One of the biggest concerns I hear from Moms of kids with special needs is how can I get my kid to eat?
Forget the healthy. They are just talking about getting calories into their kid.
I gotta admit, this is where a g-tube is a blessing.
Due to choking issues, many kids with special need their diets to be pureed before they can eat them. Kids with Down syndrome often need stronger flavors to be able to taste what they are eating.
I’m by no means a feeding specialist. But I can share a few ideas we used with Parker before he went NPO, and hopefully we’ll be able to employ again if we get the okay to feed him orally again.
- We used lots of Mrs. Dash in Parker’s meals. No salt, just lots of herbs to give an added burst of flavor.
- We added dry Ranch seasoning to cream cheese and then allowed Parker to eat that using his beloved Cheetos as a ‘spoon.’
- I added extra butter and sour cream to Parker’s homemade mashed potatoes. Extra fat = extra calories.
- I made yogurt using whole milk and adding a few extra scoops of powered milk.
- I made refried beans using extra butter and olive oil……and garlic. Parker loves him some garlic. Wonder where he got that from?
- Kids with trachs don’t have the same sense of smell as non-trached kids. Each time we fed him orally we made sure he had his speaker valve on. The sense of smell plays a big role in finding foods worth the time to eat.
Of course, even with these foods Parker still had his g-tube as a back up.
But lots of kids don’t.
What do you do if your kid will only eat a handful of foods?
Or only sweet tasting foods?
How do you make sure your child gets enough nutrients to grow and be healthy?
Please share what has worked for you in the comments section. I know there are many Moms out there looking (praying) for tried and true ideas to help their kids eat.
Hey Tammy, just saw your link on twitter.
Have you ever considered Juice Plus+ capsules? It is the nutrients from 17 fruits and vegetables, and berries if you add those… all backed by 18 double blind research studies. I have a few people opening the capsules and administering them through their child’s g-tube… this is huge for them to be able to do this and get all those nutrients in their body. Here is more info… http://www.livelife-juiceplus.com … not out to make a buck (I PROMISE – LOL), but rather passionate about sharing this with others, as I have seen time and time again the health benefits in my family and others. 
Bethany, I have heard of Juice Plus and I’ve heard good things about it. Right now though, it’s out of our budget range. But it may be a great option for others!
When Seth came to us at 4 yrs 3 months old, he weighed 28 pounds and wore a size 2T. He was labeled ‘failure to thrive’ and seriously malnourished. I immediately started him on probiotics and supplements (he doesn’t have a chewing or swallowing problem, he refused to eat and would vomit up anything he did eat) Then the real work began to get him to eat and to get enough calories into him to get him growing again. I used heavy cream to make hot chocolate, added extra butter to everything, pureed tofu and snuck into everything, gave him sauces to dip food into (adds calories and flavor and is fun) added peanut butter to anything I could, had him eat many small snack type meals throughout the day, and cheered him on while he ate. When he was eating he had my full attention, helping him to eat and attach to me. I am pleased to say he gained 12 pounds and grew 4 inches in one year and is still working on catching up.
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Wendy! Fantastic ideas! Especially pointing out having your full attention and time bonding!
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The wonder-fruit—the AVOCADO!!! it’s full of good fat, and doesn’t have a strong flavor so you can add it to anything. When it’s mushed, it’s the thickened consistency that kids with feeding troubles handle best (honey thick). We also use a product called “Simply Thick.” It is a gel and you can add it to any beverage or food to thicken it–and it has no taste. It’s WAY better than the powder thickeners. I also have a recipe for the super shake that has a billion calories in it: add milk, strawberry powder, some dry milk powder, and a package of carnation instant breakfast together…it’s a milkshake bomb of calories.
Other than that, I have no advice. I spent 4 years fighting over eating, and now, I’m just really thankful that the feeding tube is there and I allow him to eat when he really thinks he wants to (which is not very often).
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We lurve avacado here too! Great idea to use it as a thickener!
