Celebrating Milestones!!!!

This weekend marked 10 weeks since we started food therapy .... 5 sessions in all ... And can I say what an amazing experience it has been for both of us?!  Not only has he officially increased his "SAFE FOODS" from :

6 SAFE foods ..... 2 SAFE condiments & 1 SAFE drink ... 

Toooooooo  a grand total of *drum roll please* : 11 SAFE foods .. 2 SAFE condiments & 4 SAFE drinks
















Soooo absolutely OVER THE MOON with excitement ... makes it soo real putting it on the food chart ... can't wait to keep going ... gives me soo much inspiration looking at it hanging on the wall every day Compared to April this year when he was underweight weighing in at 11.2 kgs and losing every time he was sick oh and the HUGE tonsils debarkle of 2013... but potentially facing a gastric tube if we couldn't get his weight up!!!

You have no idea how incredibly proud I am of him at this point ... I think over the last week or so I have said it about 20 times a day .. especially after every meal ... We have totally turned around what is considered something soo tiny in other peoples worlds to something monumental in ours.  My Orally aversive child even tried 2 bites of watermelon and a prawn ... A PRAWN when we were out for dinner the other night ... NEVER in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would EVER see him eating a prawn or a bite of watermelon ... It may not be on his list of foods that he thinks are safe yet ... but he took a bite ... he put them in his mouth ... and he bit down on them ... And best of all ... HE DIDN'T GAG!!!  He took what he didn't want to eat out of his mouth and put it nicely back on the edge of his plate!!

It is like the whole world is amazing right now!!! He is tolerating being in the same room as stuff where he wouldn't before ... Smells aren't making him gag as much ... he is vocalising if there are things he doesn't like and removing them .. or himself from the situation .. without power chucking or having a total meltdown about it ...

Don't get me wrong though .. the meltdowns haven't ceased to exist .. they still happen over lots of sensory stuff .. multiple times a day ... BUT ... with food he is now comfortable enough to say no ... to not put it on his plate ... and still be happy enough for me to eat my "healthy" salad at the same table as him with out copping a spoonful of power vomit!!!  He is changing his world and it is starting to co-exist with mine and I couldn't ask for more!!!

BUT I have another milestone to celebrate too!!!! He can officially climb into the car by himself ... and put his arms in the seat belts by himself!!!!! Not only that ... he is starting to tolerate little pushes on a swing too - he actually asked me on saturday to push him gently on our swing set that has been sitting dormant in the backyard for nearly 2 years!!!! GOBSMACKED right?! ... Thank you sensory integration ... and thank you SOS feeding!!! In 6 months you have turned what was an extremely overwhelming world into something that day by day is becoming more manageable for him ... more liveable and much easier to interact with!!!

Can't tell you how proud I am ... I swear I have a pregnant mother type glow right now radiating out of my smile!!! It is sooo nice to report something soo positive right now while I have a big mess of a personal life hiding under the cracks!!! I hope you all have a *Happy dance* to report to me!!! I want to hear all about your successes too!!! 

Food Chaining

Woweeeeeeeeeeeee

Hasn't Christmas just come sooooo around fast?!  Going to attempt some Food chaining into our Christmas dinner this year ... Fingers crossed it goes ok ... I think the trick is I am going to have to keep everything as separate as I can .... A big Food buffet / Smorgasbord Yes that means extra bowls and dishes but ... Who cares ... If it gets him participating in all the Christmas furore!!

We are on our 5th session of food therapy this week .... And I haven't really had a chance to talk about it much with all our personal stuff going on ... So here goes ..

When we first starting S.O.S we started simple ... Everything is free of packaging and is put into a clear ziplock bag so as not to associate with any branding ... Anything liquid obviously in a clear glass bowl or jug ... We each have a wet flannel to wipe our hands or face if we don't like it on them .. and there is a bowl of warm soapy water on the table... On the first week the girls started with his top 4 favourite food items ... just to get a sense of trust with him ... So that food could be on the table in this manner and it could be safe.. It was amazing ... everything as long as it was in its ziplock bag was seen ... some of it touched ... and some of the bags even got opened and played with!! Love it!!

Our safe foods for the record have started as :

Chips - Hot or crisp variety
Chicken Nuggets
Sausages - specific kinds.
Choc milk - specific Brand
Condiments - tomato sauce & mustard but sometimes gravy.

