Feeding Sensory Issues

I am an Occupational therapy assistant. I work in the school system and have had experience with children with sensory processing issues. As far as the actual eating goes just keep introducing and placing the item on her plate. If you can do not let her see the baby food jars. Tell her that she is getting bigger and big girls do not eat baby food, big girls eat there meals on plates(even if you are still giving her some baby foods). Another helpful thing is Social stories. One might read some thing like this.
Allison is a big girl she tries new foods when they are on her plate. This makes her Mommy very happy, then Mommy puts a sticker on the new food chart and I get a prize. There is a book on social stories. The author's last name is Gray. I'd bet you can find it on line. Good luck. D.

Mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs

Hello J.. I watch my cousin who has down syndrome. I've been working with him since he was 3 months old and I know exactly what your going through. He is now six and we still go through the same thing. He puts everything to his lips to make sure he likes the texture. To get him off of babyfood we starting putting thick it in everything. It also helped with his reflex. After that we moved on to puddings and worked our way up to spaghetti and eggs. I noticed anything smooth he would eat. It's hard for low tone kids to chew and it takes a lot of effort. So, anything soft. Now, were up to waffles, chips, corn dogs, french fries, chicken and noodles. That's his diet. I know it's sad but I'm sure you know how stubborn kids with downs are.

J.,

I am also a speech thearpist and specialize in feeding/swallowing issues. Using any oral-motor tools are helpful, such as the z-vibe which was suggested or a simple nuk brush. Feeding pureeds to your child on these spoons add a texture to begin with without your lo having to actually eat a texture. It just lets them get a feel for it. Always offer a few things you know she will eat and then let her play with some regular foods. There is a progression of getting them used to these foods that I offer to many parents "see it, touch it, smell it, kiss it, lick it, taste it" You may be stuck at one of these points of progression for weeks, but as someone else mentioned, eating is not fun for these kids.

HOpefully your therapist is doing lots of oral-motor-sensory therapy. Feeding issues are very frustrating, I understand, but hang in there. Try to follow the progression above and be patient (I know, easier said than done). Some sensory therapy from the OT may benefit too! Good luck!

Good luck, i have a four year old boy. When i was pregnant they said he might have downs but he did not . I had cmv when i was pregnant. He is deaf and has sensory issues. All over. But he stuffs his mouth big time. He does not like certain textures . And he only seems to eat white foods which i don't know what that is about. But i still give him the toddler foods that are soft, he basicly eats oatmeal, yogurt, and i have found that sometimes i can get away with pureing vegetables into his oatmeal. I also buy v8 vege juice for him. But i don't know if i will ever get him to eat the norm of foods. I also have a two year old so i can definately tell the difference now. You have to be creative about it.it does drive me crazy alot. He is starting to eat chicken every once in a while. I don't worry about it as long as he is getting his nutrition. But good luck it has been frusterating. He also druls alot. And will not drink alot of certain things

J. try putting the food into a blender.
My son was in an accident when he was 10 (now 14). He has some issues eating solid foods too. We started with baby food then started blending food adding milk, gravy, or juice with fruit to get it to the consistency he needs.
Good luck.

Are you doing any kind of therapies with her? My brother-in-law has a child with severe speech/eating delays and they get speech therapist who also deal with the feeding issues. If your not, this is something you should definitely look into.

I don't think your baby's texture issues have much to do with down syndrome. I think it is typical toddler behavior. Why are you trying to ween her off baby food anyway at 14 months? My son is 23 months old and has texture issues, too. He won't eat vegetables or many other things that my husband and I eat for dinner. It is very frustrating to me. I don't want to fight with him about getting him to eat healthy food, so he still gets tubs of baby food vegetables. At least I know he is getting vegetables that way. So as long as he will eat that, then great! Maybe you should try adding other things a little at a time along with the baby food. And if she doesn't want it, don't worry about it. She is getting nutrition from the baby food and that is what matters!

