Earlier in the week I had a chance to go to a small conference about sensory processing disorders at Reidman International College for Complementary and Integrative Medicine in Tel Aviv. I was doing some research online about things going on in the mama community in the area and the college program came up as one of the first things. I had to find out more and eventually got into the facebook page where I found out about the conference titled " To Grow Well from the Start" (translated) which was hosted by Mamay and the college.
I had never heard of sensory processing disorders before and definitely did not understand the Hebrew at first but the advertisement said that it would be about giving parents tools to deal with baby's eating, sleeping and nutrition from birth. I am interested in learning about ways to help my son develop in the best way possible so that he can become a curious, independent and strong boy. Eating well is also part of my life and I hope to instill this behavior in him. So anything that could help, I wanted to learn about it.
I learned so much from Tal Kabesa's lecture that I had no idea about. Everything that we experience in the first 6 weeks and first year of our life, influences the rest of our life. This ranges from eating habits, to how we interact and how we react in different situations. The approach is based on the ancient knowledge brought to us from Chinese Medicine as well as other studies in mobility from where she draws her knowledge. It was a truly fascinating lecture. My main focus was to find out what all of this means for eating and feeding my toddler who I hope to raise as a healthy and happy eater.
From the moment a baby is born feeding him/her becomes what feels like a full time job, probably until they are 18. From constant feeding sessions to starting solids and trying to find creative foods to get your child to eat more vegetables. It all starts when a baby is born when his needs are so simple; eating and sleeping. Tal said that the first mechanism that a baby learns and needs to process is that of hunger and satiety. The baby feels uncomfortable, and cries causing the caregiver to respond and feed the baby. This teaches him that what he felt was hunger and that after eating he is feeling satiated and is ready to go about learning other things. This is the beginning of the baby learning about his surroundings and process different types of information from his senses, starting from within. When there a difficulty or setback with eating starting from birth including nursing and onward it is always an issue with all 3 of these key players according to Tal:
1. Motor system (part of central nervous system) - muscles in the jaw and mouth, the neck and the body that help to sit upright.
2. Senses - Sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch, vestibular (balance), proprioception (relative positioning).
3. Caregiver - Needs to be able to identify what the child's needs are at that moment - is the child hungry, sleepy, needing more stimulation?
Later in life, some of the possible characteristics that could arise when the above are not functioning properly include: Not sleeping well, sleeping too much, difficulty getting dressed, picky eating, falling often, developmental delays such as in crawling, walking, running, shyness, Attention Deficit Disorder, and many more.
By the way, the above 3 items tie together exactly what we are told regarding starting solids. You have probably heard that the best time to start solid feeding is when the child can sit upright, and has good head and neck control and is interested in the food. The interest in the food involves our senses and it is up to the caregiver to identify these clues.
After the lecture we sat in groups and had the chance to ask questions and discuss our personal difficulties with the practitioners. One of the moms who sat with my group brought up that her 2-year old daughter was not willing to eat the variety of foods that she wanted her to eat. She complained that she does not like trying new things and that as a mom she already knows what she enjoys and tends to offer her just those things. I think this is a source of distress for almost all parents.
I know for me, I find it extremely frustrating when I made this beautiful meal and my son just looks at it for a few seconds before proceeding to through everything on the floor. This could happen even if he thoroughly enjoyed that same exact thing yesterday. My common sense always told me that if I keep offering a certain type of food eventually my son will try it and maybe (hopefully) enjoy it. The key here is not necessarily loving it but just trying it. I often offer my son something to eat and he doesn't even touch it let alone try it. Even if he just plays around with it I feel like this is an accomplishment as this is getting him used to the texture. My thought process and presumption turns out to be true as this relates to his sensory development. Sometimes it is an issue that passes by itself with time and sometimes it may need the intervention of a health professional.
I also learned some things that I had no idea about. For example, the fact that children that are averse to certain type of textures - it could be that they have an difficulty chewing as the muscles in their jaw are not strong enough and therefore they already know they won't be able to chew, it so they do not try. I remember reading about the benefits of baby led weaning and one of them is that the child is exposed to a variety of textures right from the start rather than getting "stuck" in the puree stage.
If a certain difficulty is identified there are specific exercises that can be done to help with this such as purposefully playing with different types of teethers and massaging the gum from the inside and the cheeks from the outside. I think this is so interesting and helpful just in case there are moms out there who have noticed their kids have an issue with certain textures, there is help out there!
Regarding picky eaters, it could be an issue with the motor system, the senses or the caregiver. What does the caregiver have to do with a child that is not willing to try new foods? Well here's the thing, it usually involves all three but it is up to the caregiver never to force food but to provide the child with a variety of foods with different textures over and over again. It can take 20-30 times of a child seeing or trying a food before he eventually likes it. This involves teaching your child to be adaptable and use his senses to respond to situations in an appropriate manner. After all isn't this the greatest gift you can teach your child? A holistic practioner with a degree from the Reidman College in Israel is someone you could turn to in order to help identify exactly where the difficulty is.
I am not sure if I would have even thought to seek out this type of help if my son had these types of issues but I am so glad I went to the lecture and learned all about sensory development issues and how it could affect feeding our precious little kids. This is a topic that really interests me and I plan on doing more research so I can share here more of what I find. Let me know what you would be interested in !
** For more from Mamay and Reidman College check out their wesbites andfacebook pages:
מאמאי- רפואה הוליסטית לילדים (https://www.facebook.com/holistictherapyforchildren/reidman college )
מכללת רידמן לרפואה משלימה ואינטגרטיבית )https://www.facebook.com/reidman.college.israel/)
https://www.reidman.co.il/
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