My (17F) brother (10M) is autistic and nonverbal. He has a large appetite and is fairly heavy -- about 90 pounds at 4'6.
Listen, I am the first to understand that autistic kids are extraordinarily picky eaters and prefer to stick to what they are familiar with. My brother was like this when he was 5 and was so emaciated that he almost died of scurvy. Now, however, my brother will eat a large variety of food: grilled cheese, bagels, french fries, pizza, sausage, chips, yogurt, and more of the like. He will pretty much try anything if he is hungry enough or in the mood to try something new.
Now, Redditors, my problem comes in when my parents feed him 3 (or more) Big Macs a day. He will eat all of it, too. This is extremely unhealthy to the point where I actually consider it child neglect. 3 Big Macs every darn day is enough to make a healthy person sick, let alone an ALREADY SICK *CHILD.*
The lifespan for autistic children is already about 40 years or less. I keep worrying that all of this processed food that he eats every day is only going to cut his life shorter by another 10 years. It is very painful to see my 10-year-old sick brother eating the same unhealthy food every day, and then more snacks my parents feed him on top of that.
It is not like Big Macs are the only thing my brother eats. He eats plenty of other foods, too! He may not enjoy it as much because he is already so acclimated to the burgers, but he definitely likes other foods which I already stated above.
Every person/friend I have spoken to about this agrees that this is an egregious fault on my parents' part and will seriously harm my brother in the long run. I spoke to my parents about this on multiple occasions and make swift comments on it when I can. However, they always seem to brush it off and claim that it's a good source of protein and that they are just happy he is eating at all after the scurvy incident (which I completely understand). However, I know my brother will eat other foods if you lay them out in front of him in lieu of the Big Macs. The situation really irks me to my core -- I am concerned about my brother's health and just want to be a good sister.
I texted my mother basically reiterating all of the negative feelings I have toward my brother eating 3 Big Macs every day. I told her that she is basically killing her son by providing him with this sort of diet and that if she wouldn't feed *herself* that much unhealthy food, then why feed it to your sick son? She got extremely angry and called me an AH; she defended herself by saying that he will throw fits of anger without the Big Macs (which is true, but that is only because they made him so used to eating them all day every day! He will eventually get over it by weaning off the Big Macs and eating the other foods I know he likes too). AITA for lashing out at my mom? I do feel bad, but I am just trying to look out for my brother whom I truly love dearly.