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   Lizbeth G Ellis Said:

   on July 15, 2008 at 8:10 pm

   Tonight, I will be showing my 12 year old son your website, and although he is not an adult, I hope you will allow him to join your group if he wants to join.

   He has been a picky eater from birth (refused to nurse on one side). He refused all solid food and ate only about 5 types of babyfood until he was 3 and the doctor said no more babyfood. Since then he has survived on special chocolate or vanilla milkshakes that we make for him both morning and night in which we include a decent sized portion of pasteurized egg (the refrigerated kind you buy in a box and is not dangerous to eat raw) to give him some protein. (but if he comes across one lump of ice cream in it, he is done and he has to have a lid on the shake so he doesn’t have to see it).

   He eats no meat, no vegetables and no fruit. Other than the shakes the foods he will eat are mostly dry and crunchy – 2 or 3 dry cereals, goldfish crackers, freshly shelled roasted peanuts and recently he added Mission brand tortilla chips in small quantities. He will also eat quite a few sweets with a single texture (brownies-no nuts, chocolate bar, vanilla or chocolate pudding, peppermint, red licorice – all generally single texture). His only multi-texture food is a donut with icing and sprinkles from a particular shop (never Krispy Kreme). His only cooked foods: pumpkin pie without the crust, and whole wheat french toast but only from one particular restaurant. You get the idea. For about the last 5 years I have “forced” him to eat 10 tiny bites of fruit each night hoping he would get used to it. He can choke down orange and fresh pineapple tidbits. He generally gags and vomits anytime other undesirable food is put in his mouth, though he has occasionally choked down a bite or two of other things.

   Our original pediatrician always just shrugged his shoulders when we discussed this and wrote down “atypical but adequate” on the diet line of his chart, mostly because his overall health, growth and weight have been normal. He thought our son would outgrow this condition, and so did we. He advised to try to avoid making food a major issue, and with the exception of trying to acclimate him to some fruit, we have.

   Interestingly, our son is extremely intelligent (gifted level IQ in all areas, at the 99.9% in math), well liked by peers, sociable, as well behaved as a typical 12 year old.

   Recently he has talked to us about feeling embarassed about his eating issues, and that he would like to go on the 8th grade school trip to NY and DC – but he knows he can’t because he doesn’t eat restaurant food and there is no way to have access to shakes with protein. That really makes us sad. His new doctor wanted us to take him to a neurologist, but upon hearing that he has had these issues from birth, the neurologists conclude (without seeing him) that he does not have a neurological issue and refuse to see us. She also referred us to a psychologist (we took him to one when he was 3 yrs old who concluded that because he was psychologically healthy, he did not have a true eating disorder), and the one he went to recently was very sympathetic but really did not know what to do with him. She wanted him to try some baby foods again, but he vomited just from the smell. She thinks he should see an occupational therapist and has tried to find one to see him, no one in our region seems to have any expertise with this type of issue.

   Finally – my real questions: do you think putting him through the occupational therapy treatment is a worthwhile idea? Is there enough improvement in the condition from this therapy to warrant the misery that the introduction of new foods will bring to my son and, as a result, to our whole family? Can anyone share any success stories? Has anyone out there with this condition come up with a successful way to expand the menu of foods you can eat?

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