From Pouch to Spoon
Is your child eating a variety of fruits and vegetables in puree form, but not in whole fruit form? This is incredibly common for kids that are selective eaters, and especially kids that may have some sensory difficulties.
A benefit to having your child eat pouches is that many of them have fiber that helps keep our kids regular. Fiber is so important, especially for picky eaters, as many kids who have selective eating tendencies gravitate towards white foods such as breads, pastas, crackers, and other starches. However, little ones build so many more skills and are more likely to progress with their eating skills when they are eating fruits and vegetables in whole form.
Many kids like to eat straight from the pouch, but this is not an ideal oral motor pattern. More specifically, it can contribute to more forward tongue position, which can cause articulation substitutions, atypical development of the hard palate, failure to find appropriate tongue-to-palate position, and orthodontic issues. Slurping puree from the pouch also takes away any sensory experience from the food. The child will taste it, but will not see or smell the food they are eating, and will have less opportunity to have it touch their finger or get on their cheek. Eating from a bowl with a spoon allows smelling, tasting, touching, and seeing, as well as getting messy (in a good way!) and opportunity for play.
Our goal is to get the child to eat fresh fruits and vegetables in various forms, and to NOT rely on the pouch for nutrition. This gives parents freedom, and is beneficial to your child’s eating habits to be more adventurous, beneficial to your child’s oral motor development, and beneficial to your child’s sensory development.
A great first step is to help your child go from consuming the puree from the pouch to consuming the puree from a spoon and bowl. Here is how you can do that:
(Note that in many cases, if you have picky eating concerns with your child, I recommend checking in with a speech-language pathologist who works with kids on feeding skills).
The spoon that connects to the pouch can be found HERE. Remember, you’re using this spoon as a tool to get through this progression, NOT to replace a bowl with spoon.
Once your child is using a spoon and pouch, use your purees as dipping sauces or finger paint. Think about the language you are using too. Familiarize your child with what is in their puree, and when you give it to them, you can say “Here’s some pear and mango” rather than “Here’s your pouch.” This helps fruits like ‘pear’ and ‘mango’ start to become safe foods for your child. Start to include fruits and vegetables on your child’s plate, and let them play with and explore them.
To learn more, check out our picky eating course, Picky Picky, now available virtually through The Nurtured Nest.
Learning to love fruits and vegetables can be tricky for toddlers, so if you aren’t sure if you could benefit from feeding therapy, contact me HERE for a free 15-minute phone consultation to get all your questions answered! I also share a lot about language learning, picky eating, and orofacial myofunctional development on my instagram HERE.