14 May Summer Fun with a Picky Eater
On a hot summer day, who doesn’t love some fresh fruit!?!? What makes fresh fruit so yummy? One might say its biting into cold fruit full of sweet juices. Often times each piece tastes a little different than the last depending on how ripe the fruit is or how fresh the fruit is.
Now think about being a child sensitive to foods. Fruit can be VERY overwhelming. Each bite may taste a little different. You have to be able to manage the juice inside of it along with the skin on the outside of it. Your sensory system is in overdrive to process the different sensations, textures, tastes, etc.
So how do we add fruit to a picky eaters diet or a child experiencing feeding difficulties? I like to start with applesauce or bananas. With applesauce, the taste and consistency are more predictable than grapes or strawberries. This is helpful for our sensory system to integrate. For bananas, you can start it as a mashed fruit and slowly build up to a whole banana. Again, requiring slow changes to our sensory system to process. Through sensory play and a structured behavioral approach (along with addressing any oral motor weakness) fruit can become a part of a child’s diet with a positive change to their sensory system.
If you feel your child would benefit from feeding therapy by a speech therapist or occupational therapist, contact us today at info@acrosshealthhc.com or 972-544-1112. Working on feeding difficulties in children is our specialty.