4 Year Old with ARFID
Hello everyone!
My son is 4 years old and was diagnosed with Autism at 2 and ARFID at 4. When he was between 1-2 years old he would eat purées, yogurt, Cheerios, ramen noddles, and waffles. Not the most expansive diet, but he ate and wasn’t adversed to trying new foods. Then at around 2 and a half - 3 years old he started regressing and refusing most of the foods he would eat. Whenever any food that he wasn’t okay with either touched his lip or got in his mouth he would freak out and start gagging/dry heaving and eventually vomit. So that eliminated everything but milk and gogurt now.
We have been working with occupational therapy for 2 years now and a nutritionist to try and make sure he is getting the nutrition he needs with his limited diet. We have tried nutritional shakes like Kate farms, but he will immediately puke it up even if it’s just a small amount that he drinks or that touches his lip.
Any food or drink that we try to give him that isn’t gogurt or milk results in him freaking out and refusing to try anything. We don’t really know what else to do at this point to try and help him. We have a EGD scheduled now and we’re on the waitlist. At this point we’re considering getting him a G-tube so he can get all the nutrition his body needs.
Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated! Please let me know if any of you have experienced anything similar and what steps you took to helping your child or yourself.
Thank you!