Feeding Tips

We have a child with Down syndrome. At around age 5, we wanted her to drink from a cup using a straw - just like all the other kids do. She could not understand the concept of "sucking" on the straw. By accident, after many attempts, we told her to "kiss" the straw. This produced the "sucking" motion and she caught on from that point forward. We have told several other parents who have children with DS and it has worked for them too. This allows the child and parent the freedom to buy things like drinking boxes. - L.F., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

I saw the comment on the lack of large bibs for adults. One suggestion would be to get a length of ribbon and sew on clips, such as alligator clips, onto both ends. That way, you can use anything as a bib; just hang the ribbon on the person's neck and clip it to the towel, napkin, etc. I got this idea from a Teletubby travel kit that came with a sippy cup, a bowl and a gadget such as the one I just described, so we can use the restaurant's paper napkins in an emergency. - C.P., Midwest City, OK

If your child is on a pureed food diet, and you are going out for the day, heat the food before leaving and put it in a thermos. It will stay hot for hours. You can also use these for cold food. I even bought my daughter her own special little lunch bucket, so now she can have lunch anywhere we go. - L.J., Sioux Falls, SD

When I finally got tired of just feeding my daughter the tasteless baby food, I looked for something else that would puree smoothly in the blenders. I buy the Hormel microwave cup (they have potato and ham, broccoli and cheese, spaghetti, beans and wieners, chicken noodle or dumpling, etc.), and my daughter loves them much better than baby food. If your child is still doing baby food, it’s a quick and fast meal. Also, I puree bananas and canned fruit and vegetables. I give her a very high protein drink: one banana with a package of Carnation breakfast and 7 ounces of whole milk with a cup of ice cream. I throw it in the blender and when I pour it in the cup, I pour on chocolate milk. Cereal I grind into a power and then add milk until smooth. For other ideas, you can order a great pureed recipe book by Randy Wilson called Non-Chew Foods. - L.J., Sioux Falls, SD

My 17 year old daughter has difficulty handling foods like soup or cereal that have different textures in the same bite. We solved the problem by mixing her breakfast cereal with low fat yogurt instead of milk. She loves to decide which flavor and no spilled milk!! - B.P., Oklahoma City, OK

Johanna has quadriplegic athetoid cerebral palsy, accompanied by marked oral motor deficits. After 15 years, we've found that the best way to prepare her food is still the "Happy Baby" brand baby-food grinder (formerly made by Bowland-Jacobs of Yorkville, IL; I don't know if they're still made). The problem with food processors, or any motorized food preparation method, is that they tend to turn the food into soup. The perforated metal plate of the Happy Baby grinder, with slow manual grinding, leaves enough texture in the food to exercise what oral motor skills Johanna has. We suspect the old-style metal grinders used about 50 years ago for meat grinding, would also work well. - E.A., Boulder, CO

When your child is just beginning to eat, or if your child has some feeding problems, use a baby food grinder to grind up small portions of your leftovers. Freeze them in ice cube trays to use when your child needs a quick nutritious snack. - C.U., city and state unknown

My son won't eat vegetables, so I grate them finely and add them to ground meat for hamburger patties, cornbread, spaghetti sauce, stuffing, etc. I use any combination of carrots, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, celery, eggplant, and/or bell pepper. I also add fortified baby cereal to gravies, mashed potatoes, sauces, etc. to increase vitamin content. - J.J., New Orleans, LA

Use pudding or other thick sticky food for children learning to feed themselves. It will stick to the utensils and provide the child with success getting food to their mouths without it falling off by the time the utensil reaches the mouth. - D.S., Fayetteville, NC

My son loves to eat in his room, in front of his TV/VCR, on a tray. To keep the spills at a minimum on my carpet, I went to the office supply store and bought a mat that goes under your computer chair. The short end fits under the TV and he doesn't try to pull it up because it is hard, heavy plastic. It stays put on the carpet and works like a charm - wipes up perfectly. Just spray a little bleach type cleaner and wipe away... it's sanitary, a cinch to clean and no more stains on my carpet. The small ones run around $9.95 at Office Depot. - M.G., Louisville, KY

I have a 17 year old severely mentally handicapped daughter. She has severe motor deficits in all areas. She walked at age 6 and was toilet trained at age 10. A way we taught her to use a straw and even helped with the sippie cups was using a drink box, with a straw. We would put the straw into her mouth and squeeze the box and the liquid would come out. Through this we were able to teach her how to drink with a straw. - M.H., Springfield, LA

