Frazzled Feeding
How do meal times look at your house? Is it a pleasurable experience with your family sitting around the table, eating the delicious meal you made, and having a nice discussion about your day? Or Is it a little less pleasing with children screaming because they don’t want to eat the lasagna that just took you an hour to prepare, your little one vomits because he finally took a bite of lasagna and it made him gag, or do you spend your entire meal just trying to keep your little darling buckled and seated in their high chair or booster because they are continuously trying to leave mealtime? Well if this sounds like dinner time at your house your child may be experiencing some feeding difficulties.
Feeding Difficulties can be very challenging for parents, caregivers, siblings, and children. There can be various reasons for children to having difficulty with feeding. The three most common reasons include medical diagnoses (such as: chronic constipation, reflux/GERD, food allergies/intolerances), sensory processing problems, or decreased oral motor coordination/control.
Feeding difficulties checklist: (if your child demonstrates any of these you may want to discuss these issues with your pediatrician and see if Occupational Therapy would be helpful).
- Spitting out food
- Not opening mouth during feeds
- Gagging/coughing/vomiting at meal times
- Not acting hungry
- Pocketing solid foods in their mouth (holding the foods in their cheeks when eating for extended periods of time)
- Pooling liquids (leaving liquids in their mouth for extended time before swallowing)
- Problems advancing to chunkier textures (moving from stage 1 or 2 baby foods to table foods for example)
- Refusal behaviors
- Crying during mealtimes
- Throwing food, bowls, spoons from the table or high chair to avoid eating
- Only taking liquids from a bottle past 18 months
- Refusal to sit in a high chair
These are just a few examples of common problems seen in children that are having difficulty with feeding. Please consult with your pediatrician if you feel that you child is experiencing any of these problems and they are negatively impacting you his/her development.
Finally, feeding is about control. Children will not participate in a feeding experience willingly unless they feel safe and comfortable. Allow children to explore new foods at times other than meal times so that they don’t feel pressured to eat that new food.