Examples of our food play lists which obviously hardly anything has gone past our lips are : 

WEEK ONE :

1. Crinkle Cut Chips               (Safe food)

2. Chicken Nuggets                (Safe food)

3. Gravy                                (Safe food)

4. Sausage                            (Safe food)

5. Pretzel Sticks

6. Beef Jerky

7. Plain Chocolate

8. Chocolate Milk                     (Safe food)


WEEK TWO : 

1. Crinkle cut chips                   (Safe food)

2. Banana Chips 

3. Yellow jelly (jelly cups)

4. Yellow Dried fruit spear (long stick shape)
- Any fruit is fine, with the colour as close to yellow as possible.

5. Sausages                             (Safe food)

6. Bread Sticks 

7. Beef Jerky

8. Plain Chocolate                    - Licked and kissed this session

9. Choc milk (heated up)           - Sipped, licked, kissed

At this point we haven't added anything into our regular routine ... But it is on the table ... and we are playing with it SOMETIMES ... which is HUGE compared to anything he has ever done before ... I don't care if we end up with jelly on the walls as long as eventually we can get it in his stomach .. it will be all worth it.. 

Hair Washing Trauma

For Boogie his sensory integration problems, mean soooo many different things ... Loud music is now a no go ... even though he used to love it when he was little ... Food is a Big problem ... but we are hopefully starting to combat that in 5 sleeps with our first SOS feeding session - I seriously can't wait!!!! I can only imagine what the sensation is to him, like some sort of thrill ride at a carnival.... The fear in his eyes ... No matter what you say or do ... it doesn't calm him... Anyway these are some of the little things I try every time to make the whole process easier .... Make sure you are organised and have everything handy ... the quicker the trauma is over the quicker you can get back to being calm again!! 

1. Pouring the water on..... Instead of getting him to submerge his head under the water... I try to bring the water to his head... You can fill a cup or get your child to fill a bucket with water and pour it over his own head, or invest in a hand held shower head or one of those buckets with the flexi rubber sides to mould to his head ... When he's in control of the situation it seems much more calmer!! 

2. Some kids like to go face-first. Leaning forward may not be as threatening to your child as leaning backward, since he can see where he's going. Make sure you're in the bathroom or shower, and try not to stress him out by making sure he knows not to breath in the water.

3. Games make life easier!!!  Water pistols, spray bottles, squirt toys or a safe flannel/wash cloth can do the trick of wetting and rinsing, and can be fun and much less stressful... And another tip I have found (but not used - yet) is if you live where the weather's warm and your child loves running in sprinklers, lather up and let the water play do the rest.

4. Skimp on shampoo - I use the baby wash ... it is thinner and tear free ... those thicker shampoos take forever to rinse out - The quicker you can get it out the less traumatising the experience will be...  Plus some kids with Sensory Processing Disorder don't like the strong scents of some things and will add more stress to the situation... 

5. If you can keep their hair short do it... But then if they are anything like my Boogie then a trip to the hairdressers is a whole other circus of stress!!!! As lovely as long hair is on gorgeous girls ... I bet their sensory processing would have one less challenge with a Bob or something similar...

6. A wash cloth over the forehead or a hair visor can sometimes help ... If you can find a good one in a chemist/drug store grasp it with 2 hands and don't let go ... I am trying to find a good rubber one but have only been able to buy the cheap foamy types online ... Can't wait to find a good old school one like I had growing up!! 

Well that is it ... my little thought for the day ... I seriously can't wait to do a post on our upcoming SOS appointment ... You can probably hear me squealing like a giddy little school girl waiting outside the airport for One Direction from there!!! *rolls eyes* lol

Have a great week everyone  xx 

Jelly Bath!!!

On my quest for all things sensory.... I was fumbling around in Big W yesterday ... trying to find a replacement night light pillow pet for Boogie *sigh* ... with no luck might I add!!!  Anyway, we stumbled on Gelli Baff!! 

AMAZING!!!

He was a bit unsure putting his toes in at first... But from the moment he saw the box at the shops the excitement started building ... he was ripping his clothes off before we had even put the jelly crystal stuff in the water lol 

5 mins is a LONG time for a 5 year old to wait .... So instead he jumped into the shower to wash his hair while we waited ... BIG MISTAKE!!! Because his hair ended up full of Baff Gelli anyway lol

Measurements have got to be spot on 40 litres... I used a Jug as I have a really really big bath ... Then sprinkle the step 1 gelli powder evenly ... and leave for 5 mins to start changing ... The Gelli held the warmth of the water for at least 45 mins ... 

Instructions

Thickening up slowly

Sprinkling the Powder

Is it time yet?????????

Amazing!!!! 

I wish though that I had started it earlier in the day so he could have had some more fun ... but still recovering from his serious chest infection it was just not worth getting sick over again ... The price was about $8 for the 1 bath with no left overs... which when you think about it is a pretty expensive bath for a kid ... But totally worth it ... that was the ONLY downside to the afternoon!!!

