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Jinnygirl
My grandson was born 2 months premature. He has a mouth full of teeth but will not eat solid food. He gags or spits the food out. Also he will not pick up food to put in his mouth. I have never seen a baby who did not put things in his mouth before. He is in Early Steps because he was premature. The Early Steps people are quite concerned about his refusal to eat solid food. His pediatrician seemed unconcerned. An evaluation was done and he shows some developmental delay. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Answer
I would say that your grandson almost definately has sensory integration issues with either the tactile sense (the way it feels) or his sense of taste (or probably both). It is very common in premature babies who often have an immature central nervous system at birth. My daughter had (has) this and she too gagged and even vommited up certain foods and would not put food (or anything else for that matter) in her mouth.
I will give you some suggestions that worked for us but first I want to strongly encourage you to seek out professional help as sensory issues can be very difficult and they don't tend to go away on their own. The best person to see would either be a speech therapist or an occupational therapist that deals with food issues in children. Make sure that they are expeienced with sensory issues as the strategies used can be very different from other types of therapy.
It took 10 months of solid work with our daughter but now she will eat almost anything (still working on wobbly textures like egg and jello). Here are some things that worked for us that may also work for your daughter/son:
1. Don't listen to anyone tell you that "he will eat when he is hungry enough". This is not true for kids with sensory issues. My daughter would have starved if not for the formula she was drinking. Make sure that he gets plenty of whatever nutrition he will eat/drink while you are trying new foods.
2. Start with the spoon (it is no point trying to feed him if he can't tolerate the spoon in his mouth). Disassociate the spoon with food; put some out with his toys and encourage him to play with them several times a day. Let him bang them, shake them, ‘feed’ his teddies; whatever it takes for him to like them. When he is comfortable with this try just touching the spoon to his lips (several times a day). When he is comfortable with this try putting the spoon in her mouth (just once but several times a day). Start moving the spoon around and gradually increasing the time the spoon is in his mouth. When he is comfortable with all of this, then start adding food.
3. Try brushing (electric toothbrushes are great) his teeth , gums and tongue before each meal (you don’t need toothpaste) or using a ‘Nuk’ brand gum massager (looks like a tiny nobly egg on the end of a toothbrush) or massage his mouth with your finger (DON'T put your finger between his teeth!). This will desensitize his mouth and get him ready for eating.
4. Introduce new foods SLOWLY. If he will have a little rice cereal in a bottle I would start with that. Then try to get him to eat/drink it from a spoon at the same consistency as the bottle. When she will do that slowly thicken it until it is the consistancy of baby food then SLOWLY start to add flavour.
5. Stick to one food (or one flavour of baby food) at a time; once he is happy eating that you can try introducing a new food. If you find he has trouble transitioning from one food to the next try giving a food that he likes with 1 teaspoon of the new food added in. When he is happy with that add 2 teaspoons and so on till he is happy to eat the new food.
6. Use whatever you need to get him to eat – if distracting her with the television or singing to him while he eats helps then do it. If dipping everything in tomato sauce works, do it. You can always wean him off those things at a later date.
7. If you get stuck on a particularly difficult food try giving 1 teaspoon of the food, as the first food of the day, every morning for 15 days. Never give any more than 1 teaspoon even if he seems to like it. At the end of the 15 days he will probably happily eat the food (if he doesn’t, try again in a month or 2).
8. Try to make meal times happy and relaxed. He will be much more willing to try new things if he feels he can trust you.
9. Be kind to yourself: Remember that your child's food issues are no reflection on your parenting; the fact that he will only eat mashed potato and yoghurt does NOT make you a bad parent.
10. Try not to focus too much on what he eats at any one meal; instead judge his diet by what he eats over the day or week. Realise that the food issues will probably not resolve very quickly. Be patient and set long term goals.
I wish you the very best of luck. It is not an easy issue.
I would say that your grandson almost definately has sensory integration issues with either the tactile sense (the way it feels) or his sense of taste (or probably both). It is very common in premature babies who often have an immature central nervous system at birth. My daughter had (has) this and she too gagged and even vommited up certain foods and would not put food (or anything else for that matter) in her mouth.