J. my daughter had texture issues..we went to therapy weekly for about 2 years. Leah was still nursing a ton and eating #1 baby foods at 2 years old. She did like mac and cheese, spaghetti and smoked sausage-go figure. It took her forever to eat also. My therapist helped me to remember that eating for these kids is not pleasurable, it's a chore..much like working out for adults..of course it makes us feel better but need lots of prodding to do it! Once we found something she liked she ate a lot of it, then would mix small bites of other stuff in. I also rewarded her with reese cups..she needed to gain wt bad. You can send me a personal message and we can talk more about it..I know how frustrating this can be!

I also have a daughter with special needs and she too had trouble with textured foods. I used a baby food grinder (I think you can buy them at Walmart)for a long time so that she could eat what the rest of the family was eating. Sometimes I would mix a little juice or milk or gravy in with it to make it smoother, but she eventually got used to the consistency.

Good luck!
B.

Hi J. my name is B. and i have a 10month old she is typical and I am trying tabel foods like MASHED POTATOES, I MASH UP PEAS AND CARROTS, PEACHES, PEARS, and anything soft i smash up for her i have to b really careful cause she has the acid reflux so we have to be very careful of what i give her but try those and see if that wont help. Good luck my email address is ____@____.com (the spaces between the y and 4 and u and t is _ ) so just let me know when you have time if this worked for you B.

Hello J.,
My 2 yr old had DS and yogurt was a good transistion food for us. There is a varity of thicknesses and some w/ fruit bits or you can add to it. Nutra Grain bars worked well for us also. They break up easily.

Good luck to you and your sweetie!
A.

my daughter has alot of sensory issues not only in mouth but hands and face as well i use the Z-Vibe ask your sp or ot about it. you can also order it from superduper publications ur ot pt or sp should have this book if not you can check it out at www.superduperinc.com it has been wonderful for my daughter. it was only like 30 dollars and it comes with many different pieces for the mouth including spoons to help with feeding it also has many other adapters for your child to bite on and stimulate not only inner mouth but lips as well. this is a wonderful product and has helped my daughter alot!!!!!!

i sure hope this helps

How about trying some soft table foods. I have a recipe for a carrot souffle. Totally easy, cooked carrots pureed w/sugar,flour,butter,vanilla and eggs and then baked. You can do that with spinache too. Maybe try adding some table mashed foods to her cereal to introduce the flavor, like mashed green beans, peas,etc. I found a hand grinder that purees table food right onto a plate, it has a KidCo label on it and it helps alot. You can do that with canned or fresh soft fruits too.

Have you concidered working with an occupational therapist? They can work wonders for sensory issues! (When I taught, I had a 4yr old who would only eat baby food and he made awesome progress with an OT. You're doing great to try to stop it early so that it doesn't develop into such an issue.)

J.,
My son was HORRIBLE about textures!! First we took the veggies and cooked them soft at first, cut them up and gave them names, carrots could become orange squares/triangles, the brocolli is a little tree and he was a giant,chicken is cut up very small and those were gold nuggets, same with corn etc...... as she eats them naming them by the names you made up, make a BIG deal out of every bite!(cue goofy voice " no, don't eat the little tree big giant.ohhhhh no" hahaha)........you cook them a little less every week, and when they start crunching on it make a big deal about it!!
My son is now 5 and every meal is still a game, it makes everything fun for everybody, and laughter really is the best medicine, the only thing he absolutely will not eat is mashed potatoes...... but get that boy near some french fries........hahahah hope this helps, and good luck!!
Lea

I worked with people with downs syndrome ~ I am a special educator and worked for the Metzenbaum Center in Geauga County. I also have a 7 year old and 13 month old. Does your daughter like baby applesauce? That might be an easy switch. What about mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes? What about yogurt? My cousin had a mini-food processor especially made to mash up food for babies ~ anything really ~ meat, veggies, fruit.

H.