The most fun we’ve had with Aidan as I’ve mentioned before, was when we first introduced him to solids – purees. Like a baby bird, our little boy opened his mouth eagerly for purees of all kinds. There were very few he didn’t like or wouldn’t eat! His palate was extensive, and he loved a variety of the purees I lovingly made from scratch here at home. It was only when it came time to make the purees a bit chunkier in texture, that I noticed that Aidan wasn’t as happy an eater as he previously had been.

Aidan could tolerate – and liked – smooth-blended purees. But he vehemently disliked purees with textures. At the time of introducing them, we hadn’t yet had confirmation that he was autistic or that he had a feeding disorder. So, we were surprised and confused by his refusal to “chew” his food, despite having a mouth full of teeth. Every time I tried a chunkier form of a flavour of food he loved, it would trigger his hyper-sensitive gag reflex. Sometimes, he’d end up vomiting up everything he had just eaten, and then refused to eat any more. Unconsciously, I reverted to smoother purees because I was more concerned that he was getting good nutrition and enough sustenance, than I was about whether he was meeting this first “feeding milestone”. While the other kiddos in our Antenatal WhatsApp group had moved onto pieces of fruit, Aidan stayed stuck on smooth purees and baby cereal. It didn’t seem like such a big deal at the time, but I suppose this was our first sign of struggles to come. We couldn’t have known then, that feeding would become the Goliath it turned into as time went on.

I suspect that Aidan’s extremely sensitive gag reflex is part physiology and part due to the silent reflux he’s always suffered. We still battle it today even though we’ve moved fully into solid foods. For instance, we have to cut up his brown bread with Kiri cheese spread into very small squares, because Aidan eats fast, and sometimes overfills his mouth. I also use a smaller spoon when feeding him his Ayrshire Double Cream Honey Blossom Yoghurt from Woolworths whilst out and about. If he’s seated at the breakfast table feeding it to himself, he can manage a bigger spoon! But if his head is moving, it’s safer to go with smaller bites of solids.

I’m very hopeful that one day, Aidan’s palate will extend to foods that are good for him and his physical development again. In the meantime, we do a lot of play with raw veggies and let him explore them with a dull, wooden knife – which he loves! We also continue to try to interest him in what Monty and I are eating for supper, and we offer him new foods outside of mealtimes so as not to pressure him to try them when he could – and should – be eating his safe foods. We also spike his sippy cups with Future Life Vita-Mix, to ensure that he is getting all the iron, protein, vitamins, and minerals he should be, despite his restricted diet. I’m just hoping that his gag reflex also improves with time, as his reflux is being treated with medication now! But if it doesn’t, we will return to his lovely paediatric gastroenterologist to have him thoroughly physically checked out.