I will give you some suggestions that worked for us but first I want to strongly encourage you to seek out professional help as sensory issues can be very difficult and they don't tend to go away on their own. The best person to see would either be a speech therapist or an occupational therapist that deals with food issues in children. Make sure that they are expeienced with sensory issues as the strategies used can be very different from other types of therapy.
It took 10 months of solid work with our daughter but now she will eat almost anything (still working on wobbly textures like egg and jello). Here are some things that worked for us that may also work for your daughter/son:
1. Don't listen to anyone tell you that "he will eat when he is hungry enough". This is not true for kids with sensory issues. My daughter would have starved if not for the formula she was drinking. Make sure that he gets plenty of whatever nutrition he will eat/drink while you are trying new foods.
2. Start with the spoon (it is no point trying to feed him if he can't tolerate the spoon in his mouth). Disassociate the spoon with food; put some out with his toys and encourage him to play with them several times a day. Let him bang them, shake them, ‘feed’ his teddies; whatever it takes for him to like them. When he is comfortable with this try just touching the spoon to his lips (several times a day). When he is comfortable with this try putting the spoon in her mouth (just once but several times a day). Start moving the spoon around and gradually increasing the time the spoon is in his mouth. When he is comfortable with all of this, then start adding food.
3. Try brushing (electric toothbrushes are great) his teeth , gums and tongue before each meal (you don’t need toothpaste) or using a ‘Nuk’ brand gum massager (looks like a tiny nobly egg on the end of a toothbrush) or massage his mouth with your finger (DON'T put your finger between his teeth!). This will desensitize his mouth and get him ready for eating.
4. Introduce new foods SLOWLY. If he will have a little rice cereal in a bottle I would start with that. Then try to get him to eat/drink it from a spoon at the same consistency as the bottle. When she will do that slowly thicken it until it is the consistancy of baby food then SLOWLY start to add flavour.
5. Stick to one food (or one flavour of baby food) at a time; once he is happy eating that you can try introducing a new food. If you find he has trouble transitioning from one food to the next try giving a food that he likes with 1 teaspoon of the new food added in. When he is happy with that add 2 teaspoons and so on till he is happy to eat the new food.
6. Use whatever you need to get him to eat – if distracting her with the television or singing to him while he eats helps then do it. If dipping everything in tomato sauce works, do it. You can always wean him off those things at a later date.
7. If you get stuck on a particularly difficult food try giving 1 teaspoon of the food, as the first food of the day, every morning for 15 days. Never give any more than 1 teaspoon even if he seems to like it. At the end of the 15 days he will probably happily eat the food (if he doesn’t, try again in a month or 2).
8. Try to make meal times happy and relaxed. He will be much more willing to try new things if he feels he can trust you.
9. Be kind to yourself: Remember that your child's food issues are no reflection on your parenting; the fact that he will only eat mashed potato and yoghurt does NOT make you a bad parent.
10. Try not to focus too much on what he eats at any one meal; instead judge his diet by what he eats over the day or week. Realise that the food issues will probably not resolve very quickly. Be patient and set long term goals.
I wish you the very best of luck. It is not an easy issue.
What is the best way to work with temper tantrums and sensory issues with toddler?
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I have a toddler who was some sensory issues, so I buy him specifically recommended toys. He has had a tendancy to throw temper tantrums from time to time (especially when told "No"). These tantrums include head banging, scream as loud as possible, pinching self, biting self, pulling hair and sometimes acting out on older sibling. I have tried to distract him with things when I see the behavior starting. I have tried time out in the playpin. It much more controllable at home because he can run and play and stay busy. Going to the store and driving around are another story because he is strapping in the cart or car seat. Just looking for more ideas to curb this behavior.
Many thanks!
Answer
My son has Sensory Integration Disorder and High Functioning Autism and we have gone through the same thing. He is 5 now and a lot has improved but it is still a challenge.
How old is your son? If he is only 3 or 4 it may just be normal acting out- kids with sensory problems often develop a little more slowly that other kids- he may be going through the terrible two's a little late. :)
But it may be something more. I was a preschool teacher prior to having my own kids, and while I could teach him academics, he needed socialization skills that could only be learned through group settings and by modelling others. There should be a program set up through the school system in your area for children with developmental issues. Once he started that it made a big improvement in his behaviour, but it took a while for it to show. He still goes to it until he starts Kindergarten next year.
