good evening and happy holidays to all! the title of my post poses a question i am beginning to have concerning sir dantes. while a fit little three year old now, i am starting to wonder if he will be fat as an adult. why? well, it started the other night with the christmas cookies.

after dinner the other night i excused myself downstairs to the sunroom to smoke. yes, i am a smoker and i will not apologize for it. but, you are only to allowed to smoke in the sunroom of the house. anyway while i was down there sir dantes got into the christmas cookies and gobbled three of them down and opened a banana and had brought a bag of chips out of the pantry!

Follow up:

now, i assure you the children had a good dinner…a big bowl of vegetable soup, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a glass of milk. in fact, their daily diet goes something like this…

breakfast: cereal, fruit, milk: or eggs and pancakes and milk
snack: a fiber fruit pop-tart
lunch: peanut butter sandwich, maybe some goldfish, more milk
another snack: cheese crackers and a banana
supper: meat, veggies, breads

anyway you get the idea. usually in between snacks and meals there are more snacks…maybe some popcorn? when i got home from work today i gave them both some cheese and crackers with a banana and some milk. then they had a bowl of popcorn, and then sausage, green beans and a sweet potato. but sir dantes will keep eating if the food is out. and he always wants to shove his mouth full as though he has not eaten in days. what gives?

i think it is his sensory issues.

i am not sure if he “senses” when he is full. i know he is a growing boy and he is very active, but good lord…he will eat just about anything you put in front of him at anytime. and, he shoves his mouth full! most of the time i still have to feed him just to get him to slow down so he won’t choke. now i have been told by our former therapist that some autistic children lack what is called a “gag reflex” and will cram the food in. i am sure he has this problem.

but, what to do about the sensation of not feeling full? i am not really sure. i really don’t want to have to start putting locks on the fridge and the pantry. but, i don’t want him to become overweight.

maybe i am worrying about something that will work itself out over time and with “practice”? but my concerns go a bit further than that. obesity is a problem on my side of the family. luckily not me; but i have many relatives that have suffered with weight problems and the ill effects of that, including stroke and high blood pressure. and his father’s side of the family has had its own problems. sir dantes’ grandfather, whom he never got to meet, died several years ago from diabetes.

so, i am open to suggestions if any other parents of an autistic child have had success in this area. and, i do not subscribe to the gluten free diet. that is not what we are dealing with here. i don’t believe sir dantes’ autism is caused by, or made worse, by what he eats. and, i know he has sensory issues with his sense of touch. so anyway…

i have the rest of the christmas cookies hidden and am only taking out a few at a time.