Food Therapy Week 2

I thought I would go ahead and update weekly, since I'm sending an email to my family each week, I can easily post here. For those of you that are interested anyways. I did not get a chance to update last week because it was so crazy with Halloween going on right after therapy. He did really well, but given the menu I was not surprised. It was Sun Butter (sunflower seed butter, which is an alternative to peanut butter should someone in class have a nut allergy), bread, jelly, celery, raisins, and caramel apples. He tried a bite of celery and spit it out. He is certainly more willing to try things at therapy versus at home, but he has improved at least trying them. The All Done Cup does help encourage him to at least try food he would have normally pushed away, which he is doing. He is quick to tell you if he will put it to his mouth or actually take a bite. I'll take anything at this point. He is fully aware if he likes something he can put it in his tummy, which he decided to do with some refried beans last night.

They told us that we should not use dessert or sweets as a reward anymore. It's the first thing that comes out of my mouth when I'm trying to get him to eat something. Basically it should be part of the meal and not the end reward. Sweets suppress the appetite. However, if meal time is really not going well, go ahead and give into the sweet, but return to the other foods also. Seems backwards, but this is all new to all of us! You can reward with other things that are not food, like stickers or staying up a little later.

Toddler Meals: 2-3 snacks and 3 meals everyday. (2.5-3 hour intervals) Offer 3 different tastes and textures at each. Lets be real, snacks typically consist of 1 thing, not 3. Ain't nobody got time for that!

Serving size: 1 tablespoon per year of age of each nutritional group. (fruits, veggies, protein, grains) This is probably how he has been able to maintain a "healthy" weight. What he doesn't eat in one category, he makes up for in another. Also, only 3 foods should be offered at a meal, at most 5. Obviously this is a lot of work and I have not been very good at this rule, but it is my goal going forward to take a little more time preparing more fresh meals with seasonings he might actually enjoy. Frankly, I wouldn't want to eat frozen peas and carrots either. Really toddlers do not require that much food, for instance 1 slice of bread is more than a serving size. Also, 4 crackers is considered a serving. We all know Holt can eat him some crackers! Here are some more that might surprise you: 1/2 cup of rice and cereal, 1/2 cup beans, and 3/4 egg.

This next month they are trying something new and offering the same food every week. That would be Thanksgiving food! Maybe by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, he will actually eat his first Thanksgiving meal! Fingers crossed.