For right now, I would suggest bringing him to his pediatrician and getting a formal diagnosis and setting him up with Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy and maybe a Behaviour Specialist dealing with Sensory Defensiveness and Self Injurous Behaviours (biting self, banging into walls, etc). Much of the acting out my son did was because of frustration since he couldn't communicate what was wrong or couldn't do something he was trying to do. And your son may benefit from that as well. They showed me how to do Brush Therapy and to use pressure balls to help calm him and that helped a lot.
My son still doesn't like being told no (what kid does, lol), and time out and the usual behaviour modification techniques did not work. We had to figure out why he was doing the things that he was doing.
For instance, he would scream every time we went to the store and I put him in a cart. We figured out that it was caused by the movement of the cart- Vestibular movement really bothered him, going backwards in the cart moved the fluid in his ears and made them hurt. Turning him around and putting him in the cart (not the seat) fixed it. He also gets overwhelmed by crowds and open spaces, i.e. stores, theme parks, malls etc. Giving him a blanket to cover up under looks wierd, but it gave him a safe place to hide and he would quiet down. Try to find out what is bothering him and is it under or over stimulation- then try to fix it.
Remember that all his senses are used, tags, clothes, sounds, smells, bright light, movement, routines and feeling sick or allergies all can contribute.
I would also suggest joining a support group (online or in person) to get ideas- things like this take a lot of energy and emotion and every kid is different, what works for one may not work for another.
Some of it may be just accepting his limitations, knowing that over time they will get better and trying to keep a positive attitude, knowing that as hard as it is for you, it is worse for him. I know how frustrating and hard that can be.
Hope this helps, and God bless.
Sorry for spelling errors, spell check isn't working lol
My son has Sensory Integration Disorder and High Functioning Autism and we have gone through the same thing. He is 5 now and a lot has improved but it is still a challenge.
How old is your son? If he is only 3 or 4 it may just be normal acting out- kids with sensory problems often develop a little more slowly that other kids- he may be going through the terrible two's a little late. :)
But it may be something more. I was a preschool teacher prior to having my own kids, and while I could teach him academics, he needed socialization skills that could only be learned through group settings and by modelling others. There should be a program set up through the school system in your area for children with developmental issues. Once he started that it made a big improvement in his behaviour, but it took a while for it to show. He still goes to it until he starts Kindergarten next year.
For right now, I would suggest bringing him to his pediatrician and getting a formal diagnosis and setting him up with Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy and maybe a Behaviour Specialist dealing with Sensory Defensiveness and Self Injurous Behaviours (biting self, banging into walls, etc). Much of the acting out my son did was because of frustration since he couldn't communicate what was wrong or couldn't do something he was trying to do. And your son may benefit from that as well. They showed me how to do Brush Therapy and to use pressure balls to help calm him and that helped a lot.
My son still doesn't like being told no (what kid does, lol), and time out and the usual behaviour modification techniques did not work. We had to figure out why he was doing the things that he was doing.
For instance, he would scream every time we went to the store and I put him in a cart. We figured out that it was caused by the movement of the cart- Vestibular movement really bothered him, going backwards in the cart moved the fluid in his ears and made them hurt. Turning him around and putting him in the cart (not the seat) fixed it. He also gets overwhelmed by crowds and open spaces, i.e. stores, theme parks, malls etc. Giving him a blanket to cover up under looks wierd, but it gave him a safe place to hide and he would quiet down. Try to find out what is bothering him and is it under or over stimulation- then try to fix it.
Remember that all his senses are used, tags, clothes, sounds, smells, bright light, movement, routines and feeling sick or allergies all can contribute.
I would also suggest joining a support group (online or in person) to get ideas- things like this take a lot of energy and emotion and every kid is different, what works for one may not work for another.
Some of it may be just accepting his limitations, knowing that over time they will get better and trying to keep a positive attitude, knowing that as hard as it is for you, it is worse for him. I know how frustrating and hard that can be.
Hope this helps, and God bless.
Sorry for spelling errors, spell check isn't working lol
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