Touch – Eating Part Five

Three senses down and two to go. We’ve talked about sight, smell and sound and now onto TOUCH.  

Touch: 

This is perhaps one of the most important senses when it comes to successful eating. Why? Well basically the skin on the body is the same as the skin in the mouth. If you can’t tolerate a food on your hand how in the world are you going to tolerate it in your mouth? If you can’t squish it between your fingers how in the world will you tolerate squishing it between your teeth?  

 I’ll admit it. There are absolutely challenges when it comes to touching food, even for me. First of all germs. Kids hands are everywhere. In the days of Covid and hyperawareness of germs this isn’t something to take lightly. However, the perfect place to work on this is home. This is the safest place to try and you have control over the cleaning and serving. Use a tray or placemat and wipe the counter or table thoroughly before putting food on it. Be sure your hands and your kiddo’s hands are clean before eating and that’s one worry off your list. Another challenge, the mess. Wiping kids after eating is not a favorite task and doing all the laundry associated with allowing kids to explore their food is definitely work. However, I promise you it is work that is worth it. If all else fails strip your little one down to their diaper and do a full body wipe when you’re done or better yet go straight to the bath. For older kids have a picnic night where everyone eats with their hands. Encourage them to lick their fingers and try to avoid wiping wet and sticky fingers after every single bite. As someone who cannot stand being wet or sticky this is something I have to take a deep breath before doing every time. I will tell you though, the more I do it the less sensitive I am and the easier it becomes.  

Whether your kiddo has food preferences or restrictions based on TOUCH or not, here are a few ideas to  

help. 

• Serve all foods at a table/counter/highchair where the food can be placed out in front of them. Encourage them to touch and explore the food. Have them hold it, poke it, break it or squish it. Try using an “all done” or “learning” bowl so that when they’re done or if they don’t want to eat it they can put it in the bowl and not drop it on the floor. Touching a piece or two of food is not wasting it, it’s learning. 

• Remove all food from the packaging before serving it. Why? Well it’s a lot easier to learn about the touch/feel of a food when it’s removed from the packaging. We want our kids to learn about how the food feels not the package it comes in.    

• Include your kiddo in the preparation and serving of foods/meals even if they’re not willing to eat it. Have them scoop, measure, pour, transfer, serve and best of all clean up with meals. This is a great way to learn about how to touch foods without the pressure of eating it.  

• Talk about it… new and different things, including foods, are less intimidating when you know more about them. Use words and talk about how the foods feel. Include the name of the food and as many descriptions as you can think of. Use language at the level of your child and positive. Be creative and have fun!  

• Examples: “wet, dry, soft, hard, smooth, bumpy, squishy, slippery, new, different, etc.” Avoid words like “slimy, disgusting, icky, yucky, etc.” 

• Be patient with yourself. Feeding differences don’t start overnight and they won’t disappear overnight. If you feel overwhelmed with where to even begin, choose one meal or snack per day to try these strategies. No one can run a marathon their first time putting on running shoes, first you’ve got to start with a jog.  

That’s four senses down and one to go. Stay tuned for the fifth and final sense… TASTE. 

-Tricia-