Our Story
Feeding therapy changed our lives
We began our journey into feeding therapy when our daughter Charlotte started to show signs of slowing growth. While Charlotte had always been small, her slow weight gain became more of a concern after she transitioned to solid foods. We began speaking with our family doctor about struggles at mealtime, as well as Charlotte’s lack of growth. We saw several specialists regarding oral motor issues and possible allergies, but we were unable to find an adequate solution to Charlotte’s issues. At this point, she was meeting all of her developmental milestones, just not gaining appropriate weight for her age. Beyond the medical issues, we were experiencing daily battles at the dinner table. Exhausted, we were directed to the Star Institute in Denver, Colorado. After Charlotte’s initial evaluation, we were told our then two and a half-year-old daughter had the chewing abilities of an 8-month-old. Charlotte began working with Dr. Toomey and the team at Star Institute in their SOS (Sequential-Oral-Sensory) Approach to Feeding.
During one of our initial meetings, we discussed correct posture and how to achieve that for Charlotte with the proper chair. Luckily, we already owned a Tripp Trapp that Charlotte used as her primary mealtime chair at home. Charlotte was being cared for during the day by an in-home provider who was very understanding regarding her needs. We purchased a second chair for Charlotte to use at daycare to add continuity to her day. This allowed Charlotte to sit in the same chair for meals at home, at daycare, and during her feeding therapy sessions. While she no longer works directly with a feeding therapist, we continue to use her chair to reinforce the lessons we learned in therapy and to this day we continue to adjust her chair to provide the best posture during all meals.
We were fortunate enough to be able to purchase two chairs to help meet Charlotte’s needs; however, we also understand it isn’t always in the budget to purchase one chair, let alone others if it were to become necessary. Because of this, we created Charlotte’s Day.