My Newborn Baby. ??
For those of you who are interested in Keegan's food issues...
We've got some great news. We found a wonderful feeding specialist who is willing to work with Keegan (and me!). She is kind and understanding and is an expert in Keegan's area of food issues.
This brings me to our new plan that we worked out with our specialist. Our first goal is to rewire his thinking and remove his 'fears' of food and mealtime. We also want to teach him that all food is equal. Once we remove some of these fears and mealtime is more positive and enjoyable, then down the road we can gradually stretch him in the types of food he's willing to eat and so forth.
Each meal, I give him a plate with 4 items: A fruit (because it's good for him and it's something he likes), a serving of what the family is eating, a modifed version of what we're eating, and a sweet.
The modified version, for now, is something that he'll eat that looks sort of like what we're having OR is similar in the nutrients it provides. For example, if we have spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner, a modified version is plain spaghetti, which he likes. For lunch the other day we had turkey deli meat. His modified version was cashews since it's another protein and nothing else came closer that he'd touch.
We also put a sweet on the table to show him that all foods are equal. No longer does dessert come last (which teaches "you have to eat all the bad stuff before getting the good stuff"). The sweet (which I keep small) is part of his meal plate.
We also have to remove all pressure. When Keegan says, "I'm done.", he's done. I cannot pressure him to eat more. I have to keep my words positive. We also cannot tie any rewards to mealtime (ie: no "if you eat a good dinner, you get to play Wii"). We cannot give food as rewards either (ie: no M&Ms for good behavior) since all food is equal.
In addition, we have to feed him every 2 hours since that is how he learned to eat best as a reflux baby (several small meals throughout the day). I put a lot of thought into what I offer (to follow our plan) and document what he is offered, what he eats, what our conversation is, etc. It's a lot of work and much like having a newborn baby that constantly needs fed. We keep the meals and snacks the same (instead of making snacks smaller).
Once Keegan is doing well with this phase of the plan, we can challenge him more and gradually work up to being 'normal'. I think since we started this, he is definitely eating more quantity-wise and I can tell he's enjoying meal/snack times more. We are so pleased to have help and a plan!
Thanks for everyone's support! I'm sure we'll look very "Norman Rockwell" at mealtime when all of this is over!
We've got some great news. We found a wonderful feeding specialist who is willing to work with Keegan (and me!). She is kind and understanding and is an expert in Keegan's area of food issues.
This brings me to our new plan that we worked out with our specialist. Our first goal is to rewire his thinking and remove his 'fears' of food and mealtime. We also want to teach him that all food is equal. Once we remove some of these fears and mealtime is more positive and enjoyable, then down the road we can gradually stretch him in the types of food he's willing to eat and so forth.
Each meal, I give him a plate with 4 items: A fruit (because it's good for him and it's something he likes), a serving of what the family is eating, a modifed version of what we're eating, and a sweet.
The modified version, for now, is something that he'll eat that looks sort of like what we're having OR is similar in the nutrients it provides. For example, if we have spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner, a modified version is plain spaghetti, which he likes. For lunch the other day we had turkey deli meat. His modified version was cashews since it's another protein and nothing else came closer that he'd touch.
We also put a sweet on the table to show him that all foods are equal. No longer does dessert come last (which teaches "you have to eat all the bad stuff before getting the good stuff"). The sweet (which I keep small) is part of his meal plate.
We also have to remove all pressure. When Keegan says, "I'm done.", he's done. I cannot pressure him to eat more. I have to keep my words positive. We also cannot tie any rewards to mealtime (ie: no "if you eat a good dinner, you get to play Wii"). We cannot give food as rewards either (ie: no M&Ms for good behavior) since all food is equal.
In addition, we have to feed him every 2 hours since that is how he learned to eat best as a reflux baby (several small meals throughout the day). I put a lot of thought into what I offer (to follow our plan) and document what he is offered, what he eats, what our conversation is, etc. It's a lot of work and much like having a newborn baby that constantly needs fed. We keep the meals and snacks the same (instead of making snacks smaller).
Once Keegan is doing well with this phase of the plan, we can challenge him more and gradually work up to being 'normal'. I think since we started this, he is definitely eating more quantity-wise and I can tell he's enjoying meal/snack times more. We are so pleased to have help and a plan!
Thanks for everyone's support! I'm sure we'll look very "Norman Rockwell" at mealtime when all of this is over!
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