Thickening foods and drinks

Thickening foods can be an important part of your child's feeding plan. Thickening has several important uses. Thickened liquids served from a cup move more slowly than thin liquids, giving your child time to coordinate swallowing skills, thick slow moving liquids can be a lot less scary than thin, runny drinks such as apple juice.

Thickening foods is also an easy way to increase their texture, necessary when you are transitioning your child from smooth, strained, and pureed foods to thickened purees. Introducing more textures encourages the use of more advanced feeding skills.

Thickened foods also are helpful in the treatment of reflux. Used in conjunction with a positioning protocol, thickened foods may help reduce reflux. The extra weight and thickness of the food make it easier to keep down than thin, runny foods.

How To Thicken Foods?

There are many approaches to food thickening, and you may find that your child is more receptive to some than to others. But remember that children's tastes change, so even if your child doesn't like some of these thickeners initially, try them out again a couple of weeks later. This encourages more variety of foods and textures.

Here are some techniques to help you get started:

1. Dried infant cereals (or dried baby foods) can be added to drinks and foods.
2. Yogurt or soft tofu can be used to thicken liquids.
3. Add regular or instant pudding mix to thicken drinks. (Note from Jan. I'd get advice before trying this one personally)
4. Add breadcrumbs to stews and soups.
5. Wheat germ and mashed potato flakes add texture while they thicken.
6. A variety of milkshakes can provide flavourful, thick drinks.
7. Naturally thick foods can be eaten alone or added to other foods. Examples include, mashed banana, oatmeal, cream of wheat, and yogurt with small bits of fruit, mashed potatoes and refried beans.
8. Commercial thickeners for liquids also are available such as Carobel, Thick n Easy, Infant Gaviscon.

Other Things To Consider.

Thickeners add calories to food. Caloric values range from 5 calories per tablespoon for some pureed vegetables to 27 calories per tablespoon for wheat germ. The addition of calories may or may not be beneficial to your child and may influence your decision about the types of thickeners to use. Your feeding team can advise you further about this.

Another consideration when thickening foods is fluid intake. Drinking enough fluids is important to prevent dehydration. Even more fluids are required when using thickeners. This is especially important when using dried infant cereals and foods, which bind fluids, making them less available for your child's fluid needs. A registered dietitian will be able to evaluate the fluid needs of your child and help you with a plan to meet these needs.

Written by LWR member