Day 4 - Officially on Strike

[Guest guest]

Well it's official - he's on strike. Even the few things he had

eaten in days 1-3 are now no-go. So far today only OJ + water, a

few spoonfulls of peanutbutter.

This morning he was in a great mood, chatty, funny, fully engaged

and well-regulated. By 11:00 (following OT) he was lethargic, zoned-

out.

He's in his playgroup right now, hope it goes well.

I'm worried and wondering how long I can hold out with him not

eating.

Since yesterday we have offered and he has refused:

Midas Gold waffles (I think they are quite good!)(he ate these day 1

and 2, bt refused since then)

SCD muffins - ate these day 2, now refuses

drop cookies

flat bread

chicken pancakes

chicken breast

hamburger

banana

peanut butter

as of today, he is only eating peanut butter. Maybe we'll get a

banana in him this afternoon.

I think he may eat something crunchy - but has refused veggies and

fruits with crunch. Any suggestions?

Holding on...

[Guest guest]

Amy,

Please tell us again what he liked to eat before SCD.

Also is there anything, anything at all that he would want so badly

that he would eat something just to get it?

Jody

mom to -5 and -7

SCD 18 months

[Guest guest]

How about the carrot curls from BTVC? My son LOVES those! Also,

the squash fries. I slice mine in the food processor and bake at

425 for about 25 minutes. Sprinkle with salt...My son really likes

these. Did you give him waffles plain or with something on them?

My son likes waffle sandwiches. I will either do pb and banana or

pb and homemade jam. Maybe your son would like that? How long has

he been doing SCD and what kind of foods does he typically like?

Gia

Mom to Jack (SCD 14 mos)

[Guest guest]

Sorry, just noticed you are on day 4...I'm kind of spacey today

Gia

[Guest guest]

Amy,

I went back and checked your previous posts to find out...

Okay, so he was only eating peanut butter, almond butter and

fries before. Everything else was a battle.

How about this...

I just checked...

1/2 cup peanut butter

16 oz grape juice

1 banana

This would have 1200 calories and enough protein and carbs.

So, since he didn't eat much before, what about considering this

a truce?

Let him eat 1/2 cup peanut butter, drink 16 oz of juice (water

down throughout the day) and try to get one banana in him each

day. No fussing about food. No bribing, no bargaining.

It may not be the optimal diet, but it's what he was eating before

minus the fries. And fries don't really offer much nutrition

anyway.

Try very hard not to make a fuss about eating or food for a whole

week. I think this has become a major power struggle and you

are LOSING big time.

The two things kids have control over is where they use the

bathroom and what they will eat.

Don't make him sneak to get the peanut butter.

Just serve him about 3 TBL of peanut butter per meal and serve

it with a glass of juice (watered down) to wash down the peanut

butter. Give him a banana for a snack. Frozen bananas taste

just like ice cream if you think he might like that. Otherwise,

serve it in a way that he is most likely to eat it, but don't push him.

Put legal foods in a place where he can see and eat them

yourself, but don't talk about them or try to convince him.

Somehow your food battle has to come to an end. I say the only

way it will end is if you wave the white flag of surrender.

(Please do not think I am endorsing a life-long diet of peanut

butter, juice and bananas. But fighting over what he eats is

counterproductive it seems.)

This is a war for healing, the food battle is just the first step.

Maybe once he realizes that you aren't going to play the game

anymore, maybe it will lose its charm and he will come around

and try some new foods. If not, then he is not eating any worse

than he was before, but you have cut down on the stress in your

relationship with him by refusing to engage in the battle.

Jody

mom to -5 and -7

SCD 18 months

[Guest guest]

My dd went on strike too. :-)

Can you blame em??? <g>

I am gping to repost this idea my daughters feeding therapist came

up with. I am STILL getting great milage out of this btw!!!

I have about worn it out and better think about a replacement. ;-)

Maybe it could help you guys get over the first tough days of the

diet. Stick with it though.. it's WORTH IT!!

We moved from using toys as a reward, to CHEESE!!! ( behold-the power

of cheese <g>)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry for the all cross postings here, but I know more than a few

people were interested in hearing any feeding ideas. And I have a

SUCCESS story!!

has been making VERY slow progress with eating pieces of

foods and this week at our feeding therapy Tyler tried something new

with her and it WORKED!! We were both shocked.

Very simple idea- he took a file folder and taped the sides shut to

form an open ended large envelope. On the outside he had glued 6

Velcro squares in a curved line from left to right. He had made

star/flower shape cut outs from colorful plastic file folders and

wrote the numbers 1-5 on each and then had a pec for PLAY at the end

of the path. Velcro was glued to the back of the shape so they would

stick to the file folder.

We only used 1-3 and then the pec for " play " . He has a cupboard of

toys and she was allowed to choose a toy, then we sat down at the

table with the toy in plain site. First time through we showed her

what we expected because she wasn't really understanding the whole

process. But she caught on after the first run through..

She had to take a bite of food, then she could remove the flower

with the corresponding number in it and place it in the file folder.:-

) When she took three bites and arrived at " play " , she was allowed to

play for a bit. Then we did it again, and again and again.... and

each spoonful of food I gave her had an increased amount of solid vs.

pureed. By the time we had gone through the process 4 times, she

TOOK a carrot piece FROM the fork of her own free will!!

We forgot to give her the toy we were just so excited LOL She

reminded us of course... we just kept looking at each other in

disbelief... I think one thing that really helped was there was two

of us. I gave her the spoonfuls of food while he had her hand on the

shape to take it off at the same time. She didn't really even look

at what was coming on the spoon in the beginning. This also sped up

the process of eating, a great bonus. He wants to try to do five

shapes and forgot to add if she spits out the bite, she has to do it

again, it doesn't count unless she chews and swallows.

Fast forward to home- she is STILL eating bites of solid mixed with

the puree. She isn't taking a total solid.. yet.

Am making my own folder right now. :-) so hopefully we will get right

back at it. This was pretty low stress and I am going to do it for

meal times. Hopefully I can use this same technique to entice her to

feed herself again.

This is a very large break through for her. I hope this idea will

work for others out there too. is three and half.. well

a bit more than half, she will be 4 in Aug.

[Guest guest]

Amy....... I so agree with Jody and everything she said. Also keep in mind that

the bad gut pathogens down there can be playing their own part in this battle.

They seem to have an amazing ability to make perfectly good food seem nauseating

when they are holding out for what THEY want..... the junky carbs and sugar! I

try to think of it as they are the ones that are controlling your kid......

making him gag on legal foods or refuse them altogether. They even seem to

recognize that it's YOU who are in charge of bringing them the foods they

want..... and they think that if they can scare YOU badly enough, you'll give

in. I know this probably seems loony, thinking of the bad bacteria as a little

evil entities that have control of your kid...... but it does seem to be true in

a way. They are REALLY good at surviving and getting their " host " to give them

what they need. So, maybe it can help you a little to think of it this way.

We've had other kids here on the list who've been through the same thing with

food striking..... and have eventually begun to accept some legal foods, or

have even shocked their parents and started eating all kinds of things they

would have turned their noses up at just a few months before.

Patti, mom to Katera, SCD 14 months

Maybe once he realizes that you aren't going to play the game

anymore, maybe it will lose its charm and he will come around

and try some new foods. If not, then he is not eating any worse

than he was before, but you have cut down on the stress in your

relationship with him by refusing to engage in the battle.

Jody

mom to -5 and -7

SCD 18 months