Re: are most children with OCD picky eaters?

March 28, 2008

>

> I bet everyone can tell I have a lot on my mind..lol

> Are most of our children picky eaters also?

We consider ourselves very lucky on that note. My son, though he

became a vegetarian at age 5, eats a wide range of veggies, *loves*

mixing unusual combinations (peanut butter & cilantro anyone?) and

gets excited about going out for Vietnamese, Burmese, Tibetan,

Ethiopian, etc. cuisine. He loves lima beans! (which I despised at his

age)

He prefers fixing his own meals, provided I do the cooking since he's

still intimidated by the flame. Today, he cubed a large block of raw

tofu, mixed up three different sauces (he gets new spice jars in his

Easter basket and Christmas stocking) and laid a delicate cilantro

sprig across the top, just for looks.

Can anyone tell he watched a lot of Food Network as a youngster?

Cat

March 28, 2008

That is so cute...I wish my dd were like that. She loves to be a chef

and cook and do for others...mostly she likes to bake. Lima beans -

i remember not liking those as much as not liking brussels - so I

laugh that my dd loves them.

> >

> > I bet everyone can tell I have a lot on my mind..lol

> > Are most of our children picky eaters also?

>

> We consider ourselves very lucky on that note. My son, though he

> became a vegetarian at age 5, eats a wide range of veggies, *loves*

> mixing unusual combinations (peanut butter & cilantro anyone?) and

> gets excited about going out for Vietnamese, Burmese, Tibetan,

> Ethiopian, etc. cuisine. He loves lima beans! (which I despised at

his

> age)

>

> He prefers fixing his own meals, provided I do the cooking since

he's

> still intimidated by the flame. Today, he cubed a large block of raw

> tofu, mixed up three different sauces (he gets new spice jars in his

> Easter basket and Christmas stocking) and laid a delicate cilantro

> sprig across the top, just for looks.

>

> Can anyone tell he watched a lot of Food Network as a youngster?

>

> Cat

>

March 28, 2008

Good question. Our son was the same way when he was young. Picky,

picky, picky. Now that he's 16 and eats everything in sight, I wish

he's go back to that a bit. lol

He used to have to have only plain food. No casseroles, no mixed

anything. Plain meat, plain side dish, veggies on the side. Nothing

could be touching and he needed a separate fork for each item. I

suspect it could be OCD related. We had no idea he had OCD back then,

so just gave in to get him to eat. He was skinny as a rail and needed

whatever food we could get into him.

Oddly, he also wouldn't drink soda (didn't like the fizz), wouldn't

eat cake (not sure what the problem was there), or ice cream either

<shrug>. It used to freak people out because it was so unusual.

I would have to make up names to call things to get him to eat it.

Like broccoli was " little trees " , and corn on the cob was " POPcorn on

the cob " . It worked, amazingly. We had a garden and if he could

harvest it, he would eat it. Somehow that made it more attractive to

him.

It took years before he was willing to eat anything other than cheese

on pizza. And Chinese food (which is now one of his favorites) was

yucky then.

It was work, so I can relate to what you are saying. He outgrew it.

Like I said, now he could grow back into it a bit again though. We've

been working on portion control and good choices now, which is really

TOUGH when they are a teen.

BJ

>

> I bet everyone can tell I have a lot on my mind..lol

> Are most of our children picky eaters also? My dd is extremely picky or

> select. Breakfast is either a bowl of cereal(the sugary the better),

> plain bagel cut in half, not toasted, cream cheese on the

> side ,pancakes but it has to have choc. chips in it..lolor

> cooked " dark " lunch is either a hamburger, chicken fingers, or pizza,

> rice - not much...dinner can be pasta with a lil' bit of butter

> and " freshy " grated parmesan cheese, caesar salad, steak, chicken,

> aparagus, brocoli, brussels sprouts..lol. But mind you all of this has

> to be just right and I am sure a lot has to also deal with texture and

> taste. But she will get on a kick and eat one of those items for days,

> weeks! But if she didn't have to eat anything and could by pass having

> to eat food - she would live on CHOCOLATE!!!

>

> If something isn't cooked or made or cut just right - you can see the

> tears coming. OCD or sensory? or both? I would imagine both.

>

March 28, 2008

**********************

> Are most of our children picky eaters also?

**************

Fortunately Kate has never been terribly picky. She usually doesn't eat much

and definitely has her preferences (as we all do). Ever since she was a toddler

we've imposed the " one bite rule " with her . . . she has to have at least one

regular-sized bite of everything. She does pretty well with that. So far the

only exception we've come across is eggplant which she literally gagged on . . .

the one bite rule does not apply to eggplant!

But you're probably right, there may be a little OCD and a lot of sensory stuff

at issue there.

Beth

March 29, 2008

I think you hit it on the head with the sensory and picky. It is a combination

of both. You might want to start to be firm, unless she is gagging and let her

know that what you have made for dinner or what ever is what she is to eat. Also

get her an assessment for sensory. I know my child's school provide this for us,

so there was no cost. (However I don't know how the states are now a days, since

I haven't lived there for a few years) It is really something any OCD/ADHD child

should have checked out.

Hope all works out.

Best wishes,

-Canada

are most children with OCD picky eaters?

