Parents of autistic/special needs kids

I feel you. I have two children. My eight year old son is autistic. It is impossible to take good care of your children until you take good care of you. This is a hard lesson i am just learning. It has really helped us taking walks together. It helps me get in some much needed exercise and it is helping him with his low muscle tone. And it gets out a lot of his excessive energy and calms him down quite a bit. Hope this helps!

I feel you! I have three kids and they all have Autism. My 6 year old has low muscle tone too. The past few years I have spent every ounce of energy I have taking care of them and forgot how to take care of myself. I'm loving MFP- it's got me on track and motivated to really lose the weight.

I have two boys that's have autism. They are 4 and 6. They are definitely a hand full. I sometimes get so stressed out because of them.I'm an emotional eater. I have about 60 pounds to lose

Mom of a 9 year old with autism here. The first 5 years were absolute HELL. The last few have been amazing as we finally found a wonderful teacher and therapies that really truly work for him. Thankfully he has grown out of the wandering/running away phase but for a while we had to put doorknob guards on his bedroom door at night to keep him from taking off while we were sleeping.. It really does get better. You just have to remember to breathe.. a bad day doesn't equal a bad life.

Hi, I have 4 boys, 3 with a selection of asd, adhd & pda. I joined tonight as I need to look after myself after piling on weight over the last 5 years. I had a really scary episode of palpitations yesterday which made me realise my boys need a healthy mum. Now the juggling game begins :-/

I have 2 boys, the youngest being 8 and has ASD. I find it hard work trying to be referee as the eldest doesn't always understand what his younger brother is doing. Sometimes i feel like he is jealous as i spend a lot of my time with the youngest. However, I've taken the plunge these past few weeks. My ASD son has made a friend and he only lives around the corner. I've allowed him to go out and play at his house or at the playground across the road. It's been a nervous transition as I'm not sure he is able to understand everything going on and can't keep himself totally safe but the fact that he wants to play is amazing! It means i can do a quick work out DVD or something.
The times he had said the other kids on the playground were being mean, I've managed to talk to them and raise awareness of my son's condition. They now look out for him but my son is still quite reluctant to interact with them because of his past experiences.

hollyberry061082 wrote: »

I have 2 boys, the youngest being 8 and has ASD. I find it hard work trying to be referee as the eldest doesn't always understand what his younger brother is doing. Sometimes i feel like he is jealous as i spend a lot of my time with the youngest. However, I've taken the plunge these past few weeks. My ASD son has made a friend and he only lives around the corner. I've allowed him to go out and play at his house or at the playground across the road. It's been a nervous transition as I'm not sure he is able to understand everything going on and can't keep himself totally safe but the fact that he wants to play is amazing! It means i can do a quick work out DVD or something.
The times he had said the other kids on the playground were being mean, I've managed to talk to them and raise awareness of my son's condition. They now look out for him but my son is still quite reluctant to interact with them because of his past experiences.

Congratulations on making that leap of faith. It's really hard for my son to make friends. It doesn't help that I get very anxious when he is out of my sight. My boy is 15, ASD, moderate.

Yesterday We did onesie Wednesday at the school i work in and the children were able to talk to me and ask questions about autism. We all came into school in our onesie to show that we are all different. We raised money for the National Autistic Society. It was lovely to see the children so interested in our problems and difficulties when they have so many of their own. (I work in a residential school for children who have been taken from their parents by social services because of inappropriate up bringing). With the increase of ASD being diagnosed, i think it was only appropriate to educate the children of ASD as chances are, they will meet people with ASD within their life time and they need to learn that these kids are not naughty or frightening, just wonderfully different!

I have a 12 year old with asd, and a 2 year old. It's a real struggle to make time for me, but I know that I feel so much healthier than when my son was a toddler, when I was several stones heavier. I have to treat my gym time like any other timetabled activity that has to happen, and I'm fortunate my husband supports that (though he thinks it's a bit odd). My son is obese as he doesn't really know when he's had enough, and for a long time the only thing that motivated him to do anything was food. I am so proud that he asked to come jogging with me in september and we have done a 3 mile jog every Sunday since ( bar 2). - it's not fast but we do it.
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JoMamaATL wrote: »

My son is the opposite- he looked like an American/Ethiopian child bc he is so skinny. Almost mal-nourished looking! He only eats about 5 different foods right now, but he eats and eats! doctors say he is fine, but when he is in the backyard playing in just a diaper and covered in mud I worry that people will think the poor child just escaped from our dungeon!

Haha. Screw what people think

My son had "nonspecific disorder" . He would probably have been on the autistic spectrum today. He was in every kind of therapy you can imagine. We found that sports and doing various physical activities with him helped him. So when he was younger much of my exercise was chasing behind his bike, going to the swimming pool or roller skating rink with him or just tossing or kicking a ball around together. As he grew up he enjoyed the more solitary sports like cross country, wrestling and track and field. He is now in college. Yes they do grow up and it does get hard to let go sometimes.

JoMamaATL wrote: »

My son is the opposite- he looked like an American/Ethiopian child bc he is so skinny. Almost mal-nourished looking! He only eats about 5 different foods right now, but he eats and eats! doctors say he is fine, but when he is in the backyard playing in just a diaper and covered in mud I worry that people will think the poor child just escaped from our dungeon!

i have a kid with a sensory processing disorder, and his diet is super limited. its something we are always working on, but during times of stress, he reverts to a very short list of foods. Our pediatrician has him on chewable flintstones with iron (the "complete" ones are good as well) and I give him Omega 3 gummies occasionally.

Anyways, just wanted to share, I also have a weird eater.