Healthy protein for a child with oral and tactile sensativity

[Anonymous]

To make a very long story short, my son not eat any meat/tofu/eggs that he feels slimy, bumpy, greasy, inconsistent in texture, stringy, or squishy/soft.

The the only proteins we can get him to eat are fried or processed meat (fish sticks, chicken nuggets, cold cuts, hotdogs, sausage and store bought meatballs.) He will not eat quinoa, spinach, meat is baked or broiled or any fish that is not in fried stick form. Also, we give him as much cheese and milk as he will allow us.

Has anyone figured out how to make protein in a healthier way that is also palatable to a kid who has sensory aversion? I would love to introduce something healthier than junk food we are giving him.

[Anonymous]

Have you tried the brushing protocol to decrease the tactile sensitivity?

Will he eat yogurt or hummus? Or plain chick peas?

[Anonymous]

As a middle ground, Applegate Farms makes organic chicken nuggets and also chicken patties (kind of like big chicken nuggets, than can be used like burgers in a bun.) Ian's makes more healthful fish sticks.

[Anonymous]

First of all - congrats that you are getting so many different types of protein into your child - fish sticks, chicken nuggets, cold cuts, hotdogs, sausage and store bought meatballs. that is a great base from which to expand his palate. What i might do is a little sensory education. have your child help you cook other foods when you make him his food. Talk about how his fish stick is like your baked flounder. That they are the same fish, just prepared differently. It might take years - but geting your kid into the kitchen and helping to prepare things helps break down barriers. A lot of taste is in the nose. So, if they cook and prepare things over time they get use to the "taste" from the smell.

Also peer modeling works wonders. If your child has a friend who loves a certain food - send your kid to that kids house for a meal. You can pack a small meal to go with, but then have your kid served (on his own plate) the same food as the friend. (but a very very small portion). Tell the other parent that there should be no expectation that he will eat the food - you just want him to see his friend eat the food with gusto and enjoy the food. You want your kid to have that positive memory/association with the food. he might nibble something - or he might nibble it a year later when the sight/smell of the food made him suddenly deem it acceptable.

Worked for us - the day our kid decided to eat mac and cheese - he said "mac and cheese is my favorite food" and devored a portion. I knew he was parotting what a friend had said, and that for whatever reason, that day he decided it was safe. Same thing with roast turkey this year. It was highly valued by a peer and suddenly he was ok with freshly carved roast turkey whereas in the past he only ate deli style sparingly.

[Anonymous]

OP here
He will eat hummus on a good day but if it gets on his hand in any way, the meal is over.

I've kidney beans which he hated so I never offered chick

[Anonymous]

OP again

Didn't mean to press send

We have been working with a team a specialist to help him work through his sensory integration, but as you may know the process is slow going. For the last 2-3 months we have working on tooth brushing.

[Anonymous]

OP again
Thanks 13:38

Yup we have tired all of those tactic and none have worked. The poor kid really wants like pizza, ice cream, and cupcakes which of the kids at his preschool adore and he will even try to eat it about 1 time very 6 months or so. He will immediately spit it out and them usually throw a tantrum.

We have tried to not pressure him about food to avoid marketing eating tense experience. But we will offer new things on a regular basis. It has work well for vegetable and fruit but no new proteins for the past year.

[Anonymous]

We keep trying the cool with him too. It has never worked since the texture of food changes dramatically after you cook them. We've done the "play with food outside of eating"

No change. He will refuse to play the game or I does play with it, and feels okay touching when it come proteins and pasta, it doesn't generalize to his mouth.

Any receipe ideas?

[Anonymous]

I would keep doing what you are doing but also buy The Sneaky Chef book or one of those recipe books to sneak nutrients into foods, even baked goods. Also nut butters and sun butters are great for protein as are a lot of hearty breads.

[Anonymous]

completely disagree with sneaking anything into your kids food. For a child with sensory issues, that is a huge trust mistake. It might cause the child to reject forever a previously accepted food.