I bet everyone can tell I have a lot on my mind..lol

Are most of our children picky eaters also? My dd is extremely picky or

select. Breakfast is either a bowl of cereal(the sugary the better),

plain bagel cut in half, not toasted, cream cheese on the

side ,pancakes but it has to have choc. chips in it..lolor

cooked " dark " lunch is either a hamburger, chicken fingers, or pizza,

rice - not much...dinner can be pasta with a lil' bit of butter

and " freshy " grated parmesan cheese, caesar salad, steak, chicken,

aparagus, brocoli, brussels sprouts..lol. But mind you all of this has

to be just right and I am sure a lot has to also deal with texture and

taste. But she will get on a kick and eat one of those items for days,

weeks! But if she didn't have to eat anything and could by pass having

to eat food - she would live on CHOCOLATE!!!

If something isn't cooked or made or cut just right - you can see the

tears coming. OCD or sensory? or both? I would imagine both.

__________________________________________________________________

Ask a question on any topic and get answers from real people. Go to Yahoo!

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March 29, 2008

I agree with what everyone has said about it being her sensory

issues. She definately has a lot of those. With her it is sometimes

hard to tell because nothing can be toughing anything else. If she

finishes or doesn't want to eat let's say, the steak given to her,

she takes it off her plate and has to wipe the plate where the food

was. One day 2 weeks ago, I took her to luch and she ordered a bagel

with cream cheese. They didn't have plain so you could see she was

getting upset. So I told her she had to pick another. She chose

sesame and for 20 minutes until she gave up, she sat there picking

each and every sesame seed off until eventually, she cried and

decided she had had enough and wasn't going to eat it at all! Oh

well. If the bagel has any sort of flaw on it, again, she will pick

that part off. Everything has to be just right. SO yes, I see and

know her sensory issues but sometimes I think it has to be her OCD

because eveerything has to be perfect and " just right. " Does this

make sense? Her therapist always says she will outgrow a lot of her

sensory issues...which that would be great. But I see many things in

her life that even though the intrusive thoughts can be ignored at

times, I feel for her and think how exhausting it must be for her to

have everything " just right. " We all like things to be the way we

like it, but if they are not, we aren't getting upset. We can move

on. I think that is the thing - they get stuck and can't just brush

it off. We try like heck to get her there but it is difficult.

>

> I think you hit it on the head with the sensory and picky. It is a

combination of both. You might want to start to be firm, unless she

is gagging and let her know that what you have made for dinner or

what ever is what she is to eat. Also get her an assessment for

sensory. I know my child's school provide this for us, so there was

no cost. (However I don't know how the states are now a days, since I

haven't lived there for a few years) It is really something any

OCD/ADHD child should have checked out.

>

> Hope all works out.

>

> Best wishes,

> -Canada

>

> are most children with OCD picky eaters?

>

> I bet everyone can tell I have a lot on my mind..lol

> Are most of our children picky eaters also? My dd is extremely

picky or

> select. Breakfast is either a bowl of cereal(the sugary the

better),

> plain bagel cut in half, not toasted, cream cheese on the

> side ,pancakes but it has to have choc. chips in it..lolor

> cooked " dark " lunch is either a hamburger, chicken fingers, or

pizza,

> rice - not much...dinner can be pasta with a lil' bit of butter

> and " freshy " grated parmesan cheese, caesar salad, steak, chicken,

> aparagus, brocoli, brussels sprouts..lol. But mind you all of this

has

> to be just right and I am sure a lot has to also deal with texture

and

> taste. But she will get on a kick and eat one of those items for

days,

> weeks! But if she didn't have to eat anything and could by pass

having

> to eat food - she would live on CHOCOLATE!!!

>

> If something isn't cooked or made or cut just right - you can see

the

> tears coming. OCD or sensory? or both? I would imagine both.

>

__________________________________________________________________

> Ask a question on any topic and get answers from real people. Go to

Yahoo! Answers and share what you know at http://ca.answers.yahoo.com

>

March 29, 2008

My kids used to be sooo picky with food. Now they eat just about anything. There

was a time with both of them , I had to practically force feed them, for fear of

them starving! My dd used to vomit everything she ate from her OCD and anxiety

from age 4-6. It was a nightmare! Now at 11,I can't get her to stop eating.

Hugs

Judy

March 29, 2008

My son (8) is not picky about preparation but does get obsessed with

foods and whatever the current food is that is all he will want to

eat.

>

> I bet everyone can tell I have a lot on my mind..lol

> Are most of our children picky eaters also? My dd is extremely

picky or

> select. Breakfast is either a bowl of cereal(the sugary the

better),

> plain bagel cut in half, not toasted, cream cheese on the

> side ,pancakes but it has to have choc. chips in it..lolor

> cooked " dark " lunch is either a hamburger, chicken fingers, or

pizza,

> rice - not much...dinner can be pasta with a lil' bit of butter

> and " freshy " grated parmesan cheese, caesar salad, steak, chicken,

> aparagus, brocoli, brussels sprouts..lol. But mind you all of this

has

> to be just right and I am sure a lot has to also deal with texture

and

> taste. But she will get on a kick and eat one of those items for

days,

> weeks! But if she didn't have to eat anything and could by pass

having

> to eat food - she would live on CHOCOLATE!!!

>

> If something isn't cooked or made or cut just right - you can see

the

> tears coming. OCD or sensory? or both? I would imagine both.

>

March 30, 2008

I would have to say most emphatically that my son is a very adventurous eater

and will try more foods than even I will.

Joyce in Seattle

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