Let’s Eat!

As a nurse on a busy gastrointestinal, kidney and liver transplant unit, I often care for patients with eating challenges. Some of our patients cannot eat by mouth and rely on nutrition by tube or by vein, some have problems taking in enough nutrition to thrive even when they can eat by mouth, and some children have health problems that interfere with eating. Even for healthy children, eating properly can be a challenge with the busy lifestyle of the average family. With the stresses that hospitalized and non-hospitalized families have, establishing a positive mealtime routine can be often overlooked. I have teamed up with Janae Grimshaw, occupational therapist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and Lisa Kutzring, RN, certified intuitive eating counselor at CHLA, to promote healthy eating and prevent unhealthy habits and eating disorders.

Gloria’s tips: For families coming home from the hospital

I often find myself incorporating the idea of family-centered mealtimes when I work with families preparing to go home. While in the hospital, I encourage parents to:

• Hold their child when feeding so that it is a loving, social activity.
• Eat in the room and show that eating is a social time to share with the whole family.

These are simple tips you can do at home. Janae has more to offer on this subject and I am pleased to share it with RN Remedies readers.

Janae’s tips: Dealing with eating difficulties, and enjoying family meals together

As an occupational therapist specializing in infant and child development, I am often consulted to determine the “best” way of feeding for a child. Part of my work includes helping with the progression and development of oral motor skills and determining what eating options are safe for the child.

Hospitalization, invasive procedures, weight gain issues or being diagnosed with a problem such as “tongue-tie” (ankyloglossia) are just a few of the challenges families can face early in their child’s life. Parents may not be able to feed the child the way they intended or expected. The emotional impact can be difficult; many parents are left doubting themselves and may even feel as if they are failing. This can create stress about mealtimes and lead to a negative association with anything or everything surrounding feeding.

My message to families is the holistic aspect of feeding. Eating is more than just putting food in our mouths. Mealtimes are when children establish all sorts of early developmental patterns, in addition to oral motor skills, such as social skills and a variety of sensory experiences, but also psychosocial skills, including the development of self-confidence. Families have a great influence on their baby’s psychosocial development. There is not one “right” way to feed a child. Find what works best for your family.

If you are struggling with your child’s feeding or mealtime routine, I encourage you to seek expert support. Every family and child is different and unique. Finding mealtime routines that work for you often requires very little expertise or technology, but tap into your own intuition, and following your own gut instinct. If things get messy and there are smiles or laughter, you are doing great!

In my home, mealtimes are fairly chaotic with different work schedules and with an artist as a husband, I never know what will be strewn around the table, floor or kitchen when I start preparing a meal. What I find is that this time is not about having a “perfect” family dinner; it’s about enjoying this time together, whatever it may look like.

Lisa’s tips: Starting good eating habits early

Research shows that the effects of establishing negative early relationships with food can be devastating as children grow into adults. In fact, studies have shown that young adults suffering from eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, are more likely than their healthy peers to have been raised in households with greater degrees of reported food deprivation, control and rules about food. Children whose parents exhibited higher levels of restriction were also found to have higher body mass index and higher levels of emotional eating at college age. While attempts to control intake may be well-intentioned and based upon concern for health and proper nutrition of the child, taking a more relaxed, trusting approach towards eating may be more effective in establishing a healthy relationship with food for life. Offering children a varied array of different foods at regular intervals, without any pressure or coercion to eat or not eat, will allow them to eat based on their own internal signals of hunger and satiety. Establishing a trust in these internal signals will guide kids in maintaining a healthy, balanced approach towards eating that will endure into adulthood.

Stay tuned

In future blogs I will reach out to these experts again to explore eating disorders, what they are and how to detect if your child has an eating disorder. We will also explore some strategies and tips to help children with eating disorders.