Meeting Sensory and Nutritional Needs

This can be incredibly challenging so if you are frustrated, you are not alone!

Learn your child’s sensory needs to regulate their body prior to meals:

High Sensory: a walk, pushing something heavy, jumping, spinning

Low Sensory: quiet time, deep breaths, calming corner, closing eyes

Learn your child’s sensory needs when it comes to food:

It’s very common for foods to need to be similar in texture and/or color (or even shapes). Notice patterns and build off those patterns to expand their variety!

How do I implement this information?

• Start with Texture:

Learn your child’s texture preference. It is not uncommon for the preference to be dry crunchy foods. However, your child may like smooth/pureed textures that can just be swallowed.

• Food Chaining:

The idea of changing one thing (color, texture, shape) at a time:

For example: if your child likes goldfish, try a different flavor or different color to observe for acceptance. If your child likes tan foods, find new foods with the same color. If your child likes their peanut butter sandwich in triangles, try changing the inside of the sandwich while keeping the same shape. These strategies will likely take several exposures, but this helps your child expand their variety in a way that feels safe for them.

• Exposures:

Focus on a few foods at a time. We often introduce new foods every day or even every meal and this is overwhelming for a child with high sensory needs. Children need repeated exposures to new foods so pick 1-3 foods to add to the rotation for a few weeks.

• Look for little wins:

Touching and smelling food is a win! Even if that touch is to remove the food away. Sometimes we can hide preferred foods under the new food to encourage touch. I have a hard and fast rule that if a child doesn’t touch/explore the food, they won’t feel comfortable tasting it. Don’t force food in your child’s mouth as it will automatically be portrayed as a negative experience.

• Bring back previously accepted foods:

Due to limited acceptance, kids will get burned out on a food they previously accepted. Once they start refusing one of their “favorite” foods, eliminate it from the rotation for a few weeks. BUT bring it back at some point. Likely they just needed a break from it.

• Model eating behaviors:

Allow the child to see you eating and observe for interest. This does not always occur, but it’s still important to normalize eating behaviors.

Baby steps add up to big steps! Hang in there and keep trying!