Food Aversion

This behaviour is a safety-seeking response to distress caused by food. It is similar to ARFID called sensory avoidance, which is when a person has issues with food tastes, textures, temperature, and smells. What avoids the slip into ARFID is the quantity of food a child consumes. As long as a child has enough “safe foods” to find the nourishment their body needs, they remain food averse and not ARFID. Many children, especially autistic children, struggle with this.