Baby Food Grinder

my prebaby did the same thing, what i did was started by smashing all his food up, then on day i played a game with him, he did what i did and ever sincse he ate all soild foods, what i did made a gameout of it, were he had to eat everthing i ate, i started of with foods like strawberries, then banbana then carrots and tomatoes And it worked. but start at with foods that he will like the color of thats how i got my son to eat whole foods.and dont give in your child will get hungry enoug to eat the food you give him, take care.let him know that he can have a treat of whatever he’d like after he eats his food with you, it will take a little time be pracation with your child.good luck.

I would say that your grandson almost definately has sensory integration issues with either the tactile sense (the way it feels) or his sense of taste (or probably both). It is very common in premature babies who often have an immature central nervous system at birth. My daughter had (has) this and she too gagged and even vommited up certain foods and would not put food (or anything else for that matter) in her mouth.

I will give you some suggestions that worked for us but first I want to strongly encourage you to seek out professional help as sensory issues can be very difficult and they don’t tend to go away on their own. The best person to see would either be a speech therapist or an occupational therapist that deals with food issues in children. Make sure that they are expeienced with sensory issues as the strategies used can be very different from other types of therapy.

It took 10 months of solid work with our daughter but now she will eat almost anything (still working on wobbly textures like egg and jello). Here are some things that worked for us that may also work for your daughter/son:

1. Don’t listen to anyone tell you that “he will eat when he is hungry enough”. This is not true for kids with sensory issues. My daughter would have starved if not for the formula she was drinking. Make sure that he gets plenty of whatever nutrition he will eat/drink while you are trying new foods.

2. Start with the spoon (it is no point trying to feed him if he can’t tolerate the spoon in his mouth). Disassociate the spoon with food; put some out with his toys and encourage him to play with them several times a day. Let him bang them, shake them, ‘feed’ his teddies; whatever it takes for him to like them. When he is comfortable with this try just touching the spoon to his lips (several times a day). When he is comfortable with this try putting the spoon in her mouth (just once but several times a day). Start moving the spoon around and gradually increasing the time the spoon is in his mouth. When he is comfortable with all of this, then start adding food.

3. Try brushing (electric toothbrushes are great) his teeth , gums and tongue before each meal (you don’t need toothpaste) or using a ‘Nuk’ brand gum massager (looks like a tiny nobly egg on the end of a toothbrush) or massage his mouth with your finger (DON’T put your finger between his teeth!). This will desensitize his mouth and get him ready for eating.

4. Introduce new foods SLOWLY. If he will have a little rice cereal in a bottle I would start with that. Then try to get him to eat/drink it from a spoon at the same consistency as the bottle. When she will do that slowly thicken it until it is the consistancy of baby food then SLOWLY start to add flavour.

5. Stick to one food (or one flavour of baby food) at a time; once he is happy eating that you can try introducing a new food. If you find he has trouble transitioning from one food to the next try giving a food that he likes with 1 teaspoon of the new food added in. When he is happy with that add 2 teaspoons and so on till he is happy to eat the new food.

6. Use whatever you need to get him to eat – if distracting her with the television or singing to him while he eats helps then do it. If dipping everything in tomato sauce works, do it. You can always wean him off those things at a later date.

7. If you get stuck on a particularly difficult food try giving 1 teaspoon of the food, as the first food of the day, every morning for 15 days. Never give any more than 1 teaspoon even if he seems to like it. At the end of the 15 days he will probably happily eat the food (if he doesn’t, try again in a month or 2).

8. Try to make meal times happy and relaxed. He will be much more willing to try new things if he feels he can trust you.

9. Be kind to yourself: Remember that your child’s food issues are no reflection on your parenting; the fact that he will only eat mashed potato and yoghurt does NOT make you a bad parent.

10. Try not to focus too much on what he eats at any one meal; instead judge his diet by what he eats over the day or week. Realise that the food issues will probably not resolve very quickly. Be patient and set long term goals.

I wish you the very best of luck. It is not an easy issue.