How to Get an Autistic Child to Eat New Foods. Parents worry when their autistic children are “picky eaters”. When parents of children with food aversions try to introduce a variety of foods, meal times can feel stressful. As a pediatric occupational therapist and mom, I understand this completely.
So, today, I’m sharing how I addressed my child’s “picky eating habits”. We’ll explore the why behind eating issues and ways to help autistic kids try different foods and develop a balanced diet.
Professional Experience Related to Picky Eating
When I became a pediatric occupational therapist, I already knew several variables can impact a child’s food selectivity.
- sensory issues,
- oral motor awareness challenges,
- and other medical conditions
- Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)
However, it wasn’t until my child, Ellie, struggled with eating that it all came together.
3 Underlying Red Flags
Let’s begin by looking at three underlying issues that contributed to my child’s limited diet. Perhaps these will resonate with you.
1. Food Refusal and Limited Preferred Foods
Beginning around the age of two, my daughter refused to eat new things. She’d only eat ten specific foods. Throughout preschool, her atypical eating behaviors encompassed anything that was not exactly as she was expecting it to be. For example,
- She wouldn’t eat regular peanut butter.
- She had a strong preference for the reduced-fat kind and could not veer from it.
- Macaroni and cheese had to be from the blue box at home.
- She absolutely could not eat it from a restaurant.
Having a list of easy meals for picky kids made no difference. If what was offered was not one of my child’s favorite foods, she’d go a LONG time without eating. While she was growing within the acceptable height range for her age, she was very thin.
2. Sensory Sensitivity and Selective Eating
As an OT in the clinic, I’ve always explored ideas of vestibular and body awareness. But as a mom, I missed a lot of red flags that Ellie was struggling with a type of sensory sensitivity. Specifically, she was vestibularly hypersensitive.
Vestibular hypersensitivity means that small movements feel large. Specifically, my daughter’s sense of balance couldn’t keep up which meant movement felt more threatening than it should have.
Signs of my daughter’s vestibular hypersensitivity included:
- She’d sit quietly for hours.
- As an infant, she hated the mechanical swing.
- She didn’t attempt to stand up until she was 15 months old.
How The Vestibular System Can Prevent Trying New Foods
When a child’s vestibular system isn’t functioning optimally, it doesn’t alert them to where they are in space. When moving or when still, the child must look for external cues.
This means their brains have to pay more attention to their visual world or the feel of the ground beneath them. In the end, this can present as low body awareness and challenges with interoception.
But how does this relate to a child eating a small number of foods? Let’s find out.
What is Interoception?
Autistic people and those with sensory processing disorder often have challenges with interoception. Interoception is the ability to attune to internal bodily sensations and emotions including:
- Heartbeat,
- Stress,
- Urge to use the bathroom,
- Hunger signals
When your child’s brain doesn’t register the body’s hunger cues, it can lead to eating problems.
3. Articulation and Eating Difficulties
Another underlying cause of my daughter’s feeding challenges was related to speech. She always had articulation difficulties which indicated low oral sensory awareness. Additionally, her constant drooling was another clue to her oral sensory difficulties.
Because her brain couldn’t focus on internal sensations, she didn’t have enough body and oral awareness to explore foods that were even slightly unexpected.
Have you noticed any of these potential underlying issues in your child? If so, it’s a good idea to explore it with your child’s doctor, speech, or occupational therapist.
How I Helped My Child Try New Foods
Below you’ll learn some strategies we used to support my daughter in her eating challenges.
1. Address Mineral and Nutritional Deficiencies
I already knew I was not the kind of mom that would make a good therapist to my child. Fortunately, at one point in my research, I discovered that zinc is an essential mineral that helps tastebuds fire.
Maybe Ellie wasn’t tasting her food! I imagined that eating wouldn’t be motivating and could lead to gagging if you always felt like you were eating cardboard. So, I ordered a zinc-tally test that revealed she was low on zinc. Soon after, I started giving her a zinc lozenge crushed and dissolved in juice.
2. Explored New Foods Safely
Within a couple of days after supplementing with zinc, my daughter told me she was hungry, for the first time. Then she slowly began to develop an interest in trying small amounts of new foods.
A high-stress environment can create a vicious cycle for children with feeding problems. We knew the best way to support our daughter in trying unfamiliar foods was to prioritize her emotional safety.
To encourage her in the food exploration process, we did the following:
- Instituted a rule that she could go to the trash and spit out whatever she didn’t like.
- Offered plenty of praise for trying new foods when she felt up for it.
- Supported her with knowledge about her own body’s sensory preferences.
- Made family meals a safe place for her by giving her agency in her food selection.
Ultimately, our main goal was to make mealtimes enjoyable and stress-free for Ellie and the rest of our family members.
