Julia: Why I Think She Is My Best Eater

Really? Because she had to be taught to eat. That sounds silly but it's true. There was a day when Julia would eat yogurt and toast and that was it. Occasionally, we could sneak in something of the same textures (like maybe pudding or a crunchy food of some sort), but mostly, yogurt and toast were her tried and true favorites. She had issues with textures and anything in between the yogurt and toast she would either swallow whole, or spit out.

After talking about this with Early Intervention(which she was already taking part in for PT and Speech), we added Occupational Therapy to the mix through EI, as well as at Health South, where she was receiving "extra PT" services.

I learned more about how to feed a child than I ever knew before. It was strange to me that eating (and the how to of it) was actually, in some cases, not something that a child would just know, or that would come as a natural part of being a living, breathing human being. I remember actually saying to her OT, "I actually have to teach her how to eat?"

So, we had to do all kinds of things. We brushed her tongue, the roof of her mouth and the side of her mouth with a Nuk brush. We played "mouth games" with her (such as tapping her mouth and having say ahhh, as well as massaging her cheeks). We fed her cold things, spicy things, and sour things before her normal meals to wake her senses up. We had to teach her to use her front teeth only for the initial bite of food, and then switch to the side. We also had to teach her not to "mouth stuff" which she used to do because it was the only way she could actually even "feel" the food in her mouth.

After all of this? It turns out that the kid who wouldn't eat anything? Will pretty much eat everything. I don't think she has met a food she doesn't like/won't eat. It's nice, and in comparison to the Emily and Katherine (who certainly are not the pickiest eaters I have ever seen but aren't exactly the best eaters)? Julia is a World Champion or something.