I’m so fascinated to know what all of your kiddos consider a special treat? Because Aidan only has two. And they’re not exactly what I’d have considered a treat at his age!
While wild horses couldn’t drag his peers away from a birthday party table heaving with chocolates, lollipops, ice cream, popsicles, candy floss, and cake, Aidan wouldn’t eat any of those things if they were the last foods left on earth! He does like some sweet flavours, such as apple juice and the occasional Jelly Tot, but overall, he’s a bigger fan of savoury treats. So while other kids head straight to the party table to fill up on sweets, our picky eater usually steers well clear of it!
To be fair to him, he’s not just fussy. His eating is so restrictive, his safe foods list so short, that list so lacking in appropriate food groups, and his intolerance for trying new foods so extreme, that he was formally diagnosed as having an Eating/Feeding Disorder at the age of three. So it’s a bit more than him simply disliking things, or being stubborn about what he will and won’t eat. He has a pathological fear of foods he can’t identify as his preferred brands of choice, mixed foods of any kind, touching foods, cold foods, certain colours of foods, particular textures of foods, all meats, all vegetables, strong smelling foods, and foods he once liked but went off of without any warning, and for or unknown reasons. When Aidan experiences regressions, his safe food list changes too. When he was little, he used to eat most of everything except for meat. But now we are limping along with very few options for meal times. And those options have very little nutritional value, so we have had to put him onto supplements to ensure he is getting good nutrition.
So what might a child who eats so little and so specifically, view as a treat? The answer: The Golden Arches – McDonald’s! But he will only eat the fries, and only if they’re warm, and only if they come straight out of the red packaging. Because he doesn’t cope well with high-sodium foods, we only ever get him a small-sized fries. But oh boy does he love them! Our little man gets so excited when he sees us turn into the McDonald’s drive-thru. And though he doesn’t love being at a standstill and waiting while in the car, he can tolerate the 10-15 minute wait for food. If we have a ways to go before we get home, I will split a medium fries with him so he can eat them hot, and I’ll hide the box away once he’s had his small portion of them. If we are headed straight home, we will empty my fries out onto a plate, and pop his small portion into my empty red box so he can eat them as he likes to – straight from the packaging. He will not eat them from a plate or bowl, which ties in with his overall mistrust of anything he can’t positively identify as “safe”. Aidan only gets McDonald’s fries once or twice a month. Maybe it’s that exclusivity that makes them such a favourite for him!
Another thing Aidan loves with a passion, are Pringles. He likes the Salt n’ Vinegar flavour, and could eat a ton of them in a single sitting. Because of the high-sodium content, we have to ration these too. He has a very particular way of eating them – like a little chipmunk, clearly enjoying the sound and sensation of crunching down on them. We have tried other brands of a similar style of crisp, with the same flavouring, and he won’t eat them. Hell, he won’t even eat the original salted flavour of Pringles-proper. As with McDonald’s fries, he only gets these from time to time, and so loves them all the more.
It often surprises me that my son doesn’t gravitate towards sweet treats! Because his mama is partial to a cupcake or a slice of cake from time to time! But if you offer him salt or sugar, he will choose salt every time. I do sometimes wonder if this might change, or stay the same for always? His eating has been so wildly unpredictable so far, that I can’t predict what may happen one day. Perhaps he’ll be the young man who can smash a bag of Lays chips, and bypass the Cadbury’s Top Deck chocolate bar. Maybe it’ll be the other way around! Either way, I hope that he continues to derive the same amount of pleasure he gets from his special treats, whatever they may be. Because seeing my boy eating happily is something I don’t and won’t ever take for granted!
