Feeding therapy: How it helps you raise a healthy eater

Most parents have a very difficult time while it comes to raising a healthy eater. Kids and adolescents are known to be picky eaters, courtesy, their mood swings and hormonal changes. Unhealthy eating habits lead to poor nutrition intake and stunted development, both physically and psychologically. Feeing therapy can come to your rescue if you have a picky eater at home.  

What is feeding therapy? 
Feeding therapy is a way to develop better eating habits among kids and adolescents alike. It is categorized as an occupational therapy and should be introduced in the formative years itself. This therapy will not only improve the growth and health of your youngsters but also prepare them to adjust to any and all kinds of food. 

What is taught in feeding therapy? 
Feeding therapy doesn’t only ensure that children learn to eat better and healthier, it also helps them pick up other life skills. Here is a list of those skills.  

• Feeding therapy helps kids understand the type of foods they’re eating or should eat. It makes them realise that the goal is to eat right and have a balanced diet with an increased frequency, the time gap between meals being every 3-4 hours. This training will also help your kids with their sensitivity to certain foods while letting them overcome food allergies. 
• This therapy demonstrates the ideal way of eating, starting from taking a small amount of food on the spoon and putting it in the mouth, to chewing it properly into tiny pieces and swallowing slowly.   
• It also encourages independent self-feeding and discourages negative behaviours during meals. 

Two approaches of feeding therapy 
There are usually two kinds of approach that are followed in feeding therapy. 
Person specific approach: This is the most common approach therapists take and advise parents to try out at home. The goal is to figure out the exact reason behind the child’s eating difficulty and work on it thoroughly. It can be both medical as well as natural, physical or even psychological. This may seem like a time-consuming approach but it is effective in the long run. 

Behavioural correction approach: This is more of a traditional approach that parents already inculcate unknowingly. In this approach, youngsters are leveraged to try out new foods. For example, if you eat an entire banana, you will get to have 5 chips. Over the years, this is how kids learn to eat most commonly available foods, which is when parents can slowly take down their hands. However, this is only effective if the eating disorder is not a medical issue. 

Who benefits from this therapy? 
Feeding therapy ensures that children learn to eat better while also helps them pick up other life skills.  Feeding therapy should be initiated with adolescents who refuse to eat most things on their plate. Here’s a list of youngsters who can benefit from this therapy. 

• Teenagers who still don’t chew most of their foods or have problems swallowing. 
• Youngsters who get easily irritated and finicky during meals. 
• Adolescents who mostly refuse to try something new for their tastebuds. 
• Adolescents who have the habit of throwing up after most meals. 
• Youngsters who suffer from constipation. 
• Youngsters who take a lot of time finishing their meals. 
• Youngsters who are underweight for their age.