Toddler Not on Table Foods

Ask your OT about oral tactile therapy and brushing therapy. My 5 yo has many sensory issues, textures is also one of his problems. Until we started brushing and oral tactile therapies with him, he only had about 4 or 5 things he would eat period. He still struggles with new foods at times, but we can at least get him to try them now.

Just keep trying. One doctor told us it takes on average 10 tries of a new food before kids decide to like it or not.

If you haven't already, check out sensory processing disorder (also know as sensory integration dysfunction), specifically the oral defensiveness. If your OT isn't specialized in this, seek out a therapist who is. The therapies I mentioned above have literally made my little guy a totally different person (and for the good too).

Good luck and hope you find the right therapies for you little one!

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It sounds like your doing the right things. All children do things in their own time. Just keep trying things, if he does not like now he may grow to love it later! Some of his other issues could also be affecting his choice of foods. My friends son would never eat anything with peanut butter, she kept trying it and he would either taste it once then not anymore or would just refuse it. As he got older he was allergy tested and peanuts were one of the things he was allergic to. Most of all don't force the food on him. It could be his body telling him not to eat it or it may cause eating issues later in life.

A.,

Normally, this would not pop into my head. But, for whatever reason it did, and I always go with my gut instincts. Do you think he has sensitive gums? Has he had a hard time with teething or no? Really hard to elaborate on my thoughts without knowing about his gums first.....

My son went through a stage where he would only eat cheese- it lasted for a couple of months and no matter what we tried he would not eat anything but cheese. We just continued to give him other options and began to limit the amount of cheese with each meal until he finally started eating other foods. I have also taught him that he has to taste everything I make for dinner- if he doesn't like it he doesn't have to eat it but he must taste it and swallow it. I taught him to close his eyes and chew and swallow if it is something he doesn't like and that seems to work really well. I even saw him close his eyes to eat cooked carrots at a Thanksgiving dinner we went to and I didn't prompt him to do it- he just knew he had to try a bite and did it.Also, try letting him help you prepare his foods- maybe he doesn't really understand that apple slices are the same thing as the apple when it's whole. I do think you need to limit the amount of pureed foods he is allwed to eat- he is old enough that he will not starve himself and he will start eating other foods if he isn't full of pureed foods and realizes that he is still hungry. Good Luck!

My 6 year old was the same way. I didn't think he would ever get off of baby food. Finally, when he was about 20 months old I just stopped buying it. Your son actually eats more of a variety than my son did at that age (there are some foods that he still won't even touch with his fingers) and he was fine when I stopped it. He was hungry so we found things that he would eat and gradually he began to eat more. He went to daycare so he was given their lunch every day and as time went on, he would eat almost every meal served except chicken and rice. And that may have just been from the taste because my younger son who eats everything wouldn't eat it either. He is still a picky eater, but he is very healthy. He goes through periods of things he will eat for a few months and then he changes. He is still learning to eat more things now and is more willing to try new things because he is hungrier the bigger he gets. I think it helps too that his younger brother loves to eat all kinds of things and we've started having them help us cook our meals. They enjoy eating the things they get to cook themselves. Good luck!