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Feeding highs and woes
This is Max feeding himself. It is an awesome sight—for so many years, we had to spoon feed him because he lacked the hand coordination to do it himself. Max still likes it when we do it for him. But he adores sweet potatoes, and he was gung-ho to down a bowlful by himself.
Back when Max was a baby, I was surprised by the feeding issues. I mean, we knew he was going to be in for challenges, but I couldn't have imagined it would take literally an hour to feed him because he pushed most of the baby food out of his mouth. Today, he's gotten better at retention, but he can't chew anything hard or crunchy, and so his diet consists mostly of soft foods. He's a skinny kid, and I worry that he's not getting enough nourishment—unlike my four-year-old, he can't just throw open the fridge, grab something and down it (although when he's hungry he does let us know). His feeding issues are also an indication of how, at age 7, Max is still very much dependent on me and my husband for his most basic needs.
Max has continued to progress in almost every area, so I'm sure that the feeding, too, will come along.
But I can't wait for the day when Max achieves eating independence.
Ellen blogs daily at To The Max.
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Comments on Feeding highs and woes »
Azaera @ 5:02 pm
I found it surprising when Skyler started feeding himself that he could find the cheerios on his highchair, the opthalmologist had said that it's impossible to tell just how much sight he actually has, so when he first started picking things up without our help I was amazed. Sometimes though I am not sure how much he is seeing because he knows there is food there but he seems to feel for a bit too, which is obviously okay, he will find it however he finds it.
Anyway point being our children sometimes surprise us by doing things we thought they'd never be able to, or things we thought would take forever. Hopefully one day Max will figure it out for himself.
Territory Mom @ 5:20 pm
This is great!! He's on his way to independence.
CristyLynn @ 8:06 pm
Way to go, Max! (and Mom and Dad for helping him learn!)
cPmOMA @ 8:56 am
That is a priceless picture! Takes my breath away! Beautiful
Vanessa Infanzon @ 9:56 am
I think I am holding Ben back when it comes to eating independently – I am terrible at letting him do it on his own. You give me some inspiration to just let him get in there and so it. Thanks for the reminder.
Susan (5 Minutes for Mom) @ 4:19 am
Awesome photo!
That must have been a challenge for it to take an hour to feed him as a baby… wow!
How wonderful that he has progressed this far and will keep on going.
Barbara Schantz @ 3:27 pm
May I offer a suggestion for Max and for other special needs children? Though originally designed with the intent of helping parents feed babies using only one hand, my invention, the patented Baby Dipper bowl has proven to be extremely beneficial to children who are learning to feed themselves and has also received some interest from folks in the special needs/occupational therapy community. I'd be happy to contribute one or more sample Baby Dipper bowls to 5 Minutes for Special Needs so that we can help out many children who need help feeding themselves. Please contact me at info (at) babydipper (dot) com if you are interested. BTW, Erica from 5 Minutes for Mom has already reviewed the Baby Dipper bowl, so you can read her comments about it there. Ellen, congratulations on Max's recent strides in self-feeding!