It is getting tougher and tougher to feed our picky HFA son at Disney!

[JESW]

Not that it is Disney's fault that our son will only eat a handful of different foods, but it used to be a lot easier!

Ds likes Disney pizza but we can only find it at a few places now - just the regular pizza like the one at Pizza Planet or the Pinnochio place at Mk - not the new pita-type pizza. He also loved the Mickey shaped pasta but the only place we could find it was Flying Fish - he had it before at Kona Cafe but it is gone now - CM said it is hard to find and even she doesn't like the pasta dish they replaced it with.

I wish more places would serve a basic pasta and sauce dish - mine can't be the ONLY picky kid that goes to Disney! Not sure if this is the fault of the dining plan, healthier eating requests or what, but the offerings for kids are BORING (as expressed by our dd8). We do not use the dining plan as it doesn't wok for or family. DD prefers to order a mix of the kids and adult menus and sometimes we have to feed ds before or after we eat at a sit down restaurant - we had to leave Kona Cafe as he was starting to have a meltdown due to the fact that the Mickey pasta was gone - it's hard for him to have things change - and Kona Cafe was always one of our favorites!

Just a whine on my part..

Jill

 

[TxRabbit]

I totally relate to your sentiment...it sounds like your DS is similar to mine...and it isn't really that he is picky...well ...he likes what he likes and generally, in other places, it seems to be easier to accomodate those tastes...but somehow, at Disney, it is more difficult...what's up with that? Why do so many of us have a hard time with the kids menu in a place that is supposed to be so family oriented? Very frustrating...just wanted to affirm your feelings...I'm with you...

 

[momomonster]

Kids will eat anything if they get hungry enough. Here is a good article about neophobia (fear of new foods).

"While most children grow out of the food fussiness by age 5, not all do. For parents of particularly picky eaters, experts encourage them not to cave in when their children throw food tantrums.

"Parents should not feel like they're doing something wrong if they keep trying but their child is not overjoyed to be eating Brussels sprouts," said Marlene Schwartz, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, who is not connected to the study.

While most people will eventually like any food — even one they initially disliked — after trying it about 10 times, more persistence may be needed when trying to convert a neophobic child."

 

[mickeystoontown]

I totally agree with you. My child is a picky eater. I can, sometimes, get him to try something new but he just doesn't like it. It's not that he is afraid to try new foods it's just that he only likes certain foods. I am not the kind of parent that makes their child eat something they don't like or starve. When I don't like something, I don't like something and no amount of coaxing will make me eat it. So why should we force our children to eat something they don't like.

The children's menus are "boring". What kid wants to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a turkey pinwheel or grilled chicken strips all the time?

 

[TxRabbit]

Kids will eat anything if they get hungry enough. Here is a good article about neophobia (fear of new foods).

"While most children grow out of the food fussiness by age 5, not all do. For parents of particularly picky eaters, experts encourage them not to cave in when their children throw food tantrums.

"Parents should not feel like they're doing something wrong if they keep trying but their child is not overjoyed to be eating Brussels sprouts," said Marlene Schwartz, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, who is not connected to the study.

While most people will eventually like any food — even one they initially disliked — after trying it about 10 times, more persistence may be needed when trying to convert a neophobic child."

I agree...and at home we enforce the at least one bite rule, hoping that eventually the bites will not be forced and that a taste for the new food will develop.

My personal frustration with the kids menus at Disney is that generally, they are so repetitive...limited choices aren't an issue...generally kids will eat the same thing over and over when they like it...an when you are on VACATION, you want everyone to be able to eat what they like...which is what I felt the OP was expressing...that there weren't many likable foods on the kids menus...not that you couldn't find options in many places...but you do have to work it, do your research, and sometimes go out of your way...and having to get really, really hungry before you will finally eat what choice you have while on vacation can really be a bummer for the entire family...that's all.

 

[allyphoe]

Kids will eat anything if they get hungry enough.

Adults will, too. How hungry would you have to be to eat white maguey worms? They're a delicacy in Mexico, considered to be both delicious and nutritious. If you were served a plate of them at WDW, and told that was the only option available to you, would you eat there, or prefer to have the option to go somewhere else?

Current research suggests that some children are genetically predisposed to fear new foods. http://children.webmd.com/news/20070808/picky-eating-may-be-genetic Plus, the OP's kid is autistic, which makes new and unfamiliar things even harder to deal with, many times.

It's one thing to say "Put a serving of the new food on your kid's plate until they get used to it." It's another to suggest that planning your meals so that the kid in question will have at least one thing they'll willingly eat is "caving in to a food tantrum."

