Meals and Allergies

Some people have been asking me about what, exactly, Tabitha eats.  If she doesn't eat pureed chicken/sweetpotato/pear sort of things, what does she eat?  Well, in short, she pretty much eats what we eat, with some modifications (nothing that is a choking hazard like whole nuts, whole grapes or cherry tomatoes, food needs to left to cool, and I try and keep things in vaguely 'finger' shaped pieces for ease of handling).

When I cook our meal, it can be a pain having to let Tabitha's food cool down, because we all want to eat together at once.  So I keep a plate in the freezer while I cook, and put her food onto the cool plate as soon as it is ready - this cools it down super-fast!

Tonight, The Daddy and I had teriyaki salmon with rice, toasted sesame seeds and broccolini with sesame oil.  So Tabitha had a few bits of broccolini sprinkled with sesame oil and sesame seeds, plus some rice (which I firmly pressed into a rectangular block), some bits of salmon dipped in teriyaki sauce, and a few sticks of raw capsicum (because I happened to be snacking on some myself while I cooked dinner).  Here is what her meal looks like - although I take her food off the plate and just put it on the table, because otherwise she tries to pick up and eat the plate!

Normally, Tabby picks out one or two bits of food from her 'meal' to focus on, spending the whole of the time (10 - 20 minutes) working on eating that food.  Today was no exception - she became quite transfixed with the broccolini, holding one piece in each fist, and really getting stuck into it.  She tried a little salmon too, and enjoyed playing with the rice.

Here she is offering The Daddy some broccolini:

Yum!

Happily, I have given Tabitha nut products several times now, with no reaction.  This morning she tried crumpets with peanut butter and one with golden syrup (treat from The Daddy).  She really likes peanut butter!  Because peanut butter tends to be high in salt, sugar and fairly processed, I prefer to give her (and eat myself) a more nutritious nut spread, such as Almond Spread or the delicious ABC Spread, which are high in good fats.  If you haven't tried them, you should - they are incredibly good!  Generally available in the health food section of the grocery store.

Last week, on two separate occasions, Tabitha seemed to have a mild allergic reaction to a food - each time, a red blotchy rash (the colour of sunburn) developed around her mouth.  It didn't seem to bother her, and both times disappeared within an hour.  Thinking back to what she ate at each of those meals, I suspect the allergy is to egg.  Next week I will try her with a little plain egg and see what happens (I chatted to my local ABA counselor about this).  Here is her allergic rash:

Another food which has given Tabby some grief is 'sharp toast'!  A couple of times, we have given her some toast made from rustic dense sourdough breads, which make an impressively sharp crust along the top.  Each time, she has burst into very upset tears, so we concluded that the toast was cutting her gums.  Only soft toast for a little while I think - until we have some more teeth.

The other day, my mother offered Tabitha a little bit of chocolate ice cream on a spoon.  She tasted it, and looked at me with an alarmed face!  After the initial shock of cold wore off, she decided that it was delicious and went back for more.  Incidentally, at the same time, I tried a 'banana pavlova' ice cream from Trampoline - it was so good, banana ice cream with passionfruit pulp and chunks of meringue through it.  I recommend!

Today Tabitha also tried some home-baked, warm date and walnut loaf.  She definitely approved.