100% ready to move forward and to  get him the help he needs.