OP - sounds like you are doing everthing you can. How old is your child??

Just keep on rolling with your program and do not lose faith - family meals, having the child help in every way possible with cooking food and purchasing food (mashing foods - even food that are not traditionally mashed is a great thing - mashing a hot food releases the smells), and lots of peer modeling. It might take 50 times of mashing sweet potatoes (or meatloaf) before he tries them. Or 50 times of having him help make egg salad or 50 time whatever.

It helps a lot if you divest completely from any momentary goal. You just provide lots of low stress opportunities to help with the preparation and cooking of food - particularly if it is food that is highly valued by family or friends. If mom and dad or competing for the last portion of meatloaf - that conveys a lot of information. On the other hand, if your kid does not see you engaging in family meals and sharing with your spouse - you are missing out on a ton of sensory therapy.

It took 5 years of thanksgiving happy family meals before our kid tried turkey - but we finally got there. This is a long term problem and solutions take a long time.

PS - I did notice that after we started fish oil supplements, my kid started tolerating smoke salmon. I think the 1/4 teaspon of fish oil a day was sensory therapy - i just did not realize it at the time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:completely disagree with sneaking anything into your kids food. For a child with sensory issues, that is a huge trust mistake. It might cause the child to reject forever a previously accepted food.

I see your point, but it totally works for my sensory kid so it might be worth a try.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if this would fit into his bumpy food category, but Maybe tempeh?

[Anonymous]

My oral sensitive kid will eat these:

http://www.snacksalad.com/products.html

and these:

http://www.foodshouldtastegood.com/our-products/tortilla/sweet-potato

He will also eat this (no sauce):
http://us.barilla.com/content/product/whole-grain-angel-hair

(and sometimes brown rice)

I would try to make homemade versions of chicken fingers and meatballs, so that he gets used to healthier versions (lower fat & sodium).

My kid also likes grilled meat, like steak or lamb chops. I also make bison burgers (vs. ground hamburger) at home. He usually will eat pork tenderloin, and sometimes turkey cutlets/tenderloin or baked chicken with the skin off.

[Anonymous]

Kashi brand is pretty good, like the waffles:
http://www.kashi.com/products/kashi_waffles_7_grain

Sometimes my kid will eat the dry cereal as a snack.

He won't eat yogurt any more, but I was thinking of getting the ones in the tubes that you can freeze.

[Anonymous]

OP again
Thank you for all of suggestions.

16:51. I've looked at the sweet potato chip but wrote them off when I read the ingredients and the first one was corn. I never noticed the 2 grams of protein

He just started getting in brown rice. Though he will only eat one peice at a time, it's a start.

We also haven't tried baking turkey/pork/chicken cutlets. I never thought to do that because I don't like the taste but maybe he will.

Ill also try making the meatballs. For some reason it seemed like a difficult task. I'm lousy cook. I should at least.

I've looked into cookbooks so far all I can find are recipes that emphasis veggies. Pasta and melted cheese. I've tried a couple of homemade chicken nuggets but the texture has not been consistent enough for him,

I tried the kashi protein waffles about a year ago and he didn't like them. But I should try them again.

By the way he is 3 1/2. He started eating more than just crackers an cereal at about 2. We we were able to move to hot dogs and sauge at about 2 1/2. All of the other food groups I've found creative ways to compensate and his he will now eat food that feels wet that means fresh fruit and cooked veggie!! He now just start to try sandwhiches. But when is comes to protein, he won't budge. I do realize that this process is going to take many, many years. I just get concerned about training his pallet to like these highly processed foods. I'm keenly aware that as we approach 5 he will be less maluble. Right not now he really wants to be like mommy and daddy and depreataly what to eat what we are eating. He'll ask to try stuff all the time and never like it.

I guess we will be eating more baked skinnless meat these next few week .

Thanks again for all of the suggestions