I personally would much rather sit next to a kid who is happily eating the one food they like best than next to the kid who's throwing a low-blood-sugar tantrum because the parents chose a restaurant without regard for it having anything the kid would eat. IMHO, a Disney restaurant / hotel / attraction is not the place to practice "ignore the tantrum" parenting.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Adults will, too. How hungry would you have to be to eat white maguey worms? They're a delicacy in Mexico, considered to be both delicious and nutritious. If you were served a plate of them at WDW, and told that was the only option available to you, would you eat there, or prefer to have the option to go somewhere else?

Current research suggests that some children are genetically predisposed to fear new foods. http://children.webmd.com/news/20070808/picky-eating-may-be-genetic Plus, the OP's kid is autistic, which makes new and unfamiliar things even harder to deal with, many times.

It's one thing to say "Put a serving of the new food on your kid's plate until they get used to it." It's another to suggest that planning your meals so that the kid in question will have at least one thing they'll willingly eat is "caving in to a food tantrum."

I personally would much rather sit next to a kid who is happily eating the one food they like best than next to the kid who's throwing a low-blood-sugar tantrum because the parents chose a restaurant without regard for it having anything the kid would eat. IMHO, a Disney restaurant / hotel / attraction is not the place to practice "ignore the tantrum" parenting.

I am with you 100%. Would I rather my child eat something instead of nothing at all? Absolutely!

 

[Ali]

I Completely DISAGREE with this statement -

Kids will eat anything if they get hungry enough. Here is a good article about neophobia (fear of new foods).

When it comes to Autistic and/or Autiustic Spectrum Disorders kids there is no amount of hunger that will get them to try a food they don't want to eat. Whether it is the control issue of "I decide what I want to eat", the fear issue of "I don't like it because it's new", or if it's an obsessive issue of "that's not the same thing I had last time", they will not eat when hungry. Of course, this type of discussion is probably better sevred on the DISabilities board, but I sympathize with the OP because of my HFA kid who doesn't eat anything at disney except what we bring in a cooler. He has started drinking Mickey Milk but that's it. If we don't bring it he just won't eat.

And I would like to see more pizza at the parks because I think most people like it, I know I enjoyed it at Pinocchio's last time I was there. I wish they would get rid of the nasty small nuggets for kids meals and just serve the strips, because I usually get a kids meal for myself.

 

[momomonster]

Adults will, too. How hungry would you have to be to eat white maguey worms? They're a delicacy in Mexico, considered to be both delicious and nutritious. If you were served a plate of them at WDW, and told that was the only option available to you, would you eat there, or prefer to have the option to go somewhere else?

Current research suggests that some children are genetically predisposed to fear new foods. http://children.webmd.com/news/20070808/picky-eating-may-be-genetic Plus, the OP's kid is autistic, which makes new and unfamiliar things even harder to deal with, many times.

It's one thing to say "Put a serving of the new food on your kid's plate until they get used to it." It's another to suggest that planning your meals so that the kid in question will have at least one thing they'll willingly eat is "caving in to a food tantrum."

I personally would much rather sit next to a kid who is happily eating the one food they like best than next to the kid who's throwing a low-blood-sugar tantrum because the parents chose a restaurant without regard for it having anything the kid would eat. IMHO, a Disney restaurant / hotel / attraction is not the place to practice "ignore the tantrum" parenting.

Your reading comprehension isn't all that great, huh? I linked to the SAME research as you in my post! And here was the important bit from your version I was trying to convey:

"Nevertheless, the researchers say parents should not despair if their child seems to have picky-eater genes."

"Research in laboratory and real-world settings has shown that neophobia for specific foods can be reduced," Cooke and colleagues note. "New foods can become familiar, and disliked foods liked, with repeated presentation."

I wasn't suggesting the parents START this experiment at Disney. I was suggesting they start it at home and make their lives easier from here on out.

There ARE options. I was suggesting the best one, I thought.

 

[JESW]

For anyone who thinks that a person will eat anything if they are hungry enough, I will GLADLY let you take my HFA (high functioning autistic/asperger's) son out to dinner and see how you make out!

It is especially hard for him when we go to places in Disney - where he has eaten things he has liked before - and now they have been taken off the menu. I am not talking about some gourmet food - just basically pizza, Mickey pasta and regular pasta! They no longer even have pizza at The Neverland Club (child care at the Polynesian) - but he wil be aging out of the child care programs soon so it doesn't matter to us anymore. We paid $22 (2 hours) for him to be there in august - a cost that also included dinner - and he was upset since the pizza was gone so he didn't eat anything.

