Food suggestions for child eating at a 7-month stage

KirstyStone

I am the mother to a beautiful child named Rosie, who lives her life with Cerebral Palsy. She is 2 years and 3 months old and growing quickly! She struggles with chewing and swallowing foods but wants to eat anything and everything, I'm finding it hard to think of things for her to be able eat... i'm stuck in a rut! She eats at a 7 month stage at the moment so has to be quite soft. If anybody has any advice then please feel free to offer it! All is welcome! Thank you xx

Adrian_Scope

Hi @KirstyStone, welcome to the community. Glad to have you with us!  Hopefully we'll have lots of ideas to help you here. What is Rosie typically eating at the moment?

Beverley_Scope

Hi @KirstyStone

Welcome to the community.  

I know it can be really difficult for parents who have children that find it difficult to eat and want them to enjoy food just like everyone else.

Pretty much all foods can be adapted so that Rosie will be able to access them, even just liquidising the foods that you eat.
Just add a little gravy or liquid to the foods and then she wont have to chew.  It also means that you don't have to do different foods each time that you cook.  It does look more appetising and probably tastes nicer too if you liquidise each food individually and place it in separate area on the plate.  Then you can see what she likes and what she doesn't like by trying them individually.

If you find that she is managing the foods quite easily, you could then try cooking the foods so that they are softer and then mashing with a fork so that there is a little bit more texture.  This can then be adapted again by roughly chopping foods.

It all depends on what Rosie can manage.  

It would be worth speaking to your GP for a referral to Speech and Language as they have an area that they support regarding dysphagia, which deals with issues regarding swallowing.  The following will take you to the NHS link on dysphagia.

http://https//www.nhs.uk/conditions/swallowing-problems-dysphagia

Hope this helps.  

Beverley

 

Richard_Scope

Hello @KirstyStone
Great to meet you and Rosie!
Difficulty eating is quite a common issue. We have a section of the website about food which might have some useful information and tips for you in: 

Cerebral palsy and eating
A to Z of eating difficulties

If you have not already been put in touch with one you should ask your health visitor or paediatrician to refer you to a Speech Therapist. They will be able to advise you and help Rosie with chewing and swallowing.

Let us know how you and Rosie get on.

forgoodnesssake

Definitely get a referral to Speech and language therapist with dysphagia training (not all do) Also if your daughter is having trouble eating etc then it may be that her speech is affected too so the SLT can help with that.  My son is 21 (next Saturday), lots of chewing and swallowing issues, no speech so uses a communication aid...but he is now at Uni studying maths and eats almost everything he wants, blended.  Even pizza with enough hot water added to make the right texture.  He carries a little blender in his wheelchair bag and we have blended in all sorts of places!  Often cafes and restaurants will even wash it up for us afterwards.