My son is 15 months old and requires all of his fluids to be thickened for him to tolerate them. I have found the best product so far (after trying a number of them) to be the Novartis Nutrition/Resource Product Range. They supply Thicken-Up powder and also pre-thickened juices - which are very convenient for traveling. Also, they have a product called Dairy Thick. They have an office I believe in Minnesota. - N.B., Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

I was just at a vendor fair and was looking at one of the catalogs and saw a bib for larger kids. I was about to try to sew something to use for my 9 year old so she wouldn't get food all over her clothes when she eats. This large bib made me think of the plastic art smocks that you buy for art at school. It has a pocket at the bottom to catch food. I haven't found one yet, but that might give someone an idea. - S.S., Aurora, IL

Several years ago, I was a teacher of orthopedically and multi-handicapped children, along with being a camp counselor for children with a variety of special needs. In an effort to escape the perpetual "graham cracker and juice" snack routine at camp, I decided to try Jell-O jiggles; I had tried them in my classroom, and they had been a big hit. One of the campers began chewing for the first time ever(!), and his mother was thrilled enough to continue fixing them for him! They are easy to prepare, and the recipe is on the box of most Jell-O packages (regular and sugar-free). I have also used pure juice and gelatin; they taste great, but the lack of preservatives keeps them from staying firm as long. That was fine (and preferred) for our own children, but the length of time required to feed some of my "other" children warranted the longer-lasting variety. - H.B., Jefferson, NC

I am a single parent of two wonderful children, Samantha, 5 years old, and Henry, 9 years old. Henry has special needs. He has cerebral palsy, is blind, delayed, has seizures, and more; a great kid nonetheless. Anyway, he does not have a G-tube and eats by mouth. I have to feed him, but I prefer that to the G-tube. He doesn't have any vision, and I didn't want to take taste away from him. Well, we've always had a hard time getting him to drink so that he doesn't dehydrate, especially in the summer. We used cups and 10cc syringes, but they would always spill and it would take over an hour to drink 8 ounces of water. We wouldn't even bother with other drinks, like milk or juices, because of how long it took to get him to drink. Water was essential; the benefits of the other drinks could be found in foods he could eat. Anyway, one day, while on my way back from a trip to California, I was in the car and knew that he needed to drink. A general rule I have is if I'm thirsty, he's thirsty, so if I drink, he drinks. Well, no cup and I couldn't find the syringe amongst the chaos in the van. I did have a spray bottle though, which is what I used to spray the kids faces and necks in the heat. IDEA! I pointed the squirt bottle into the side of his mouth and squirted. He was startled at first, but the spray tickled his throat and he started laughing. The spray was enough to stay in his mouth and he swallowed it with no problem. From this day forward, I use squirt bottles to make sure that he drinks enough. The nice thing about it is that I have bottles for milk, bottles for juice, for soda, for water and in the same time it used to take him to drink 8 ounces of water before, he can drink any of his drinks, plus water, plus finish his meals. I always have a squirt bottle on his chair wherever we go - to spray his face and to quench his thirst. It works great! - C.W., Phoenix, AZ

My son tends to want to push his food towards him when he is eating finger foods. Well, since I have yet to see someone come up with a feeding tray, such as one on a wheelchair (completely lipped all the way around), he was pushing food into his lap and the chair. What helped was a cheap ($2.99) half-round, plastic chip and dip dish. I attached velcro strips to the bottom and matching strips to the tray, so that it was more difficult for him to push the dish off of the tray. Hope this helps. - M.H., Adrian, MI

For Madeline (age 18), who is a messy eater because of her disability, we cannot find suitable sized bibs at an affordable price to protect her clothing, so we use towels. We use some so-called "guest towels" which are too small in our minds for towels (large enough to dry hands on once), but are larger than a face cloth. Also, we had some towels which we didn't really like (a free gift from a shopping catalogue), so I cut them down to what I though was an appropriate size and sewed cotton ribbon for the ties. Some home-made bibs don't have ties, so I just tuck them into her collar and spend a lot of meal time re-tucking them in! - T.H., Bristol, UK

My son is hyposensitive in his mouth and can't feel foods or liquids until they hit his gag reflex, and then we get aspiration, etc. We tried "Thick-It" and that helped a little but we couldn't use it with his medications because of problems with binding. We hit the jackpot when his occupational therapist suggested making everything REALLY cold, almost freezing. He can feel that sooner and giving him 5 cc's of medications has dropped from a 30 minute choking ordeal, to a 3 minute regular kid kind of thing. He is even starting to eat cereal (thick and cold). It sounds disgusting, but it works! Talk to your doctor to be sure your child's medications can be put in the fridge. - T.S., Santaquin, UT