Just Two More Bites! by Linda Piette

Author:Linda Piette [Piette, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-53389-0
Publisher: Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony
Published: 2010-07-06T16:00:00+00:00

Sensory Dimensions of Food

When kids reject food, the first thing we tend to think is that they don’t like the taste. From my experience, often the problem is texture. Texture, the tactile dimension of food when it enters the mouth, is important because it determines how hard or easy a food is to eat, and because some children are surprisingly sensitive to it.

The feel of food in your mouth can add to the pleasure of eating. After months of mush, imagine the new sensations evoked by a Cheerio, or the fun of hearing a crunch from biting into a cracker. But tactile and sensory food experiences are not always fun, especially early on. For babies and young children, foods with interesting textures present challenges. They require new skills and new ways of moving and coordinating the muscles in the mouth. Kids are not always ready for the challenge.

At nine months, Kyle began to vomit regularly. Because of a strong family history of food allergies, his mother assumed it was an allergic reaction. Months later, after a work-up with an allergist, an elimination diet, and a serious drop-off in growth, it turned out that Kyle did not have food allergies. He vomited because he was highly sensitive to mixed food textures.

Kyle had done well with smooth baby foods. The trouble started later, with the transition to table foods. It was the stage three foods that threw him off—somehow, the combination of mush and small bits of food didn’t work. Whenever he ate these foods, Kyle threw up. At the time, everyone focused on his risk for allergies and, as a result, missed the real problem.

Kyle was so sensitive to food texture that it interfered with his growth and his ability to eat table foods. With the help of a therapist and a nutritionist he overcame his problems. The therapist used a vibrator, at first on Kyle’s face and later in his mouth to reduce his sensitivity. The nutritionist suggested changes in Kyle’s formula (to increase calories and reduce the risk for an allergic reaction). She also helped Kyle’s mother increase textures gradually, at first by using thickeners and later by giving Kyle crunch-and-crumble foods that dissolve quickly (see the chart on page 150). With these changes Kyle’s vomiting decreased and he slowly began eating more table foods.

Not all food sensitivities cause eating problems. In fact, mild sensitivities are likely to go unnoticed. One mother, remembering her son, Rafael, as a baby, said, “Oh, he loved his milk. He drank nothing else, no water, no juice, nothing but milk.” I asked if she thickened his milk (or, more accurately, formula), perhaps with cereal. “Oh, yes,” she answered. In her native Colombia, cereal was routinely added to a baby’s milk.

Even without added cereal, milk is thicker than water. For a child with emerging skills, that difference, though subtle, makes swallowing easier. Thicker liquids have more body, move more slowly, and, as a result, provide more sensations. All this helps to coordinate the movements needed to swallow.

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