Did you know:
1. Eating is only instinctual for the first month of life. It is reflexive up until 6 months. After that, it is a learned skill.
2. We use all 8 of our senses each time we eat.
3. Children will not necessarily eat when they are hungry. Some need to be trained to eat when hungry and taught how to eat to get enough calories to thrive.
All of this is news to me. As a mom, I was told that a kid will eat when he's hungry, that it's in his nature to get enough calories, and that he will eventually get past the picky stage and start eating normally when old enough.
For some kids, that is the story. For kids with sensory issues, that is not necessarily the case. We now have a 6 step plan for eating at our house. The first step is to get the right chair. I know that sounds crazy, but it is one of the most important steps to proper eating. Without the right support, Sam has to focus on breathing, posture, and balance rather than on eating his food. That's just the start of our new "Family Eating Style."
On our way home from the meeting, Jason commented that all of this information is great but very overwhelming. Each therapy is asking us as parents to change our lives. Change the ways we interact with Sam. Change the ways we manage his emotions and our emotions. Change the way we talk with Sam. Change the way we play with Sam. Change the way we have meals. Change the way we sit at the table. The list just goes on...
My reply was to concur that it is very overwhelming to know all that we have to do in order to help Sam. But, Sam must be working even harder than we are to change his thinking, change his body, change his communication skills, change his eating. As hard as it is for us, I cannot imaging how hard it is for him.
So, it has been recommended that we seek a feeding therapist. Really, another therapist?? I think we are going to try out our six step plan and see how that goes before we jump into feeding therapy. Maybe we will wait until this summer and see if feeding therapy is still needed. Dr. Toomey, the specialist we met with, said that sometimes sensory therapy will help with feeding issues, so we will see if that is the case with Sam.
While we had the feeding meeting, Sam had OT. He was alone for the whole session with his therapist, Lindsay. She said the session went very well and there was not much separation anxiety on Sam's part. We are going to practice a few more "goodbyes" with Lindsay to see if he can feel better about separation issues when going to school back at home. We'll see how it goes!
After the meeting/therapy session this morning, we went to the park. Denver has amazing parks! It's an expensive city to live in, but it has some awesome amenities!
