Is your child a problem or picky eater?
Is your child a problem or picky eater?
Butterflies Children's Occupational Therapy Leeds recognises that feeding difficulties can cause great stress and anxiety for children and their families.
“The SOS Approach to Feeding program was developed by Dr. Kay Toomey. For more information on the SOS Approach to Feeding program, please visit www.sosapproach.com.” (Please note, all materials, documents and forms taken from the SOS Approach to Feeding program are copyrighted material and cannot be reproduced in any form without the expressed and written permission of Dr. Kay Toomey).
The SOS Approach focuses on increasing a child’s comfort level by exploring and learning about the different properties of food. The program allows a child to interact with food in a playful, non-stressful way, beginning with the ability to tolerate the food in the room and in front of him/her; then moving on to touching, kissing, and eventually tasting and eating foods.
Butterflies Children's Occupational Therapy is here to support children with feeding difficulties in Leeds and across Yorkshire.
Butterflies Children's Occupational Therapy can provide both 1:1 or group intervention for children with these difficulties.
This approach requires main care givers and family members to be fully on board, it is not a quick fix and requires more than 1 session a week to make changes at home. You will be provided with feeding school homework which will need to be completed to increase the chances of success!
Parent Feedback of the S.O.S Approach to Feeding
The use of the S.O.S Approach within 1:1 Intervention
"We first started seeing Jenny in 2021 after a traumatic holiday where my son only ate dry bread for a whole week at every meal time. His feeding had progressively worsened over a two year period and he only ate a handful of foods. Mealtimes were extremely stressful. We couldn't have friends and family over for meals, nor could we eat out as my son would gag seeing other people eat and more often than not the gagging would lead to vomiting.
The SOS feeding approach has worked miracles! He enjoys doing the regulation exercises, you can actually see the stress drain out of him, which gets his body and mind ready for the food therapy session. Playing with food, making it fun and touching and smelling different foods has enabled him to overcome his food fears.
Last year a typical day would be scotch pancakes with jam for breakfast, toast for lunch and chicken nuggets and chips for dinner. At snack time it would be a digestive biscuit or flapjack.
He now has a choice of foods for each mealtime.
Breakfast: Toast or various cereals.
Lunch: Cheese and pepperoni panini, cheese sandwich. beans on toast, breadsticks and cheese spread.
Dinner: Roast chicken with mashed potato and Yorkshire Pudding, fish fingers with chips and beans, cheese burger with potato waffles, pizza.
Snacks: Chocolate cookies, muffins, Pringles, ready salted crisps, digestive biscuit with peanut butter, popcorn, milkshakes.
He is now willing to try different foods and he no longer gags. We can now have friends and family over for meals which is amazing.
We cannot thank Jenny enough for all the help and support she has given to us as a family".
Mrs Metcalf, November 2022.
5 Myths about eating
Myth 1: Eating is the bodies number 1 priority
Actually, BREATHING is the Body’s number 1 priority. Without good oxygenation, eating difficult because we shut off our airway briefly with every swallow and our oxygen level decreases slightly (or we have to significantly increase our respiratory rate to maintain oxygen such that we are burning off any calories we take in). POSTURAL STABILITY (“not falling on your head”) is actually Body priority number 2. Eating is only Body priority number 3. If either breathing or postural stability are compromised, eating may be resisted
Myth 2: It is not appropriate to touch of play with your food
Wearing your food is part of the normal developmental process of learning to eat it. You can learn a great deal about the foods, BEFORE they ever get into your mouth, by touching them and playing with them first. It is “play with a purpose” that teaches a child the “physics of the foods” before the foods ever get into their mouth. Being messy is an important part of learning to eat.
Myth 3: If a child is hungry enough they will eat. They will not starve themselves.
This is true for about 94-96% of the pediatric population. For the other 4-6% of the pediatric population who have feeding problems, they will “starve” themselves.
Myth 4: Mealtimes are a proper social occasion. Children are to “mind their manners” at all meals.
Actually, eating comes first. Manners come second. The skills for eating need to be learned first, before children can have good manners. Think about the 6-9 month old infant just learning to eat and how messy they get. Especially for children who have not learned to eat well, mealtimes are a Teaching Opportunity and we parents are the Teachers. Children eat so much better when their food is engaging, interesting and attractive. They also eat better when mealtime conversations are focused on talking about the food, and when adults are modeling how to eat and teaching the “physics” of food. So go ahead, enjoy your food and the feeding experience with your child! Be noisy, be messy and play with your food!!
Myth 5: Children only need to eat 3 times a day.
In order to meet their daily calorie requirements, children would have to eat adult sized meals if they only eat 3 times a day. Given their small stomachs and attention spans, it takes most children 5-6 meals a day to get in enough calories for proper growth and development.
Copyright 1997 / 2010 Dr. Kay A. Toomey
S.O.S Feeding Approach Feeding School
1:1 Feeding School
We provide 1:1 Feeding school.
Session are 60 minutes to include time for regulation activities and feeding intervention.
Group Feeding School
Under 5's group
This group is running during the day for those not in school.
Next dates for this group:
Thursday 2nd February 10.30
Thursday 9th February 10.30
Thursday 23rd February 10.30
Thursday 9th March 10.30
Thursday 16th March 10.30
Thursday 23rd March 10.30
Thursday 30th March 10.30
Thursday 20th April 10.30
Thursday 27th April 10.30
Thursday 11th May 10.30
Thursday 18th May 10.30
Thursday 25th May 10.30
60 minutes short assessment will take place in January.
To book on we requires 50% deposit and 50% final payment the day of the group starting.
Cost: £850.
Please bring an open attitude and we will provide everything else.
5 years to 10 years group
This group is run after school for those in school.
Dates to be announced.