Food Therapy (so far!) — Pink Glitter Pumpkins

So Melody started going to food therapy back in August. We have been discussing this as a possibility with her pediatrician for a few years now at her well visits. Well this year we finally decided it was time. While we are still attending food therapy, I thought I would share what we have been doing at home so far to assist.

For a bit of back story - Melody refuses to eat much other than a select group of things. She also refuses to try anything new. We have to make her a special meal for both lunch and dinner every day. The pickiness became worse over the last 18 month for so. She even got to the point she would only eat French fries from specific places and would refuse them if they had skin on them (aka Wendy’s or 5 Guys). Her diet primarily consisted of peanut butter, chips, and cereals. We desperately needed help. One of our final straws was when GoGo Squeeze changed their packaging. Melody refused to eat her strawberry yogurt pouch she had been eating since she was old enough to eat it. This was all because they changed up a few things on the package. We even did a blind taste test, she agreed they tasted the same, but still refused to eat the new one.

One of the things we started doing early on was placing everything we had for dinner on a separate plate but at her seat along with her food. I did about a tablespoon of each thing. She vocalized her hatred for our food, but we continued this trend for a while.

Along with that, we started a chart to help with some of Melody’s anxiety about food changing. Originally we started out changing the shapes of her food but there was a lot of panic. So that is where the chart came into play. I made a chart for each day of the week. I used cookie cutters, or even shapes I could cut, and she had to pick a different shape each day. We also did this same method for food play. She got to pick the item (or color of the item) each day of the week. So she knew what to expect and had some control, but we were doing new things each day.

About a month into food therapy, we added sensory play in addition to food play. Food play was no longer daily because it became really overwhelming. We thing it was because we were getting to the true sensory part of food therapy. It was no longer just smelling things, she now had to lick and even bite things. A lot of things she hated touching due to it being cold or wet. So we added sensory to help. We used food as "paint brushes”, we sorted colored ice cubs, played with icing, etc.

After Thanksgiving we had some trouble with Melody at food therapy because we were at the point of biting and chewing (she can spit foods out, but she still has to get them in her mouth). I attempted to try our potty training method. She would have to pick one item in each food group. If she took a bite of the item, she got a sticker for her chart. If she did all 6 items, she got an extra sticker. When she got to the reward box she could go to the treasure chest. It was not successful.

We also now add different foods along with what we are eating for dinner on her actual dinner plate now. I am trying to make food seem prettier by adding muffin tins. Some days I also add her dessert to the plate to try and desensitize her desire for sweets. She sometimes eats new things (chocolate frosty, pumpkin pie, and a blueberry muffin to name a few). But mostly she ignores the new foods. But it has been big progress for it to even be on the plate with her sandwich.

Our current food play solution is a Candy Land style game. We roll a die and move that many spaces on the board I created. Each color represents a different action, but if you land on it you have to do it (smell, kiss, lick, bite, chew and swallow). You also can’t do the same item twice. I pick several things (some of which I know she will eat), and we play. She has done much better with this for sure. We still have gagging on occasion, but she still tries it.