Mascara & The Baby Era: Feeding Therapy Friday's

We have loved working with Cooper's feeding therapist!

She is great!

We started seeing her in March of this year, and as soon as we introduced completely new foods to Cooper in her presence (Chicken and avocado) Cooper started to slow his progress.

He didn't want to try the foods.

So we used the Steps Model to make sure he is comfortable with the foods.

Check it out here!

Essentially you work your way up from tolerating being in the same room as the item, to interacting, to smelling, touching, tasting, and finally eating.

There are categories and steps within each of the major stairs as well.

For example

We can get Cooper to lick the chicken, or bite the chicken, all within the taste portion.

Or his favorite is "rocketing" his food, where he has to bite into the food, then spit the piece out into his "All done bowl".

This gives him the power and control that he lacks in the basic feeding times due to him not having many choices of what to eat.

All of these are encouraged to get him to one day, finally eat a bite and swallow it.

That day has been 5 months in the making but,

IT HAPPENED!

COOPER FINALLY ATE AND CHEWED MULTIPLE PIECES OF CHICKEN!

Ironically it was the day after the scope, when he technically doesn't have to eat it daily anymore, but a win is a win!

There is a lot of bribing when it comes to working with Cooper at meal times.

We use bubbles mostly because they are instant and not lasting so you don't have to take the toy he just earned from eating one thing away to have him do it again.

This lesson we moved on to bigger and more interesting toys and he was hooked!

Our feeding therapist brought out an original Fisher price Super Spiral Speedway and Cooper was obsessed.

If anyone ever finds one at a kids resale shop, or a garage sale, please pick it up and message, call, text, email, snapchat , or whatever contact info you have of mine, use it to get in touch with me, because I am on the lookout for one!

The only ones I can find new are branded ones like, Batman, Cars, or Toy Story, and the cheapest I have found is $101.00!

UNREAL!

It's two spirals and about 15 inches tall.

$101.00

Mind-blowing.

Used online for the original is still 35 bucks which is a little much.

Anyways,

Cooper loved this toy and ate SO MUCH CHICKEN!

At this point his feeding therapist says it is behavioral when he doesn't eat it because he doesn't have any signs of textural issues and he doesn't gag or act like he doesn't like it.

It is purely control.

So we will still try it, but I won't push it as often now that he doesn't technically need it.

Cooper is hit or miss in feeding therapy.

The week before this INCREDIBLE week, he refused every single thing we gave him, even his preferred foods, and he literally ate half a baby carrot.

I'm not even talking about the bigger ones that come in the veggie platters.

I'm talking about the petite ones you buy seperately.

So we were pretty discouraged leaving that session.

But boy, did he make both myself and his therapist happy this week!!

Friday was a good day and this friday's session he ate more as well.

He refuses to eat it when I offer it at home, so there was a week between of him not eating it, but he did it again, so that is progress.

This Friday's session he wasn't super interested in the cars, but we still were able to have him eat some by making small pieces jump around in the bowl and he had to catch them and eat them!

Which he loved!

Oh 2 year olds with feeding issues, how you make us jump through hoops!

*Videos at the end!*