Picky Eater Street

Food, it’s a very interesting thing. 5 years ago when I was pregnant for the first time I had this vision that babies just eat and sleep, nothing to it. Was I ever wrong.  My son slept through the night very early but was a 15 minute napper.  The biggest surprise in store for me was eating.  He is 4 now and on any given day there are probably around 10 things he will eat.  A year and a half ago, this was not the case, it was more like 2-3.  Upon doing a desperate Google search I found a place that does feeding therapy and got him scheduled for an eval right away.  With an Occupational Therapist and a Speech Therapist watching in the next room through a hidden window, we had a meal with a discussion afterwords.  After finding comfort and answers for the first time I cried through the majority of that appointment.  My son has sensory processing disorder and is mainly affected orally and tactilely.  He is not a picky eater, he has fear of  touching unknown foods and putting them in his mouth. Before knowing what was going on I used to place the blame on myself.  Around the time that we started offering solid foods he had major skin issues and we kept starting and stopping feeding in fear that a certain food may be causing the skin problems.  When the OT told me that this was not my fault and that nothing I did or didn’t do caused this it took a massive burden away and gave me strength to begin the journey of taking the fear away.  Two days a week we share a table with the most amazing OT.  We chase away bad guys with loud crunches, build snowmen out of mashed potatoes, eat M&M’s that went swimming in yogurt and when we are all done we blow our food away into the garbage.  Every action is giving exposure and offering an opportunity to try. He learns and teaches his brain about new foods every day and little by little the fear goes away.  Sometimes I have to hold my tears back and refrain from standing up and cheering when he licks a new food.  We caught this at a young age and our OT believes that it is curable.  As a mom this is my hardest struggle.  The thing that stops me in my tracks and freezes me sometimes, especially when it comes to meal planning, grocery shopping, putting food on the table and seeing him eat the same thing over and over worrying about what he will eat next when he tires of it.  I have learned a certain kind of patience and kindness especially towards  myself.  I want to bring awareness and create a space so no mom or parent are alone on this journey. Don’t judge a full plate, celebrate every bite and know that those little eyes and tummy would do anything to give it all a try.  Get out of the ditches hoping things will change and get better, lean in and get a plan for that is the only real strategy.  Don’t travel down Picky Eater Street alone.