Feeding

We are so excited that the founder of our Thrive by Spectrum Pediatrics feeding division was featured on The Comfort Food Podcast with Virginia Sole-Smith and Amy Palanjian. Virginia Sole-Smith is the author of one of our favorite new books, The Eating Instinct. Amy is the founder of Yummy Toddler Food, a parent blog that […]

By: Jennifer Berry, MS, OT/L and Heidi Moreland, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-S, CLC Many parents of children with feeding tubes wonder how soon they can begin the tube weaning process.  Even when parents believe their children are showing signs of interest or readiness, their medical teams often advise them to wait.  The doctors’ belief is that the […]

We are featuring two “Good Reads” for February that we hope you will find helpful. Each month, we will post a few articles, books, or resources that we find helpful and often recommend to families. Extreme Picky Eating: Essentials of Helping a Child with Extreme Picky Eating Our friends over at Extreme Picky Eating, created […]

Often times, parents of tube-fed children report that it is difficult for their child to participate in holidays that have delicious treats such as Valentine’s Day or Halloween. Yes, of course, Valentine’s Day is full of yummy chocolate and candies, but there are so many other ways your child can participate! It is crucial for tube-fed […]

It’s Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness Week! We wanted to share some stories of children we have seen at Thrive who are all CHD Warriors! Max. Emrie. Theo.What do all of these names have in common? They were all born with congenital heart defects and needed a feeding tube to survive. The feeding tube was […]

By: Evie Morse, Age 11, Feeding Superstar Most kids can quickly be born and start eating grown up foods, but not me! My mom was very sick. The doctor demanded that she should have me now, and she’d survive. It was the only way. So I was born early, but it was worth it! I […]

Virginia Sole-Smith, author of the Eating Instinct and contributing editor for Parents Magazine is the author of both of our recommended reads for January! The Eating Instinct: Virginia Sole-Smith recently published her book, The Eating Instinct, where she talks about the focus on food in our society and how food often feels dangerous when it should feel safe. Virginia […]

Play is the way kids learn. We know that linking play and experience helps to build the brain. Positive experiences with food allows the senses to acclimate to the touch, feel, smell, or sight of whatever they are experiencing. Independent play in all settings helps to build interest, confidence, and motivation. Whether the goal is greater variety or simply […]

After the medical challenges that made a feeding tube necessary have been treated, many parents are left with the daunting task of weaning their child from tube use.  However, if you haven’t been successful in working existing medical teams, it is wise to seek the assistance of programs and professionals who specialize in feeding tube weaning. Most physicians and feeding therapists don’t have […]

As a feeding therapist, I always thought that I was being helpful when I “coached” children through their bites, cheered, and “whoo hoo-ed!” for all their eating attempts. I also observed well-meaning parents, grandparents and caregivers cheer, clap, and praise any attempts at eating, but we often did not see a consistent increase in eating […]

The Thrive team presented at the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association National conference this past weekend. The presentation focused on the three main areas of our home-based feeding therapy approach: self-regulation, the division of responsibility, and importance of family mealtimes. We discussed why these three areas are crucial to feeding therapy and how these applied […]

No, that is not your job. Yes, children and parents both have their own roles to play during mealtimes, but parents often get caught up in the idea that their job is to make sure their child eats what is on their plate. The Division of Responsibility, created by Ellyn Satter, breaks down the different […]