[Barefoot~Baker]

Hi, I don't think I've ever posted outside the Pregnancy & Birth section!

I would love some advice for a picky eater - here's some background:

My dd is 5 years old. She's been getting speech therapy since she was 2. Her first therapist thought she was apraxic, but since she was 3 and switched therapists a couple of times, no one has agreed with that. No one has a diagnosis for her, they just think she is delayed.

She's been getting special ed now for about a year because she is now behind academically. She had OT for 6 months but she's doing ok with that so it was discontinued. At the time she started, she was sensitive to clothing and brushing her teeth.

Now about the food - I don't know whether I should just wait it out or do something about it.

These are the foods that she will eat:

Frozen waffles, won't even try pancakes
Pop Tarts
Some cookies
breads/toast
pb & j
fish sticks & popcorn shrimp
french fries, tots
some cereals
milk, juice, water
crackers
she'll try lots of junk if she's offered it - candy, donuts, popcorn, chips
pizza
spaghetti - no meat
yogurt

I think that's about it, if I'm forgetting anything, it's not much!

I recently tricked her into eating popcorn chicken, but she wasn't crazy about it.

Most nights, I give her Cheerios for dinner. I'll make something else for her a couple of nights a week, like pizza or fish sticks & fries, but I'm cooking whole meals for the rest of us, and my 3 1/2 year old eats just about anything.

Should I let it go? It's such a pain to go out to eat. I end up having to bring food for her, and if she goes to parties/friend's houses, it's difficult and it's getting embarrassing at this point, she's not a toddler anymore!

I would love some advice. She gets really uptight when we suggest eating new foods.

THANK YOU

 

[williamsmommy2002]

Itdefinately sounds like the food thing might be about rigidity or sensory stuff. I don't know if feeding therapy would help. What helped my son a bit was going to school and seeing kids eat all sorts of different foods. Also his kindergarten and 1st grade teachers pushing and talking about healthy foods. Our list of foods used to be half the size of yours. Now he is adding about 1 food every couple of weeks to a month. We just keep offering and offering. The past couple of weeks he's been talking about healthy foods.

 

[Fay]

This is something that play-based sensory integration can help with. First of all, forget about asking her to try new foods for a few weeks. Use those few weeks to make pretend food out of play dough, stir up some play slime in the kitchen (corn starch, water, coloring), play with shaving cream in the bathroom, make some mud pies or sand pies outdoors...your interaction & enthusiasm in these activities are the keys to success. (Check out Carol Kranowitz's book, The Out of Sync Child Has Fun.) When she's comfortable with different textures, talk about a shopping list. She can select any fruit or vegetable she wants. She can select ONE of her preferred foods. She can select from a list of healthy foods. Let her explore the grocery, try samples at the deli, whatever it takes to keep up her interest. My DS1 has been doing a lot better with different foods since Trader Joe came to town...he always tries the free samples, and the store is small enough that he knows his way around and how to find the foods that interest him.

 

[KimPM]

It sounds kinda sensory. Plus, with the other delays, I wonder if there's something else going on (oral motor issues or something).

We had both of those things going on, and he wasn't eating anything until 2 years old...he didn't even want to try. But we finally found a good speech therapist who specializes in feeding. What a blessing. She worked him through the oral motor issues and did play-based (not behavioral) therapy. I saw what she was doing and so I did similar things for every other meal he had. It was the right thing for him and eventually he started trying a few things and eating them. He is super picky about the texture and somewhat picky about the color. I have tried to figure out the types of textures/colors he likes, and choose something healthy based on that. I don't even offer junk as best I can. The only exception was one type of gummy bears we used for awhile as chewing therapy when he was having difficulty. He's never had food coloring or caffeine. Still, his diet isn't as healthy as it should be, but I keep working on it. I usually make his stuff separately from mine (because I need different stuff usually). I always try to show him what I'm eating. Once in awhile he will surprise me and ask to try something, which is

: when I know how he usually is not wanting to try ANYthing new. I try to show him things with textures and colors that he could like that also taste good. I'm also not shy about using butter, salt, and sour cream because those may just push him over the edge to try something. I also have to pay attention to how hungry he is. If I'm constantly feeding him snacks, then he will not try anything new. If he's a bit hungrier and not cranky (hard to come by) then he just might try something. I've also been working off things that he likes. We started with plain crackers which was a chore just gettting him to try those. Then I put some cashew butter on a plate on the side, and tried to get him to dip the cracker into the cashew butter. Sometimes he likes dipping, so he eventually tried it and decided he liked it. So I ended up getting the cashew butter onto the cracker and eventually onto wheat bread. Finally we can now do cashew butter and jelly sandwiches. But it's a long and very slow process. Each new step has to be a tiny one, working from where he *will* eat something to where he has not yet tried but could be likely to try.

We have found that reading him a book while he eats and sitting him in front of the window so he can see the cars passing by really helps distract him enough to where he focuses a bit less on the texture of the food and may try something or eat more volume that he would otherwise. If he's left with no distractions, he will hyper-focus on the food and what's wrong with it.

We have also found that eating out (which is a challenge just with the food sensitivities that DH and I both have) has been really helpful to my DS. This is especially true when he is somewhat distracted by grandparents (they love to help in this eating out therapy

). I used to bring something in a cooler that I knew he would eat, just in case, but give him first crack at something in the restaurant...carefully choosing one with something on the menu that he might try.

Don't know if any of our experience helps, but I just wanted to share. You are right that it's a pain to have to bring special food. Other parents don't have any idea that what you have there is beyond picky.

 

[fanniefarkle]

My child's OT recommends doing oral tactile therapy, whereby you slide your finger three times, back and forth, on the roof of the child's mouth, followed by three gentle tugs on the child's bottom jaw (pushing gently on the bottom front teeth.) She suggest doing this every few hours, but just before meals and brushing teeth may help with sensitivity.

 

[Barefoot~Baker]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and advice! She's starting kindergarten in the fall, hopefully that will help with this.

I really appreciate your help

 

[HarperRose]

I'm going to have to read this whole thread in depth on another night, but right now:

My dd is the same way. She is a BIG carbs fan. Her doc diagnosed her as having severe SPD. Dh and I have only recently been getting her to branch out just a little bit. (She eats oatmeal now!!!)

A lot of it is telling her, "Dr. So-and-so said..." We use all 3 doctors' names a LOT so she knows that more than one doc is saying she needs to try different things. (Her Dev Ped is less pushy about it, but our naturpath & chiro both emphasize healthful eating habits, so we push that.)

If you can find a way to get a daily vitamin in her, I'd do it. That is one constant my 7 yr old dd has and we have tried EVERYTHING to get her to take her vitamin! (Thankfully, she swallows pills so we have them in pill form w/ added iron for her. She's anemic.)