When I read the other review on this book a few weeks ago I went to the library site online and placed a hold on the book. It had to be sent from another library and the day I went to pick it up the clerk said she liked the idea of this book so she placed a hold on it. I cannot extend the date on this book because of that so must return it tomorrow.

Earlier last month my five-year old son was in the Hospital for dehydration. One of the magazines I ended up bringing to the Hospital had an article about feeding issues for children. Our occupational therapist ended up making a copy of that article and it explained the necessity of having a team of professionals working on the feeding process.

How to get your kid to eat…but not too much is authored by Ellyn Satter, a dietitian. Ellen acknowledges a team of Doctors that collaborated on the book and offers plenty of case examples throughout the book. This is just shy of four hundred pages and organized into specific chapters so it is not necessary to read the entire book to learn how to help your child.

I have read to our occupational therapist and Pediatrician parts of How to get your kid to eat… But not too much to backup my feelings on where we are headed in relation to getting my son to eat and stop the bottle. The times my son was in the Hospital it was suggested he get a g-tube and I found relevant information under the chapter, Feeding the Child with Special Needs.

In this chapter an eating phobic child is discussed and the addition of a behaviorist. It is also discussed how to teach a child the steps in chewing and swallowing. There are children who have poor muscle control and those that were tube fed that might have issues now with gagging and the muscles at the back of the throat get tight.

I have been against the placement of a tube for my son with the occupational therapist in agreement. My son would not learn how to swallow and when he was hungry. The same can be true for the continuing quick-fix we get at the hospital with the IV when he is dehydrated. There are sensory issues to contend with depending on the texture of the food and I have been using baby food and puddings to start with.

You need to determine if the spoon would be of plastic or a metal as this can irritate and cause problems in the child with special needs as well. It was referenced that the parents are too emotional and the need of outside professional to assess the situation for many children. I finally was able to have a nurse consultant come to the house to watch me try to feed my son. The phone rang while she was there so she took advantage of the situation and was able to get two spoonfuls into him before he put up a fight. I believe he thought she was taking him out of the booster seat.

There is another useful chapter, Nutritional Tactics for Preventing Food Fights where the author was referred by another Dietitian to a Mother with a 2.5 year old who would not eat very much. The author wanted to go to observe the parent feeding the child but this Mother took issue with that. The alternative was to have the parent videotape the feeding process. I felt better realizing that I was on the right track when I had this nurse consultant over for the very same thing.

It was suggested that my son needs to mimic me and his brother eating so maybe a special feeding chair might be beneficial for our needs since now he just lays down on the floor and roams around when we eat. When I mentioned that instead of going to a clinic at the Hospital for feeding that a Dietitian or Nutritionist come here since the behavior is not the same at another facility and the problem needs to be rectified in the home I was told this is considered force feeding.

There is a chapter on this very subject, Pressure Doesn’t Work where the author discusses quantity and bribery. What I was not happy about in this book was the numerous times she made reference to another chapter where you will find this subject. I spent a great deal of time flipping around trying to get the whole scope on these issues. Most of the information I felt was pretty basic for newborns and toddlers. It is explained also about the developmental chart and how children are progressing at their doctor visits.

This is the area where my son fell through the cracks and I had to push for the Doctor to see him the second time I was sure he was dehydrated. He appears to be growing normally in height and weight but I can tell from his lips, stomach and face when he is getting dehydrated.

The most important influence for the feeding of a child comes from the parent and that is where our issues come from. It seems like the battle of wits with my son and for too long I gave in and let him have the bottle and relied on others to tell me when to change this. I covered the feeding and introduction of new foods in his Individual Education Plan (IEP) with the Occupational Therapist seeing him at the clinic and the school once a week. It would have been beneficial for us all to work systematically toward the same goal of new foods and removing the bottle.

Having my son admitted into the Hospital three times for dehydration brought the issue to the forefront so now all the professionals are quickly trying to get some help. I on the other hand feel the discussion of eating disorders should be included which this book talked on. I feel there is an anorexic factor that needs to be looked at but felt How to get your kid to eat…but not too much did not assist me in that chapter. This seemed to be more about teenage girls and the typical eating disorders. I have also requested an authorization for a consultation with a Neurologist to discuss medication options that might help alleviate the behavior and help with the feeding.

Before my son went into the Hospital we had a consultation with a Gastroenterologist who wanted to run tests for a day to help determine the cause of my son’s chronic diarrhea. I am also against this at the moment since it is quite apparent the diarrhea is a result of the large consumptions of milk drank on a daily basis and lack of solid foods. It would seem best, in my opinion to work on getting food into my son before poking and prodding him further.

I felt the book helped me learn more in seeing the big picture and I learned some techniques on how to get my son to take some food, but I feel that if I do not force feed him this cycle will just continue. Instead of going into a feeding clinic, a professional needs to devise a system that all those who work with my son follow through consistently, for without the guidance from those who are not as emotionally involved we will be back in the Hospital once again for another IV.

The chapters covered include the following:

How Much Should Your Child Eat
What is Normal Eating
The Newborn
The Older baby
Is Your Toddler Jerking you around the table
The Popular Preschooler
The Individualistic Teenager
The Child Who grows poorly
Keeping your child from being fat

The Appendix has tools and strategies that include the portions and sizes for meat, vegetables and the food groups. The milk group portions are included as well choosing nutritious snacks. The index is easy to use for specific areas you want to read without wading through all the chapters. You can find pages of help under breastfeeding, dieting, feeding cues, genetics, hunger and obesity.

I found certain parts of How to get your kid to eat…but not too much beneficial to our current situation and see that I should indeed purchase this since there is more to come like the teenage years where I know I will need help once again.

I feel it would help if those working with my son utilized the book as well so we are all in compliance with structure and goals. This book would help any parent who is at the toddler stage, a first time parent trying to experiment with solid foods and those who are working in the fields for eating disorders, disabilities and nurses aides.

You can purchase a used copy for $6.00 at half.com or a new edition at buy.com for $12.71. I have learned how important it is to set limitations on what my children can eat and when. I know that my behavior towards food has a huge influence on how they view meal times and we are all in the learning stages of getting this established for a lifetime of good nutrition and healthy living.

Recommended: Yes