Food suggestions for low tone

indianasunshine

Hi Ladies

My son has Ds and still eats primarily baby food.  He has a full mouth of teeth, and he knows how to chew Cheerios, goldfish, and other crackers but he seems to gag on most other table foods.  I know he wants to try other things because he always eyes our plates and often reaches for our food.  Any suggestions would be appreciated! 

Calypso312

We are in the same boat. DD can eat crackers, cookies, cheetos, cheerios, and any kind of baby foods. Her slp has been mixing graham cracker crumbs in tapioca pudding lately and she has been doing well with that. She just slowly increases the thickness of it over a week or so. My MIL got her to eat a scrambled egg once by mashing it up with applesauce. Blegh! Whatever works, I guess.

Is your DS in speech therapy?

indianasunshine

Not yet on the speech therapy.  I know the two work together, so I understand why you are asking.  He is actually starting school next month and will get OT, PT and speech daily.  Our OT therapist through EI has felt that he was too young to worry about speech yet as he does babble incessantly.  We have also tried an electric toothbrush on his cheeks to try to wake up his muscles.

Isalupup

Hi, I'm not sure if I am correctly understanding you question so if not ignore me. But one of the things we do to increase mouth tone is to give ds a very thick milkshake in a sippy cup with a rubber spout, he has to really work to get it up but is willing to, because after all, it is a milkshake. This may work for an older kid with a straw depending on whether they have enough tone to do this. Love the electric toothbrush idea, thanks!

Assembly_Reqd

I buy block colby cheese and will give Nate a 1/8" thick slice to chew on and practice "taking bites".  The thing with cheese is that you HAVE to chew it. It is kind of hard to swallow whole. Don't give him too much though..it will bind him up in the poop department!

Toast with hummas was another favorite when we were working on taking bites and chewing. Nate is also a fan of watermelon and cantalope.

Florak8

You could also try "Chewy Tubes". DS just started using these and enjoys the input from them. The goal for him is to get him to stop mouthing everything in sight. They come in smooth or bumpy. Bumpy could get your LO used to working with more textures.

If he has low tone in his throat, he could be afraid of choking. My DS has low tone and dysphagia (epiglottis does not protect his air way) so we use thickened beverages. However, he tends to eat most things, so we did not realize the issue until we had a swallow study done. 

I have a friend with a little guy with Down Syndrome and he was eating purees for a long time, too. Hang in there!

adge1119

Isalupup:

Hi, I'm not sure if I am correctly understanding you question so if not ignore me. But one of the things we do to increase mouth tone is to give ds a very thick milkshake in a sippy cup with a rubber spout, he has to really work to get it up but is willing to, because after all, it is a milkshake. This may work for an older kid with a straw depending on whether they have enough tone to do this. Love the electric toothbrush idea, thanks!

 

i love this idea!  my son loves sweets so i totally think he will work to get the milk shake.

my son also eats primarily baby food and has not yet started speech.  we do OT as well.  what i have found (for us anyways) is that you have to do what feels right and you think will challenge your child while also being safe.

for instance, OT and our feeding clinic did not clear my son for straw or cup drinking.  i understand why but since he gets thickened liquids some are very thick for a sippy cup.  so we tried a regular cup.  and you know what?  he houses that thing.  not one cough or gulp, just slow drinks.

i've found that yogurt with finely ground flax seed mixed in is great for texture.  also we make a lot of smoothies.  his favorite is carnation instant breakfast with bananas and peanut butter (we use the peter pan whipped).  it is a thicker consistency.  also pb with some jam and disolveable biscuits or graham cracker crumbs.

do you make your own food?  i notice that when we puree our own food there's lots of textural differences (without being lumpy) so it gives him a lot of input.