I keep up with a blog called "No Hands But Ours". They feature guest bloggers mostly dealing with special needs. Lately they have been posting lots on food issues, feeding issues and oral aversion. It's been good for me to remind myself how far my kiddos have all come in this area. All five of them have come to us with issues around eating.
Not knowing how to eat. Not knowing to recognize hunger or fullness. Not knowing how to suck. All five of them came to us using bottles, even Kai at 4. Chinese bottles with big holes so the liquid/sludge could get through.
Kai didn't know how to hold utensils. Well, we still work on this daily. And no he can't operate chopsticks either. He still stuffs his mouth full and gags if you're not watching.
Luk despises anything fresh, wet, cold or crunchy. If there is fibre he rejects it. All fruits and vegetables make him vomit. At the table. It's an ongoing battle. He came to us with this aversion. He told me a couple nights ago he couldn't eat his snack (cherry pie) because it was making him sick.
Jia doesn't recognize hunger. Never has. She likes anything crunchy and will munch absently. Carrots, apples, chips and popcorn. We can always get milk, yogurt and toast into her. Anything else that looks like a meal doesn't interest her on most days. Then she flips and eats everything in sight for a day or two. Has a good sleep and reverts back. It's not so much a picky thing as a general "not hungry". Healthiest kid around, with NO shortage of energy.
I'm happy to report that Lili and Fei are great eaters now! They aren't picky, have lovely table manners and eat all the healthy food put in front of them. They are great examples for our littles. They however do not believe that they put us through our paces back in the day!
Lili was so malnourished. She was at the health clinic weekly. We met with specialists once a week for months trying to get her to recognize hunger and eat! I was constantly popping food in her mouth. She stayed on formula until she was three. It took forever for her to learn to eat.
Fei wasn't malnourished but was tiny and she came home hungry! Once she filled up and tapered off the constant eating she developed habits. Not wanting to eat when others were around. So she became a bedtime eater. Eating a giant meal before bed. Then she didn't like food touching or mixed up so soup and stew type meals didn't work for her.
So in short. Sometimes living in orphanages and foster care leaves kids with issues. We've been through quite a few. It's a big subject. All of our kids have had issues, some overlapping. Some easier to deal with than others. All of it frustrating. Truely amazing how much time in a day and how much effort goes into encouraging them to eat. Eric and I would like to eat all day long! I watch them reject really good food daily.
Luk is the most irritating to me. I cannot fathom rejecting fruit. I get being bored with apples and bananas but cherry season is coming up and I know he'll vomit them out. Imagine a world without berries?! Eric is making him smoothies with veggies and berries. He hates them. A lot. But at least they stay down. He needs to gain weight. I want and need him out of the five point carseat before the road trip in Oct. Two more pounds.
I am incredibly tired of being told by observers that they're picky and playing us and they'll eat when they're hungry. Sigh. And is it worth me starving them to find out? Or letting nutrition go out the window? So, we muddle through. Trying for balanced. Hidden nutrients are awesome.