I was actually surprised he took to it as well as he did ... obviously he was submerged in the GOO ... and was trying to wipe it off his hands onto the rest of him which was covered in goo every minute or so ... BUT ... he stayed in there!!! One sensory experience we will definitely HAVE TO repeat!!! 

On to the boring cleaning up phase ... You can supposedly put the goodbye powder in while they are in the bath ... but once it started losing its goo-ness ... He started losing interest (I know .. but there really isn't any other way to describe it lol)

So it was into the shower to clean the hair ... AGAIN!!! Anyway ... Hope you guys have as much fun sharing our icky sticky messy bath as we did!! xx  

Negotiator

Sitting at the table ... and literally feeling like a hostage negotiator has been the last 4 years of my reality ... I can literally pin point a month where Boogie went from eating food to scraping baby food off his tongue ... dry retching and gagging all over the place .... Back then ... we just thought it was a quirky "I don't like green peas face" ... But little did I know I would be connecting the dots 4.5 years later ..

I went on to spend the better half of my days negotiating with him to eat Something ... ANYTHING!!! Changing his diet every week ... trying to get a pattern of actually eating something ... It has taken me literally 5 years ... 5 months and 7 days to let go ... and even still everyday .. a little bit of me wants to ram something down into his stomach and make him eat out of sheer frustration!!!

And then you get the Nutritionists and Dieticians who think they know it ALL ... half of which don't even have kids of their own or have never EVER come face to face with a REAL sensory eater before .. Who know the best solution for YOUR child ... and YOUR child proves them wrong by power chucking their resolution across the room ... I try sooo hard to keep my smug face to myself .. but every time it just creeps out from the corner of my mouth...

Oh No!!!!!!! My kid is not considered healthy because he doesn't eat fruit and veggies ... that makes me a failure as a mother ... I am doing something wrong ... feeding him the wrong things ... Something I am told everyday in my own head and conscience that I am not ... But don't feel alone!!!

According to an article circa 2009 the ABC reported that;

"The 2009 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare national report card found that a whopping 78 per cent of 4-8 year olds, 86 per cent of 9-13 year-olds and 95 per cent of 14-16 year-olds are not eating the recommended daily servings of vegetables. Take out potatoes, which most kids eat as chips, and the percentage of kids not getting the nutrition they need jumps to 97, 98 and 100 per cent respectively. Other research has made similar findings."

WOW ...

Do you feel like a better mother now?!  I know I do!!! Sooooo if you need a bit of cheering up ... like I know and you do battle things at the dinner table ... don't fret ... as your not really alone!! I wish I knew the stats on textural and sensory eating issues ..

There are plenty of Blog-Families and mummies out there dealing with sensory eating ... You only have to ask the lord of all things Google to find something for you .. But here are a couple that I frequent!!!

Mealtime Hostage - My Child Won't Eat Vegetables
SPD Foundation - Parents tips for picky eaters
Mom.Me - Feeding Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder

I'll sign off as head negotiator and leave you all to your week!!! I have a battle of getting someone over the mini man flu for the 3rd time in 4 weeks!!! *sigh* ... Enjoy - DMMC x

Little Jobs

Soo .. thought I would share what I do at home for rewards etc .... We have done the rewards charts for stickers since he was little and it used to be the thrill of getting them etc but they have now lost their charm .... So stickers now have a value!! 15 stickers are accumulated for a prize ... only $10 in value ... or if he collects 30 .. it is an outing ...

For example at the moment .. he picked a marble race track game from kmart for his reward at the end .... 

Our Reward Challenge This Month - 4 Stickers Already!!

Stickers can be accumulated by having a no tantrum - no get out of bed before the alarm goes kind of day ... or by doing little chores around the house ... He gets to choose if his sticker goes on the outing wall ... or if it goes on the reward box ... which I love because he is making a conscious decision that can't be changed ... 

He has started doing stuff like (under my watchful eye of course)

Collecting the mail - which has to be done for the week for a sticker as it is pretty basic....
Sorting out a basket of his clothes into his clothes drawers ...
Putting Dirty clothes in the washing machine... 

Emptying the plastics and cutlery out of the dishwasher .. (not sharps obviously incase he stumbles)

I don't count cleaning his room or putting the toys away in the toyroom sticker worthy ... only because my philosophy (or OCD - whatever you want to call it lol) is if you pull it out .. you put it away!! He understands that... and knows that if he is going to pull out a whole toybox ... he has to put them away before he pulls out another .. works pretty well for us if I am going to be honest :)

I have been meaning to share this little age appropriate chore chart that I stumbled upon a couple of months ago ... I am only making him do stuff within his capabilities ... obviously Boogies hands don't have the motor skills required to wash glass plates but he knows how to stack the dishwasher or hand wash with his plastic stuff and I am happy with that!!!

