Anna has never liked pasta. Before we went gluten and casein free, I had just succeeded in getting her to eat a little bit of my homemade macaroni and cheese, but no other pasta product. Her occupational therapist suggested bringing some foods Anna won't eat to her therapy sessions. That way, they could play with the food to help Anna get over her sensory aversion to it, which would make Anna more willing to eat it.
Well, last week I took some rice spaghetti to Anna's OT session. I cooked it and dressed it with olive oil, salt and pepper and included a little container of red sauce on the side. I had tried to encourage Anna to taste some at home but she would not do it. But at her therapy session, Anna dove into the plain spaghetti with both hands and then started eating it hand over fist! She claimed that she loved spaghetti and ate it all the time (not true!)! However, when the red sauce went on top of the spaghetti, Anna played with it but would not eat it.
Anna's OT told me about what happened and suggested that Anna's sensory aversions may not be what we thought they were, as in she does not like certain textures. She thinks Anna may be more turned off by certain colors in combination with certain textures, such as red sauces. I had to agree. Anna won't eat red sauce, salsa, ketchup, or any other brightly colored saucy thing (like soup), but she will eat other smooth textures with innocuous colors like pudding and hummus. Anna's OT suggested that I send in other foods Anna won't eat, such as soup and cooked vegetables, and she'll just get Anna to try tasting it instead of playing with it, since she had more luck than I did at getting Anna to eat the pasta!
Now Anna is a pasta fiend. She can't get enough of the rice spaghetti. She even wants it for breakfast. Although, I'm not sure she wants to eat it so much for the fabulous bland taste as she does in order to make walrus tusks out of the strings of spaghetti that hang out of her mouth. Thanks, DH. You're a great role model!
Well, last week I took some rice spaghetti to Anna's OT session. I cooked it and dressed it with olive oil, salt and pepper and included a little container of red sauce on the side. I had tried to encourage Anna to taste some at home but she would not do it. But at her therapy session, Anna dove into the plain spaghetti with both hands and then started eating it hand over fist! She claimed that she loved spaghetti and ate it all the time (not true!)! However, when the red sauce went on top of the spaghetti, Anna played with it but would not eat it.
Anna's OT told me about what happened and suggested that Anna's sensory aversions may not be what we thought they were, as in she does not like certain textures. She thinks Anna may be more turned off by certain colors in combination with certain textures, such as red sauces. I had to agree. Anna won't eat red sauce, salsa, ketchup, or any other brightly colored saucy thing (like soup), but she will eat other smooth textures with innocuous colors like pudding and hummus. Anna's OT suggested that I send in other foods Anna won't eat, such as soup and cooked vegetables, and she'll just get Anna to try tasting it instead of playing with it, since she had more luck than I did at getting Anna to eat the pasta!
Now Anna is a pasta fiend. She can't get enough of the rice spaghetti. She even wants it for breakfast. Although, I'm not sure she wants to eat it so much for the fabulous bland taste as she does in order to make walrus tusks out of the strings of spaghetti that hang out of her mouth. Thanks, DH. You're a great role model!
2 comments:
Hi, Erin - For cooked veggies, try your same spin trick and see if you can get her making trees and clouds out of steamed cauliflower. Season it with something you know she likes. This was the beginning of lots of food progress for my son.
Love the blog!
Christine
Thank you for that suggestion, Christine! I'll try that. Anna won't eat vegetables unless they are raw and crunchy. I was wondering about pureeing veggies and putting them on pizza as a sauce to see what she did with that. But I'll try the trees and clouds first!
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