Hi Baz10, I can’t imagine living on Boost and instant breakfast for all those years. My heart goes out to your son…and you for the continuous worry!
Is your son able to swallow well or is this simply because he doesn’t like the consistency of the food? He could try making baby food. For a while I had horrible mouth sores. Chewing was impossible. We have a small Bullet food processor and my husband would take what he made for dinner and purée mine. At least that provided me with some well balanced meals without having to chew. Some things, of course didn’t taste very good whipped together so, bless his heart, he’d make me several pretty glasses of dinner! 😅

Not having taste buds really does mess with the mouth feel. Unless someone has gone through it themselves it’s almost impossible to describe. I used to love cheese, or cheese sticks. Going through chemo, I could no longer taste it and the cheese felt like I was sucking on a stick of butter. It was horrid. Food does feel like mush. Mashed potatoes that are ‘mush’ anyway, were the worst! You wouldn’t think that would be so offensive but it was.

Sometimes there are tricks we can do to distract ourselves while eating. My husband would tell me stories or we’d watch movies, play games that were mentally stimulating, etc… I’d keep occupied while mindlessly trying to eat. Deep breathing helped to quell the gagging reflex while eating.

Has your son tried any baby foods? There are so many different kinds now, not just Gerber! Even the dessert, if you could entice him to try that, has some nutrition, low sugar but fiber at least. If he would start with a purée and sees that it goes down ok, maybe he’d consider other foods later?
Also, another consideration if he is physically able to eat but just won’t, would be a nutritional therapist or even a psychologist to help him work through any issues he has with not eating.
What do his doctors say about his lack of solids and balanced diet?