Child Abuse? 17 year old has only eaten chicken nuggets since age 2
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Have any of you ever had a child with extreme sensory issues? I have one son (out of four children) who has an extremely limited diet. I have tried everything including occupational therapy. He has been like this since birth, when it manifested as a chewing and swallowing disorder, which was helped with therapy. But the texture sensitivity and extreme sensory challenges with anything new has been impossible to overcome. If i force him to eat anything the sensation overload makes him vomit. He is the sweetest child who has never had any behavior issues. I feel very sorry for both this girl and her mother. And a little sick that so many people would judge them without really understanding what they are going through.
I think you're stretching it with the "precious snowflake" comment. There are many parents, especially new parents, who get concerned when their young child refuses to eat. Often times this happens when the child is a toddler. It has nothing to do with parents "handing over the power." They are concerned that their child will starve (even though biologically yes, people will eat eventually). They also think maybe one day the kid would grow of it. Maybe they don't want to battle over food every single time...maybe their line in the sand is something else. To say that the child totally runs the show because they allowed picky behaviour to continue is crazy. My husband to this day is still picky and will not eat a slew of things. When I was younger, I hated fish. My grandmother tried to "make" me eat it, and sure, I'd take that requisite "bite", but I never truly ate it. Inevitably down the road she gave up as it was just wasting money since I never ate more than one capitulatory bite. It just wasn't worth the hassle in the overall picture. But she did dig in her heels with plenty of other things.
Even though a person eating only chicken nuggets is a case of the extreme.
This was also me when i was a child. And it sounds like both of us have children who have inherited our sensory issues.
Ok so let's take a look at the first couple of symptoms in the link you posted
[SIZE=2]Ongoing poor weight gain
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Gagging during meals
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]History of eating and breathing coordination problems (which might cause problems with nursing)[/SIZE]
I love it when people tote some dX that explains something as stupid as eating nothing but a small subset of the issue. If your child is gagging on something, for heaven's sake you don't make them eat it. For pete's sake, you don't MAKE them eat anything. The vast majority of people don't have some disorder that explains why they can eat literally nothing but McDonald french fries. If the majority DID, then the species would not have survived.
Ok so let's take a look at the first couple of symptoms in the link you posted
[SIZE=2]Ongoing poor weight gain
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Gagging during meals
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]History of eating and breathing coordination problems (which might cause problems with nursing)[/SIZE]
I love it when people tote some dX that explains something as stupid as eating nothing but a small subset of the issue. If your child is gagging on something, for heaven's sake you don't make them eat it. For pete's sake, you don't MAKE them eat anything. The vast majority of people don't have some disorder that explains why they can eat literally nothing but McDonald french fries. If the majority DID, then the species would not have survived.
Well, i was trying to find a link that spelled out some of the things our OT told us. That was the best i could find right now. Anyway, oral-myofunctional disorders are a differnt animal than a sensory disorder but they are often found together. So the kid in the article could just have the sensory part of it and so not have the choking, gagging part. Sensory disorders are not as rare as they once were, probably due to the garbage in our environment, but who knows? I have four kids, all four of them with some manifestation of sensory disorder. I promise you, a child with food sensory issues that is not given anything to eat except what the family is eating, WILL starve himself to death. Yes, this is unusual, but my therapist advised me that we are not to withhold what he will eat and we try as many ways as we can to find new things he will eat. If you had any idea how frustrating and scary it is for a parent to have a child with a feeding disorder, I'm sure you wouldnt be so judgemental.
And actually, most kids with sensory disorders grow out of it. Therapy helps that transition to move quicker. It is very unusual for them not to outgrow it. My son is getting ready to turn 9 and hasnt shown any signs of outgrowing it yet. My other 3 who all had it, outgrew it by 5 or 6.
And the girl in the article is certainly not in the majority. Actually, most people on this thread agree with you, somebodynew, so you must be correct. Dfinitely not the majority of kids with feeding disorders.
Thank you for posting the information about the eating disorder linked to sensory issues. This thread caught my attention because we have a daughter who will never eat anything at restaurants except chicken fingers/nuggets. If they do not have them, she just orders a drink and skips the meal. She will eat other things at home, but only a limited number of things and not that healthy.
She has sensory issues. Now I understand why she likely eats the way she does.
As a kid, I never ate anything green. My parents tried to force me, but I was more stubborn than they. If they starved me, I just got up at 3 a.m. and ate cookies or whatever. As an adult, I eat a few green vegetables, but mostly just meat. I do take a lot of vitamins. I am healthy. Very low blood pressure, very good cholesterol balance. It is not the end of the world to have a picky eater, and the know nothings calling it child abuse, to me clearly know very little about raising children.
No you cannot force a child to eat something they absolutely refuse to eat. You can starve them, but they will either find something to eat, or collapse from malnutrition -- now that may be child abuse. You can cram the food into their mouths, make them sit at a table staring at it for hours. It will not work and it is abusive. I remember staring at a plate of peas for six hours and not being allowed to leave the table until I ate them. Finally mom fell asleep and I gave them to the dog. I remember having food I disliked crammed into my mouth and just tucking it into my cheeks to spit out later. You may win that fight if your child is weak willed. but with a strong willed/stubborn child, it is not going to happen. You cannot force a stubborn child to eat anything and the suggestion of starving them as an alternative is highly abusive IMO> Yes. People will starve themselves to death to make a point. It happens with some frequency.
our rule is a little less strict, you must try food. . .but you dont' have to eat it
That's my rule too.
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