ARK's Blog

OFFER A VARIETY Kids are naturally curious, so try offering them a variety of different foods to explore.  Put a different bite-sized snack in each compartment of an ice-cube tray or a muffin tin.  Include some of their preferred foods as well as soon non-preferred foods.  They will likely gravitate to their preferred foods and that's ok - just having the other foods …

For infants, learning how to bite and chew is a crucial stage of feeding development.  At approximately 5-6 months of age, babies begin using their fingers and mouths for oral exploration using a bite and release pattern.  The development of biting and chewing continues from this point on, with the baby refining the movements of the jaw, tongue, and lips.  When infants miss a part o …

Gum massage is a simple yet effective way to provide oral stimulation to a large surface area within the mouth.  This tactile input can: •  help decrease oral aversions for hypersensitive individuals  •  help increase oral awareness for hyposensitive individuals  •  help decrease drooling, mouth stuffing, and/or the need the chew •  be very cal …

Question:  I am a mother to a baby who is 6.5 months old, corrected age.  He was born at 29 weeks gestational age.  Because of being on a high level of O2 support for a long period of time, being intubated several times, and experiencing reflux, he has had an aversion to liquids and was not able to learn how to suck on a bottle effectively.  A g-tube was placed before he lef …