3. Strong Flavors and Speech Therapy
I added strong flavors to her food to help key up her taste sensations (lemon pepper was a lifesaver). Additionally, she began speech therapy, working on oral motor and oral sensory activities.
Oral Motor Activities:
- Blowing through straws, kazoos, or whistles
- Using a Z-Vibe or electric toothbrush
- Chewing gum
4. Astronaut Vestibular Training
Ellie “helped” me practice administering the Astronaut Training vestibular therapy program. This type of therapy involves a lot of rotation using a lazy-susan-type platform. See the video below for more.
5. Trampoline Therapy
A trampoline is an excellent tool to help develop vestibular awareness. So, I bought my girl an enclosed trampoline, which she loved.
Using a trampoline helped her learn to move in bigger ways without feeling threatened. It made her feel grounded. After a movement session, she felt more at home in her body and more secure.
She could move her mental focus inside (interoception) to see how she was feeling. Even more, all that movement burned off enough calories for her to get hungry and feel it.
Vomiting as a Clue
Ellie’s need for strong movement so she could feel “normal” really hit home one night at dinner. The weather was atrocious for about two weeks, so her time on the trampoline had been limited.
I served mashed potatoes and gravy, one of Ellie’s “no thank you” foods. But tonight she wanted to try it because we seemed to be enjoying it so much. Not two seconds after that first bite hit her lips, she vomited on the table.
She was not sick and felt fine. It was a reaction we hadn’t seen in months. No trampoline meant not feeling normal for Ellie.
5 Ways to Help Your Autistic Child Eat New Foods
Here are some helpful tips to help your autistic child eat new foods. In the end, this is a journey to healthy eating habits. Baby steps are key.
1. Address Screen Time
This first one can be very challenging for neurodivergent children who use screens for emotional regulation. However, do your best to limit screen time. Here’s why.
Sitting in front of a screen by its very nature, stills the body. Also, staring at a small screen limits eyesight to a minimal range. This limits our vestibular awareness because there is a strong tie between eye movement muscles and a sense of movement and balance.
2. Encourage Preferred Activities
Autistic children are known for their special interests. Find an activity your child loves to do, then create opportunities to do it. For example.
- Does your child love to run around everywhere?
- Create races against the clock if that’s motivating for your child.
- Do they love flipping upside down?
- Enroll in a gymnastics class,
- Encourage cartwheels, handstands, or inverted yoga positions
- Loosen the rules on rambunctious behavior on the couch.
3. Add Intentional Movement at Home
Find ways to “change the rules of movement” in your home. Here are some examples.
Wind Up The Swings
Help your child wind up the swing at the park and spin on it. Add more vestibular input by having them lie on their bellies while spinning.
Change Walking Surfaces
Change the surface your child walks on to add a balance challenge.
- Think “The Floor is Lava” with couch cushions.
- Have them walk on curbs, parking dividers, or retaining walls.
- Or try these fun Gentle Monster Stepping Stones for Kids
Invest in a Trampoline
If your child does well on a trampoline and seeks lots of vestibular input, a trampoline is a worthwhile investment. You can get an outdoor trampoline, a larger indoor trampoline, or a mini-rebounder.
4. Occupational Therapy
If your child struggles with selective eating, consult a private occupational therapist. Ask them to learn about astronaut therapy and administer it, if they don’t already.
Remember, your occupational therapist is part of your child’s team and should be receptive to your input.
5. Speech Therapy
If your child is not already in neurodiversity-affirming speech therapy, start. Ask your child’s speech therapist how to increase your child’s oral awareness. Increasing oral sensory awareness will help your child explore new foods more easily.
Teach Your Child About Their Sensory Needs
Because of these experiences, Ellie eventually learned to seek out repetitive movements as one of her self-regulation strategies. When she was able, she took daily trips to the playground to swing until she felt regulated. In high school, she started taking long walks knowing how much better movement makes her feel. She’s now grown, living in Mexico, and loving the food scene!
Recap: How to Get an Autistic Child to Eat New Foods
A common problem for parents of young children is food refusal. Many children, autistic or not, choose chicken nuggets (a classic example) as often as possible. I understand this as getting my child to eat healthy foods was not easy.
It may not be a one-and-done magic to help your child eat better and more, but every tool you have can make a difference toward healthy eating. The good news is small changes can make a world of difference to help your child try different types of food.
Up Next:
Autism Trampoline Therapy: Is It a Real Thing?
31 Best Autism Calming Strategies That Can Work for All!
25 Sensory Activities to Support an Autistic Teenager
Hearing and Sensory Processing: What’s the Connection?
Robin Abbott, MS OTR/L is an occupational therapist with 15 years of experience in pediatrics, the former owner of Dovetail Pediatric Therapy. She’s the author of Sound Advice: How to Help Your Child with SPD, Autism, and ADHD from the Inside Out. Contact her at dovetail.robin@gmail.com.
