This blog post follows on from part one (which you can find here [hyperlink]) which identified why children might be experiencing challenges with their eating. This post will outline how you can help with a range of tips that you can implement. Just a few small changes can make a world of difference and might be the missing piece in your child’s journey to exploring and making progress with their eating.
Please remember that eating and feeding is a big area with so many factors at play (it is not as simple and just picking up the food and putting it in your mouth!). So any progress, no matter how small you might think it is, is huge progress in terms of eating and feeding goals. So don’t give up if you feel things are moving slowly!
Tips for Home
● Having family meals – sitting together at the table for main meals where possible
o This allows for adults (parent/caregiver) to model the expected skills and eating habits for children
o Remember: children learn from you! So showing them how to do it is how they will learn. They won’t learn if they are eating alone every night!
● Create a routine to meals and snacks:
Beginning: provide a warning of upcoming meal time (don’t make it too elaborate that anxiety levels increase, just a casual mention), offer a transition activity e.g. washing hands, and then sit at the table
Middle: Serve ‘family style’, start with child’s preferred food then other foods and focus on food and modelling.
● There are lots of ways to manage a child’s tolerance of non-preferred food, such as having on separate plates or the kitchen bench rather than table you are eating at. Your OT can support you with making small adaptations to slowly work towards your individualised goals.
End: ‘Clean-up’ – throw/blow one piece food into the bin, take dishes to sink/counter and wash hands
● Model good feeding behaviours – facial expression and voice can mean more to the child than the words do. The adult (parent/caregiver) needs to try the food and describe it to the child in a positive way
● The child is not the focus of the meal – the food is the focus i.e. discuss its features (is the texture soft/crunchy, is flavour sweet/salty, what is the colour)
● Child should be involved in as many aspects of the meal and prep as is developmentally appropriate
● Do not punish the child for not trying or eating certain things when offered or given to them
● Make sure they are stable and comfortable in their chair at the table
● If the child does not want the food on their plate (we need to respect their requests to maintain trust) put it down on the placemat or close to plate, somewhere on the table or on the ‘learning plate’
o Do not disregard the food or throw it away. We want it to remain in sight so if the child chooses to try it it’s readily available
● Present foods in manageable bites for the child’s skill level, not age
● Try to limit to 3 foods at any one time – 1 protein, 1 starch and 1 fruit/vegetable. Al ways have one preferred food at every meal!!
● Put several foods on the table for exposure. This doesn’t have to be on the child’s plate - it can be on a ‘learning plate’ which the child has access to but or not expected to eat (ie no punishment if they don’t touch it)
● Allow the child to taste and spit food out into chosen containers/plates
● Limit each meal/snack to 15-30 minutes
o Extending the duration or having the expectation that plate must be finished increases anxiety
● Teaching them the different ways you can eat foods and how this changes the texture
● Encourage the child to have a go with the food by saying “YOU CAN” instead of “Can you?”
o Be very mindful of phrasing of comments and questions. Try to avoid questions that can have ‘no’ as an answer, as when a child says ‘no’ we need to acknowledge this. Try giving encouraging phrases instead, such as “you can do it” or “you’re doing a great job with that” instead of “do you want to try this?” or “can you do it?”
● Be specific in what the child does well instead of just saying “Good job”
o “I love that you tried that piece of [food]”
o “How awesome you have had something crunchy and something soft”
o “What flavour was that [food]; was it sweet or salty?”
● Always clarify rules and tell the child what to do, instead of not what to do, for example:
o “We stay in the chair until clean-up time” instead of “don’t get up you have to sit down to eat”
o “Food stays on the table” instead of “don’t throw your food”
o “If you don’t want that you can push it across/give it to Mum or put it in the scrap bowl” instead of “you have to eat everything on your plate”
● Playing with the food is reinforcing and fun, and touching the food desensitizes the child
o Make pictures (eg face), letters or numbers with words
o Encourage touching, smelling and licking food - all sensory ways to experience the food items without consuming them orally
And most importantly… make the food FUN!
Occupational Therapists can absolutely work on eating, mealtimes and sensory challenges around food. Our therapists have experience in specific eating programs and have plenty of resources to share to educate parents/caregivers and support them along the journey of improving a child’s eating and feeding.
If you still have questions or feel now is the right time to get some help with your child’s eating, get in contact with us! We know eating and feeding is not an easy area to tackle, so we’re here to help!
Image Credit: oksun70