https://childrensfeedingtherapy.com/

Fort Worth Children's Speech & Feeding Therapy, PLLC, Fort Worth, TX (2025)

07/28/2023

Our Picky Eating Progression allows parents to meet their children where they are while trying new foods!

Think of these as stair steps you’re going to climb with your child! Start at the bottom and climb, climb, climb! Will you reach the top each time? Probably not. Is that ok? Absolutely! If your kiddo needs you to take a step down, go for it! This will teach them that they can trust you with food because you are respecting their needs!

We want to create meaningful learning experiences that are also FUN!! Remember, kiddos learn and retain through play!!

As always, we LOVE to hear your real life stories after you try this! Send them all our way!

02/11/2023

Is your baby chewing on his hands and toys? ALL. THE. TIME?

Let him!! Babies mouth their hands and toys for a variety of reasons and this will actually help prepare them for future feedings!

Our mouths are covered in sensory receptors! When your baby is endlessly putting every object in sight into their mouths, they are desensitizing their mouths to a variety of shapes, textures and tastes. The more your baby mouths, the less gag response we see when starting solids. Why? Because their mouths have experienced and tasted so much already.

Pro tip: If you have a hesitant eater BUT they love to mouth their hands or toys, finger paint and play with their new food! It might just end up in their mouths for a new taste!

02/07/2023

Even as a Pediatric SLP who has specialized in feeding- feeding your baby for the first time can be INTIMIDATING! There are so many options and opinions.

Home made vs. Jar food
Baby led vs. Purées
Fruits first vs. Veggies
Booster vs. High Chair
Self feeding vs. Parent fed
Spoons vs. Fingers
Rice cereal vs purée
Age readiness vs willingness to try

Is your head spinning yet?
And THEN, we wait for the perfect time to go for it (since we’re trying to be the best parents we can be) and watch our baby’s reaction on pins and needles! What is meant to be an exciting, joyful experience often times turns into stress and worry. But it does not need to be that way!!
Just as a baby looks at your reaction for comfort, they look to you during mealtimes to tell them how they should feel about their first bites! “Mom & dad are excited and relaxed, I think I’ll trust that bite even though I’m not sure about it.” So tune out the background noise, choose what is best for your family, and go for it!

Pro tip: Make yourself a snack to eat while your baby tries his first bites (especially if you’re nervous). Your baby will love seeing you model eating at the same time as them!

11/12/2020

For all the kiddo heroes out there!

🧒🏼 For the kiddo who stutters and fights anxiety every time they speak in class.

👧🏼 For the kiddo who chokes on liquids and needs thickener added to their Chick Fil A lemonade.

👦🏾For the kiddo with Autism who wants to be able to have conversations with friends.

👧🏼 For the kiddo with hearing aids who uses extra amplification in class.

👦🏼 For the kiddo who is tube fed and works on experiencing new textures on a daily basis.

🧒🏽For the kiddo who is language delayed and pretends to understand what his siblings are saying.

👧🏼For the kiddo who uses gestures and signs to communicate because others can’t understand their words.

👦🏻For the kiddo who uses an AAC device to talk to others because they are nonverbal.

👧🏼 For the kiddo with a tracheostomy who learns to use a Passy Muir valve to tell family “I love you.”

Y’all are the truest of heroes and the most sincere motivation!

11/11/2020

Let’s talk prepositions!!

These core words make communicating easier for our littles in the home and school environment since they are apart of our everyday language!

Think about how many times a day you ask your kiddo to “Put their cup ON the table.” Or how often teachers ask kiddos to line up and stand “BEHIND your friend.” Understanding and using these words correctly make communication easy and seamless.

Kiddos typically begin to use simple prepositions, “In & On” by 24 months old. Additional prepositions (Next to, Under, Behind, In front of) are typically mastered by age 3.5-4 years of age.

When learning prepositions gets tricky I immediately pull out my toy train set! (Remember, we learn through PLAY, not flash cards!!)

Toy trains give you the perfect play opportunity to teach and use prepositions! “The blue car goes BEHIND the engine, the train goes IN the tunnel, the train is UNDER the bridge, the train is NEXT TO the train station.” The possibilities are endless!

This activity lends itself well to our visual and tactile learners as they are interacting with every aspect of the language they use! So pull out those trains and get your choo choo “on”! 🚂

10/29/2020

This is for all the bleary eyed mamas out there wondering what in the world to do with their freshly expressed breast milk- I see you, I’ve been you, you’ve got this!!

There are so many sources for information these days- friends, mommy groups, google MD....and while these sources absolutely have their value... let’s trust what science has told us about the safest methods to store breastmilk. The liquid gold can’t be wasted!

Room Temperature Milk/Freshly Expressed Milk:
-Use within 4 hours of expression.
-Leftovers from a feeding can be re-offered to your baby within 2 hours of when your baby started their bottle feed.

Refrigerator:
-Use within 4 days.
-Over the course of a day small amounts of *chilled* milk can be added to milk being stored in the fridge.

Freezer:
-Use within, preferably 6 months, but 12 months is acceptable.
-Never re-freeze milk after it’s been defrosted.
-Thawed milk should be used within 24 hours of being defrosted.

We all know nursing and pumping a true labor of love! Protect the liquid gold ladies-and again, you’ve got this!👊🏼👏🏼

10/28/2020

When it comes to bottle feeding some of our babies can eat seemingly upside down with complete independence while others need many supports and compensations when drinking from the bottle.

