I know on for some this may feel like a trigger and potentially in-sensitive as the role food plays for tube fed children can be an emotional one. I have a child who is tube fed, and because he is fed with a J-tube we don’t even have the option of blended diets. The important distinction for me was that I recognised that the emotional trigger was mine as his mum and not his. We have the idea that we could do tasters as his tongue doesn’t relax move enough to make it a true choking hazard however because of his respiratory needs this ends up on the back burner and in reality this happens so infrequently that food really isn’t doesn’t have much of an oral role to play for him at all.

Service user led

The sessions have been carefully created to be pleasurable, therapeutic and educational for both the parent and child.

The role food plays for us as parents

Providing food is so embedded as an expression of love and of care that when you have a tube fed this can’t feel like it has being taken away can feel like it challenges your role as a parent, especially as a mother. child this Baking with your children is one of those images I think so many of us carry and can feel like a painful reminder of a life very much altered from what was expected.

By finding a new relationship for parent and child with food, it can be a very healing experience.

Modelling interaction & communication

The sessions offer the opportunity to model interaction, exploration and language.

By modelling these it helps build understanding, bonding and communication between parent/sibling and child.

Sessions could be offered as a ‘bake club’ or as a ‘Family bake’ to allow siblings to share/learn and partake in this modelling, building bridges and bonds. Finding ways for siblings to understand each other and share in experiences is something that isn’t currently addressed.

Recipes can will be broken down into Makaton and/or Picture Exchange Communication Systems these will be used throughout the session, copies will be provided for families to take home to use for recall. By sharing a piece of cake with a family member, teacher, therapist allows the child to feel a sense of pride in what they have produced.

Changing the social position

By the very nature of the need of this community, these children are used to having things done to them all the time, always being on the receiving end. By baking and being able to take something away which they can share it creates a really important power shift.

I would encourage family’s to share in enjoyment of end product but also

I would encourage photos/videos to be taken during the session as this can be a really effective way of reliving the events, creating carryover opportunities for language, inclusion opportunities within conversations after the event.

Sensory exploration

The level of ‘messy’ sensory involvement is adaptable per child depending on likes and sensitivities and additional button and switch commands could be set up to instruct the parent/sibling to complete the task the  child may not happy doing and it still allows for plenty of visual and audio stimulation throughout.