What kinds of things do you expect or get your kids to do around the house?? I am looking for lots of kiddy friendly good ideas!!

Theraputty!!

So I have been slowly stumbling on different recipes to make Theraputty!!! And even though they may not be perfect ... (it goes a bit stiff - a bit too quick for my liking) It is doing the job .. until the real Theraputty arrives in the post that is...

So we spent a day doing science experiments & crazy stuff!!! Here is some of our FUN!!!  Anyway .. here is the recipe .... so far soo good ... 

Theraputty Ingredients

2 cups of white glue (craft glue/pva etc)

1 cup of liquid starch (Can be powdered stuff and mix it up / some IGA stores sell it)

Food Colouring (whatever colour your heart desires)

Instructions:

In a large mixing bowl, pour 1 cup of glue followed by by 1/2 cup of starch. Mix ingredients thoroughly. 

Add the remaining glue, liquid starch and food colouring if you want a specific color. Let the mixture dry for approximately 15 to 20 minutes so that it becomes workable. 

After the time has passed, the mixture should still feel wet. Add more glue or cornstarch as needed until you get the right texture. 

Once the therapy putty is workable, start to pull the mixture away from your body in long strands. Repeat this process several times. 

When the putty begins to pop and snap like silly putty (make farting noises - as described by boogie), you have reached the proper texture. Store in an airtight container so as not to dry it out!!!  

Basically it is just one of thousands of recipes that I stumbled across on google ... they all seem to be pretty similar .. But this is the consistency that worked for us!! ENJOY xx 

What The?!

So ... amongst my random googling this morning ... As you do .... Well maybe I am the only one ...  I came across a US company that sells RANDOM lollipops : Lollyphile! ....

Amongst strolling through their website ... I came across this new little beauty of theirs ... or random beauty whatever you may want to call it ... I call it the What the f*** were they thinking pop!! lol Turns out they let us know exactly what they were thinking!!!

"So what's happening is that suddenly it seems as though a lot of our friends are having babies. And since some of us are confectioners, we felt it was our responsibility to find out just what this flavor was that could turn a screaming, furious infant into a placid, contented one. Surely the flavor must be heavenly, yes?

We are endlessly grateful to all the mothers who kept sharing their breast milk with our flavor specialists until we were able to candify it. These lollipops won't bring back childhood memory; they'll bring up animal instinct. Quite possibly the most inherently satisfying flavor of all time. 

(ps there's no actual breast milk in these. they're vegan! omg the armies of pumping women.)"

So if you want a good laugh... or are entirely intrigued, like I was ... Head on over and check em out!!! Do you think these will catch on?! I think it is slightly strange .. but I am sooo tempted to order some!! lol

Lollyphile!

The Trust Method!!

So meals times in our house are pretty STRESSFUL!!  With Boogies sensory processing disorder being our biggest demon... I have been lost for the last few years ... and now we are found!!! Stumbled across a group on facebook called Mealtime Hostage and the lady is AMAZING!!!  There are a couple of specialists that post from time to time and we have been trying the trust method ... presenting his food buffet style on the table ... and providing 2 safe items on the table ... which they can be 1 food and 1 drink!! and everything else is a try it out food ... 

I must say a couple of goes in and it is helping us to see a HUGE difference at the dinner table ...  To quote sky;

"Learning to trust your child with eating is a process that involves letting go of everything you've been taught and told about eating and feeding your family. Understand that as the parent, you have to trust this process too, and not allow your fears and worries put pressure on your child to eat.

The goal here is not to teach your child to eat a wide variety of foods. The goal is to teach your child to enjoy eating. Once your child enjoys eating, they will naturally explore different foods from different food groups all on their own and in their own time."

She is amazing!!! And we wouldn't be making leaps and bounds without her advice... Last night (buffet style) we had hot chips on the table ... corn beef ... spicy chicken rice .. gravy .. creamed potatoes and a couple of pineapple fritters (which I knew he wouldn't eat as it is slimy) But he surprised me!!! Put a little bit of everything but the cream potatoes on his plate and even had 2 bites of pineapple fritter albeit dipped in gravy ... But who cares!!!!!!! Wooooooooohoooooooooooooo!!! This may seem like a little deal to all you mummies with perfect eaters ... but to me it was like seeing the most amazing circus for the first time ... I couldn't stop smiling last night ... there was no way you were going to wipe it off my face .... As a happy reward we went and grabbed a scoop of ice cream (yes tight ass tuesday scoops) at Baskin Robbins!!!

One happy mummy and Boogie today!!! Have you had any recent successes with your little ones eating?? Is there something they really really hate?? Would love if you shared?! xx