Different level ni***es can certainly help a baby who needs a slower/faster flow, however a large number of our babies need just a TINY bit slower, or TAD BIT faster to maximize feedings.

Slowing the flow can help a baby who has trouble choking on their liquids or coordinating their suck-swallow-breathe pattern. Increasing the flow can help babies whose mouths don’t have the strength to sustain a whole feeding yet.

Slowing the flow:
~Sidelying Position: Imitates the breastfeeding position. Increases the babies control of liquid and decreases choking.
~Pacing: Allows a baby more time to coordinate their breathing with their eating.
~Tightening the neck of the bottle: Using the laws of physics to decrease the flow of liquid.

Increasing the Flow:
~Cheek support: This can be one cheek or both cheeks supported. Improves suction during bottle feeds to increase milk removal from the bottle.
~Chin support: Stabilizes the jaw to help the baby use his tongue to create more suction on the ni**le.

All bottle compensation should be initiated with the help of a skilled speech pathologist!

10/27/2020

Y’all! This game is GOLD!

If “Pop The Pig” isn’t a game in your therapy closet or home, you need this game ASAP! I’ve never met a child who doesn’t like playing this game!

What’s extra great about this game is that you can use it to work on speech sounds! It specifically lends itself well to the bilabial sound /p/.

These words have a CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) structure which are the kinds of words we use to target speech sounds in the initial or final positions of words.

There have been multiple studies regarding working on speech skills during daily routines or play in order to increase the generalization or carry over of skills. When our kiddos learn to say sounds correctly during play (rather than using flash cards) they learn and retain their new skills faster!

Fun AND learning skills faster/retaining skills longer sounds like a win-win to me!

10/23/2020

“I never knew swallowing was so intricate until we started having trouble with swallowing!”

As an SLP specializing in feeding I hear this often! Eating and drinking are seemingly mindless tasks until someone starts having difficulty with them.

Eating food and drinking liquids are two things we count on to “just work”— as parents our babies rely on us to feed them, as adults we use eating and drinking as a main social activity to relate to others and our grandparents pass down recipes and family food to us from past generations.

But what if your baby needs a feeding tube, or your toddler needs thickener in their liquids in order to swallow, or you grandparent chokes every time they take a sip of liquids? This can change life quite a bit.

The great news- there is hope for those struggling with eating and drinking! Babies can wean from feeding tubes, toddlers can work towards drinking thin consistency liquids and children can learn how to chew and safely swallow a variety of textures!

As intricate as the swallow is, feeding therapy techniques paired with family participation can help our children (and grandparents) regain or repair their swallowing skills! Our kids are resilient beyond our knowledge and parents are more motivating then they’ll ever know! Both of these qualities paired with skilled feeding therapy help our kiddos meet their highest feeding potential!

10/21/2020

Toddler parents typically start to feel like short order chefs when their 2 year olds start to have an opinion about the food going in their mouths, but it doesn’t have to be that way!

Toddlers are SIGNIFICANTLY better at self regulation than adults are when it comes to food. You or I might stuff ourselves with French fries because, “Their just THAT good,” but our kiddos have the ability to regulate themselves based on their internal hunger and circumstantial cues.

If there’s one thing you could leave your toddler to do independently it’s letting them decide HOW MUCH and WHAT food goes into their mouth!

Some ways kiddos control their intake based on being in tune with their own bodies:

🍴 If your child had a high calorie day yesterday, today they might have a lighter day of foods or skip snacks all together.

🍴 When they’re teething, they will naturally eat only the soft, cold food you place in front of them.

🍴 If your child has a huge breakfast, lunch and dinner might be much lighter.

🍴 Growth spurts make our kiddos ravenously hungry, but this usually lasts 2/3 days only.

🍴 If your kiddo is coming down with a cold, their lack of appetite will probably be the first sign they show you.

Our job is to pick WHAT food to offer, WHEN we offer it, and HOW much we place in front of them. THAT’S IT! Takes the pressure off right!?

Bottom line, when your toddler refuses your home cooked meal remember to trust them and their appetite, keep mealtimes enjoyable and never force feed!

10/16/2020

“My child knows all of his letters, numbers and shapes!”
“So wonderful! BUT, can he ask for a drink when thirsty? Tell you when he’s hurt and needs a hug? Engage with others during play?”

Using language versus communication skills is such an important concept. We want our kiddos to have a FUNCTIONAL way to communicate-especially if their late to the talking game.

Are shapes, colors, letters and numbers important to know? Absolutely. Will they help a toddler communicate with others to avoid outbursts- probably not.

Think of it as adults learning a second language; you want to learn how to ask for help, how to order a drink, how to connect to others by knowing their name- essentially how to use your new communication skills to have your basic needs met. Listing shapes, colors and letters wouldn’t help you order food when you got hungry!

We need to focus on helping our toddlers acquire functional words in order for them to communicate with caregivers and friends. These communication skills help cut down on frustration between kiddo and adult during everyday activities!

Fort Worth Children's Speech & Feeding Therapy, PLLC

07/28/2023

02/11/2023

02/07/2023

11/12/2020

11/11/2020

10/29/2020

10/28/2020

10/27/2020

10/23/2020

10/21/2020

10/16/2020

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