The Mulloy's: Feeding Therapy

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that we have struggled with Patrick's eating. We talked to our pediatrician at Patrick's 18 month and 2 year appointment and got some suggestions. After trying them all, failing miserably and realizing that this was not something he was going to grow out of, we went back to the pediatrician to talk about our options. At this point, Patrick will only eat a handful of foods including, milk, yogurt, juice, crackers, fruit snacks, cantaloupe, M&M's and waffles.

Our pediatrician recommended we go to High Hopes to have a feeding evaluation. I was so nervous to go to the feeding evaluation and I was blown away by how well it went! It was a two hour appointment where the therapist talked to us for an hour about Patrick's habits from birth. She literally covered every thing that has ever happened in his life. I was a little surprised it was so thorough! We determined that the eating problems started around 18 months when he had the stomach bug. Prior to 18 months, he was a picky eater but would definitely eat some vegetables.

After talking through Patrick's history, she put him in the booster chair and started her evaluation. He was a little nervous to sit in the booster chair, but calmed down when Michael and I sat on the floor next to him. She started with a preferable food, graham crackers. He chowed down on the graham cracker with no problems, so I was excited he would actually eat something! She looked at everything from his chewing pattern to his hand movements, etc. She then gave him cheerios which he also gobbled up. After Cheerios, she tried bacon which I knew was going to be difficult for him. She started breaking the bacon in half, which I knew bothered him. He doesn't like any food to be broken. He started getting upset and said "I want to eat at my house" and kept reaching for me and whining. He also refused to try the bacon, but did touch it to put it in the "all done bowl." Before this session he has refused to even touch most foods. Next she tried a mozzarella cheese stick. He got excited about opening the cheese stick, but did not want to eat it. So first the therapist started with touching it, smelling it, kissing it, licking and biting (but not swallowing). Michael and I also touched, smelled, kissed, licked and bit it. Patrick thought it was funny to lick it and look at Michael and I's bite marks on the cheese stick. Surprisingly, he decided to bite the cheese stick, but spit it out and would not eat it. Definitely a big step! Next she tried a mini pancake. Patrick would lick it and look at his bite marks, but did not eat it. Again, we did the touching, kissing, licking, etc. so he could see it was safe before he tried it. Next the therapist tried a chicken nugget. He got really upset by the texture of the chicken nugget and did what the therapist called "fingersplay," which is a sign of distress in children. I had never noticed this before. He smelled the chicken nugget and even took a bite which he swallowed! HUGE step for Patrick! He then realized what he had done and got a little nervous. Next she tried oranges. This really upset Patrick because of the messiness. He would tear them apart with his hands, but then got upset about his hands being messy. He refused to eat or lick the oranges. He seemed really excited to try and please the therapist, but you could tell that he was also conflicted because of his nervousness around food.

After the evaluation, the therapist talked to us about what she noticed. She noticed that Patrick does a movement with his hands where he spreads all his fingers out and tightens up (kind of like a claw). She said that when children do this (along with some of the other signs she noticed) it is a sign that their brain is sending a single to them that the food will hurt them and not to touch. She determined that Patrick has some sensory processing issues. I was not surprised at this diagnosis. Patrick has never been a child that would get messy, even as an infant. Bright lights and loud noises seem to bother him a lot. This is a totally treatable condition that she thinks we can work through with him. It just takes time to teach Patrick's brain that different textures of food will not harm him (i.e. will not cause the stomach bug). She recommended that Patrick receive therapy for the next 9 months or so. She also recommended messy play at home such as finger painting or a food fight. This has always been difficult for Patrick. He has trouble getting dirty and it really bothers him to the point that he shuts down and can't function until he is clean.

I felt really excited after our feeding evaluation and am feeling really hopeful! It is incredibly difficult to see your child not eating day in and day out because of fear. I was so proud of Patrick. He did really well and was responding really well to the therapist. My ultimate goal is that we can go to a restaurant with him (we haven't been to a restaurant with him in over a year!) or go to a party and have Patrick find something that he can eat so that he doesn't feel uncomfortable. It's difficult for us to go to a party and see all the other children eating and see our child nervous and begging to go home once everyone sits down to eat. I think this is going to be life-changing for our family and I am so excited to get started!

Here are a few recent pictures of Patrick at school (and one at home with Turk!)

Learning how to use the computer