Feeding Therapy

Most people who follow the ramblings of this blog know Luke (our sweet Lukers) has started feeding therapy. Coming from two people who LOVE food, it kills me that both my boys are picky. I know mom...universal karma. I was the pickiest eater that ever lived when I was a kid. Payback is a, well, you know.

But Luke is different. He isn't just picky. He is downright upset when certain foods show up on his plate. So his case worker and the developmental therapist suggested OT which includes feeding therapy. He passed... or is it failed....Let's just say he qualified for feeding therapy with basically just a phone conversation between the therapist and myself.

Feeding therapy happens once a week for about 30 minutes. This is one of the therapies that it is mandatory I attend because it is all about social eating. Eating as a group is FUN! I have prepped most of the food the night before or in the morning before work (this could be a part-time job). Most Sunday nights I find myself boiling noodles around 10:30.
We have a color theme for about 4 weeks. This month is pink. When Miss Rebecca started reading the list of foods we would be 'playing' with I had to laugh. Out of everything she mentioned, Luke would eat 2 of them. Our pink foods are yogurt melts, strawberry applesauce, strawberry yogurt, ham cubes, pink (orange really) tri-color noodles, and pink fruit snacks.
There are some 'rules' when it comes to therapy. Everybody uses their hands, playing with your food is a GREAT thing, and everyone loves everything on the plate. :)

First, we have to wash our hands and the table. 

Next, we start with something he likes. These are yogurt melts and please notice he is shoving them in his mouth as fast as he can. He's no dummy. We don't call anything by its real name. The more verbal child could say, "But I don't like yogurt melts!" So these are pink crunchies. And yes, I have to show excitement and love for the pink crunchies. 

Next is the pink painting circles. Miss Rebecca is careful not to show him any packages. This is also for the child who doesn't like 'the yogurt in that container'. We paint with the yogurt and our fingers, poke the yogurt, anything to get him touching the food. 

Please notice the expression on his face. This is when the piece of ham was introduced. We started him off with 2 things he liked and then threw him a curveball. He hates meat. He hasn't eaten meat since probably 10-12 months when he ate a chicken nugget. Never since. 

Now the week before this, as soon as the ham touched his plate he shoved it across the table and screamed NO! This week was an improvement. No shoving, no screaming, AND he even poked his meat. (please insert any inappropriate joke or bevis-type laughing here.)

More food he liked; strawberry applesauce. I have tried to get him to eat applesauce a dozen times. The first day at feeding therapy he gobbled it right up. Maybe there is something to this 'not seeing the packaging' thing.

We kept trying to encourage him to drive his big pink circle (ham) across his plate and through his yogurt while making brrrrrrr noises and honking, but he wasn't fooled. He just happily watched us play with our food as he kept gobbling up the stuff he liked.

 Then we introduced strawberries. The week before I brought frozen strawberries. Those were way to slimy when thawed. So I bought real strawberries which are much easier to pick up. At home, I usually cut strawberries up before putting on his tray. He would never touch them. When presented with a whole strawberry he picked it up and started pushing it through his plate. Now, he never took a bite, but he picked it up. Baby steps.

We end with pink gummies, which are fruit snacks. Again, something he's never eaten for me. We painted our tongue, put them in our teeth and growled, went 'chomp chomp chomp'. I know you are laughing at the thought of me in my work clothes and heels, sitting on the floor and growling with a fruit snack in my mouth. So did Luke. Just look at him.
Granted, it must have worked. We got him to take a small tiny bite. #thingswedoforourkids

Clean up time. Each food is thrown away individually. Miss Rebecca and I put the piece of food in our mouth and spit it into the trash. This is (obviously) not to encourage spitting, but to encourage the child to at least put the food in his mouth once even if doesn't take a bite. Luke is much too refined for that childish mess.

The second week was better than the first and I suspect the third week will be better than the second. Rebecca told me she does see some sensory issue present, but they are very mild. Like, notice his left fist in every picture after the yogurt melts. He balled it up and wouldn't open it the rest of the half hour. Something got on it and it was instinct for him just to not even use that hand the rest of the time. We are both very hopeful this once a week therapy will make him an eater. And yes, as I have said 3 million times, remind me when he is 16 and eating me out of house and home, that I said I wanted an eater!!