Feeding issues

When your child has any sort of special need you will try pretty much anything to help them. With my son, we have mostly focused on occupational therapy to help bring his motor skills in closer proximity to his actual age.  So far so good....he is testing in the realm of normal...some below actual age, but still in the "normal" range.

However OT doesn't cover every part of the puzzle....there are pieces missing that OT doesn't seem to fix. One major one is the feeding thing.  The boy eats only 3 veggies-well today he eats all 3. Tomorrow he could  be down to only 1 of the 3. He eats a decent array of fruit, though tends to get "stuck" on one at a time. For example, for the first 1/3 of the year for lunch at school he ate a cheese quesadilla (whole wheat tortilla) and ate strawberries or grapes. Now we have moved on to peach yogurt-greek style, with clementines....every day....5 days a week.

We have tried different things in OT to get him to eat other things. We have tried different things at home. Feeding him wears me out. I took a semester long nutrition course in college...I am that weird parent that actually "thinks" in terms of protein, good fats, good carbs, and what part of the produce rainbow has he partaken of. And he rarely eats what we make for dinner....well more than his "try it" bite.

Thus far I have avoided any talk of elimination diets and extra supplements. I am wary. However, I do recognize that nutrition plays a big part in overall health...so I read. I borrowed a copy of What's Eating Your Child? by Kelly Dorfman, MS, LND. I borrowed it from the library as I wasn't sure I wanted to spend any money on it. It is now on my Amazon list. And while I am still a bit apprehensive to give up any foods-though he shows signs of dairy intolerance, that is his main source of protein; I am trying to add things. I am also trying her E.A.T. method of getting kids to try new foods. We are currently working on butternut squash....after a week he still hates it, but we have a week to go.

I am working on her suggestion of "good fats" for dsypraxia. Got the Vitamin E in with no problem...the fish oil is going to be a whole other story...tried 1/2 a capsule in his chocolate milk and he could taste it :( Then there is the Choline that even she says tastes like (and I quote) "goat vomit"....super taste sensitive boy is never gonna take that!

And so I rack my brain for new ways to get some healthy fats into him...like I said at the beginning, it might sound odd, but you will try anything once to help your kid!