Wednesday, 04 August 2010

• Eating Difficulties May Be Early Sign of Autism

  

  A new Study in “Pediatrics” shows that eating difficulties may be an early indicator of ASD. “The feeding and dietary patterns of 79 children with ASD” were examined and compared with those without an ASD diagnosis. “The median ages of ASD children were 38 months at referral and 45 months at diagnosis.” The ASD children showed difficult or “slow feeders.” The conclusions of the study were that “ASD children showed feeding symptoms from infancy and had a less varied diet from 15 months, but energy and growth were not impaired.”

  My son had a lot of issues with feeding. He had breathing problems, so taking the bottle was difficult for him. His doctor was always putting “failure to thrive” in his chart. She also kept threatening to call Social Services. I told her to do it. If I wasn’t doing something I should, or if there was something in my house that was having an adverse affect on my son, I wanted to know. She never called.

  My son’s breathing problems were fixed, but he still had eating difficulties. He was extremely picky about what he would eat. This only got worse as solid foods were introduced. Now, he eats pasta, rice, chicken nuggets, sometimes a hamburger, sometimes a hotdog, chips, cookies, and a few other things.

  I’m not the only one who’s child is a picky eater. It is considered common for an ASD child to have a limited list of foods he will eat. It’s nice that this study is out and it confirms what we already know. It will be better when more studies come out telling us things that we don’t know.

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