I just make a lot of vegetable pureed soups seasoned with olive oil and garlic. I still spoon feed some foods or partially spoon feed (prep the spoon or fork to be handled) I hear once that takes several tries for kids to like some foods – so there was a lot of try-and-fail. I load protein in favor foods like peanut noddles made with peanut butter sauce and oatmeal cookies made with flax seed – Kevin is still a worshiper of cheese and I let him in more as a treat than a food source. Sometimes I make a plate with a food he loves and one that he has to learn to love like spinach with pasta. I try not to make his prejudices create my fears. When I have to feed him a food he doesn’t like – I’ll try in a non pressure environment – like a family picnic dinner or “tv dinner” for fhe. Kevin has a sensory issue – so textures and smells count a lot but not a challenge as a feeding tube. He loves any kind of smoothies but not comercial ones.
Flax seed! That is another great idea. I just bought some too!
We have several different diets in our house… Three are FTT and we have tried all sorts of stuff…
Some favorites are potato flakes re-hydrated using pedisure and butter instead of water. Same with Carnation breakfasts added to a blend of half milk half pediasure.
For a quick and easy puree meal we use canned soups, blended and with infant oatmeal added.
One of mine used to be tube fed and now is all on oral feeds but liquids only. For extra calories we thicken his pediasure with infant oatmeal. It also helps his tube not to leak (no idea why it is leaking in the first place, but this helps!).
Oh, and getting veggies into my kids… Love smoothies, and as a time saver I will put stage 2 baby food veggies in them along with fresh fruits and not use any milk— pediasure!
Our searches for foods for the kids are based on high calories and LOW amount of time since we have such a large fam… But unfortunately aren’t always as pretty on the budget…
Yeah, you know, we know the major problems are with Jax veins in his chest. His PH is ok right now on meds and the vent, at least last time we checked!! But he is the one doctor that kept saying it wasn’t those veins causing the problems. Then I got him to crack on the phone. I told him that many doctors told me that those veins are the problem. Then he finally said, yea, that could be it! Sheesh!
Thats why we are not going back to the cath lab with him. We aren’t going to measure pressures, we are going to look at his venous system, and he just isn’t the one I want doing that! We can’t keep going to the cath lab, his veins aren’t going to last that long!
Do you have regular insurance with your medicaid? Usually insurance will pay to go out of state if a doctor writes a letter saying they’ve done everything they can here.
Parker has been trached and vented for a while now, are his pressures not staying at a good place? Usually they don’t go to the cath lab that much, they use echo’s to look at pressures unless something major is going on. Our little Bella, that is trached and vented 24/7, I don’t know when the last time she went to the cath lab was!
Hi, Tammy. Also saw your tweet. We, too, have loved avocado at our house, though Max outgrew his taste for those. Chocolate banana milkshakes helped Max gain a fair amount of weight this past year. We’d sprinkle in a powdered caloric supplement, Duocal (and also put it into basically everything he ate). There’s also a liquid form, Benecalorie (also comes in a powder).
My FTT daughter has been very hard to feed and hates food. Although we have been on a gluten free diet for the last 5 months and all of the sudden she is eating great. One of my favorite ways of adding a ton of calories to her food is baking pasta…she is a Mac and Cheese girl and would eat it everyday if I let her. I made up a Mac and Cheese bake but it can be used with any pasta. I add the uncooked pasta and whatever else to a bowl and add 2 cups of cream per cup of uncooked pasta and then bake it at 350 for about 25 minutes. The pasta soaks up the cream. It works great.
My daughter also loves eggs and we add a ton of calories there as well. I have discovered that if you add a little pancake mix to the eggs that the eggs turn out very fluffy and you can add about 3 tablespoons of oil to them and they do not get slimy. This is an almost every day thing at our house. We usually use coconut oil.
Hi Tammy .. this topic once reigned ‘king’ in our home
Here are a few tips we used to wake up our Nathan’s eating experience as he transitioned from a g-tube (with night pump) to complete self feeding. He even had surgery to reduce the size of his tongue.
I would hold him in my arms while cooking (of course not directly over a hot skillet;) .. and ooh and aah about the food. We always included him at the table even if he didn’t eat .. I also used distractions .. such as a favorite TV show when he sat in the high chair for lunch. It was easier to slip a small rubber tipped spoon in his mouth when distracted. As he progressed .. I also never allowed him to see me tube feeding him so he’d associate hunger with being satiated with eating. This was the hard part as it meant tube feeds during nap .. and holding off one of the night feeds so he’d wake up hungry. We had everyone we knew praying that he’d eat as well. He didn’t have swallowing issues .. just lower GI and the too big tongue now allowing him to make a seal with his lips. Hope this helps someone .. I have a gazillion more tips .. if anyone wants them
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