Dwindling Options

I’ve written before about how the Monster’s a picky eater, I know.  And, for the longest time, this has been a larger concern for my wife than it’s been for me.

By and large, I don’t care what he eats, as long as he does get his nutrition so he can be healthy and happy.  This is also with the fact that he does take a supplemental multi-vitamin with breakfast, so we’re sure that he’s at least getting the minimums when it comes to vitamins and minerals… but that doesn’t speak perhaps to the caloric count.

There was a point, when he was younger, that the Monster would eat just about anything put in front of him.  As his Autism really asserted itself, though, his dining choices diminished quickly – items that he’d loved and even asked for frequently when he was starting to talk disappeared as options that he was willing to tolerate.

As recently as three weeks ago, he was eating bagels and french toast for breakfast.  We’re now down to cajoling him to eat at least a muffin or something before he leaves the house, so that we’re sure he’s not going to starve at school.  (This is further bolstered by the fact that, when I went to pick him up yesterday, his yogurt and cheese stick from his lunch hadn’t been even opened.)  At one point, I used to be adamant that as long as he was eating something for every meal, I didn’t care what it was in particular, since it was relatively balanced as to the food groups from which his diet was coming.

We’re scraping bottom now.  At this point, I really don’t know what we’re even going to pack for lunch for him while he’s at camp, since we’re struggling to think of what he’s willing to eat.  It does not seem to be due to stomach upset or the like, but rather just a preference for certain things over certain other things.  Nothing looks wrong, and he’s certainly not losing weight, but… obviously this is a concern when we’re spending fifteen to twenty minutes negotiating with him about what he’s going to have for breakfast.

Ironically, he’s very willing to eat some of the things away from home that he won’t eat at home – I don’t have any struggle when we’re out as to getting him to eat chicken nuggets/fingers, and he’ll always, always happily accept pizza, whether home or away.  It’s been a while since we’ve tried breakfast foods away from the house, but I’m not sure that’ll get any more traction.

I was joking this morning that perhaps I ought to find some “breakfast pizza” recipes so we get him eating again… and well, that’s not something that we’re really looking at as an option.

The wife’s going to move to some sneaky-chef recipes this weekend, and whip up a few varieties of muffins so that we’re sure he’s getting nutrition and calories… but this is to the point that we’re going to talk to his therapists about what we can do…

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