A feeding specialist explains why adding ten new foods misses the point. Without identifying where development broke down—oral motor deficits, sensory processing issues, medical factors—a number is just a number. Real progress requires understanding what's actually blocking your child.
Feed the Peas really started it off for me though, to see kids in a more broad picture and understand development going into all the way where certain breakdowns in development happen and what that can cause in feeding. Sometimes it's from birth, sometimes it's a little bit later on, and understanding more so about how to assess a child just overall and understand where that breakdown happens. Because if we don't understand where the breakdown happens, we can't really meet them on how to grow. Yes, the parents may want 10 more foods in their diet, but what's causing them to have difficulty getting those foods? Do we have trouble chewing? Does our tongue have trouble bringing the food to the back of our mouth? Like, we have to understand the child. We have to understand oral motor, sensory, the whole picture, medical, to fully understand where to go. We can't just be like, okay, 10 foods, that's our goal, here we go, because it's not going to get you very far.
What I Was Missing in Feeding Therapy: ARFID, Airway, and Myo with Samy Hernandez