Jill

 

[laughinplace199]

Mickey pasta is available at Spoodles. My very picky DS ordered mac & cheese and the pasta was Mickey shaped! He was thrilled.

Also, I think most restaurants would be accomodating if your child wanted something that's not on the menu, especially something simple like pasta. We recently ate at WCC and I asked the chef if he could make a grilled cheese sandwich for my DS - the chef said no problem and that he'd be happy to do it.

 

[my3disneygirls]

JESW. There are still many people that are unfamiliar with autism. So I think perhaps some of those who replied may not know what HFA means.

 

[tinkandpan]

Just an FYI- I have seen on the disabilities board some people calling ahead to the restaurants and getting certain meals ready for children. Now i know this certainly does not help at CS where they have seem to done away with many of the choices that used to be available or when you go somewhere expecting something you have had before, but it might help going forward. They are usually pretty accomodating if they know ahead of time.
As for my picky eaters- I usually take some fruit from the bfast buffets since that is all my dd will basically eat for the day. She won't eat any meat or chicken or anything fried (she's 2)

 

[Tissa]

This is why we have a car and head off site for most of our meals and always have a loaf of bread and some peanut butter in the room.

People that do not have special needs kids will not get it no matter how hard you try and explain it to them. I've given up trying a long time ago.

 

[fla4fun]

Plus, disabled or not, I think the offerings for children have really gone downhill. We're on VACATION! Vacation should be filled with comfort food, tasty snacks, and OK, one or two healthy options don't hurt. But the whole point of a vacation is to enjoy yourself, not deprive yourself. Just try to imagine how we adults would feel if there were maybe a half dozen choices of what to eat resort wide, and those choices fell at the bottom end of the tasty spectrum. How happy would we be?

With all the special needs children that come to Disney, you would have thought they could have taken this into consideration. Maybe they will in the future. I can certainly sympathize with the OP and other parents who just want to go to Disney and have a good time with their family, without worrying about whether their child will eat anything.

When I was a kid, I wasn't a picky eater at home, but I sure was out at restaurants. My entire repertoire consisted of grilled cheese, spaghetti & sauce, or hot roast beef sandwiches. If the restaurant didn't have one of those three options, I didn't eat. It didn't matter how hungry I was. I'd had one too many experiences with really bad food in restaurants (especially burgers!) and those were the only foods I felt were a sure thing. I didn't pitch a fit if they didn't have it, but I wouldn't eat anything else. I ate a lot of hot roast beef sandwiches, that's for sure!

 

[Nicolepa]

My kid is very picky as well. He will not eat just because he's hungry. It will not happen. When we went to Kona in December they had nothing on the menu that he would eat. So I went downstairs and got some chicken nuggets and brought them up to Kona.

I wish I didn't have to do that, but there was no way I was going to let him go hungry becuase they didn't have chicken nuggets, grilled cheese or pizza, all things we used to be able to get at any Disney sit down in the past.

 

[wen8jr]

Kids will eat anything if they get hungry enough. Here is a good article about neophobia (fear of new foods).

"While most children grow out of the food fussiness by age 5, not all do. For parents of particularly picky eaters, experts encourage them not to cave in when their children throw food tantrums.

"Parents should not feel like they're doing something wrong if they keep trying but their child is not overjoyed to be eating Brussels sprouts," said Marlene Schwartz, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, who is not connected to the study.

While most people will eventually like any food — even one they initially disliked — after trying it about 10 times, more persistence may be needed when trying to convert a neophobic child."

Tell us, does this method work with your own child(ren)?

 

[mjmcca]

FYI at Olivia's in OKW they have Mickey shaped pasta with the Pasta and meat sauce on the kids menu. hey also have pizza with or without Chicken on the kids menu there. At 50's PTC they had a kids meal of Grilled Chicken and Mickey shaped pasta marinara with melted mozzarella. They also have mac and cheese but it wasn't Mickey shaped.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

The trouble is, any restaurant can only offer a certain number of choices on the menu. What appeals to child A may not appeal to child B. Honestly, we've been much happier on our more recent visits to WDW because of the changes. My grandkids don't eat things like chicken nuggets and Kraft dinner, so it's often hard for us to eat out because that's what they tend to offer on kid's menus. They've been much happier with the new menus. (Yes, they like turkey wraps.)

I do think that usually the WDW chefs will make you something special if you ask.

Teresa

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

I have to chime in.........we have been going every year since my children were 2 & 3. Later this month, they will be turning 8 & 9 during our next trip. Every year, their food options are getting more and more limited for them, while at home, they are liking new foods all of the time. They are on vacation also and should look forward to enjoying their meals.