Episode 12: Tricks and Treats

On this week’s episode of Tube to Table, Jennifer and Heidi discuss how tricks and treats are used to encourage children to eat or make progress in therapy and why this is detrimental to their relationship with food. This can happen at a family mealtime as well as during structured feeding therapy. Throughout this episode, Jennifer and Heidi will talk through both situations and the length people and therapists will go to “get” their child to eat with tricks or how they use treats to encourage eating. “What does this therapy look like?” “How do I know if I’m “tricking” my child?” This episode will guide you through what behavioral therapy looks like, why it can erode your child’s relationship with food, and what you can do instead. There are basic fundamental reasons why behavioral strategies should not be used to help a child eat, especially those who are tube-fed. Heidi and Jennifer review how tube-fed kids are most susceptible to this therapy, and how they both came to the realization that every child should engage in responsive feeding, tube-fed or not.  

Check out this episode’s show note page (www.thrivewithspectrum.com/blogs) for links to the resources we mentioned and more information on what we discussed in today’s episode! Don’t forget to follow us on social media for more helpful information @Thrivewithspectrum on Instagram, @Thrivewithsp on Twitter, and @Thrivewithspectrum on Facebook!