August 1, 2025
Parent: In the last couple of weeks, we’ve covered your favorite language strategy as well as your favorite speech strategy. We’re so fortunate to have you talk about your favorite feeding strategy today, as we know that nutrition plays an integral part of a toddler’s brain development.
I recently learned about a technique during my Feed the Peds® feeding course that I am currently taking. Using crumbs or “crumbing” is a term coined by Marsha Dunn Klein OTR/L, MEd, FAOTA. This is a technique that helps a child struggling in making the transition from purees to enjoying more complex textures.
Parent: It’s so easy to assume that all children are excited for new foods, but I’m sure for some it’s a huge change.
I had the opportunity to implement this technique with a 10 month old client of mine. This baby enjoyed a wide variety of purees, but demonstrated difficulty with transitioning to thicker textures. This resulted in gagging and, ultimately, food refusal.
When eating is no longer a pleasurable experience this causes stress not only for the child but also for the caregiver. Using crumbs is one way to empower a caregiver to make slight changes to provide successful and positive feeding experiences.
Parent: Crumbing sounds like such a practical addition to a routine, where would a caregiver begin with this feeding technique?
Crumbs can be mixed into a puree, touched to the child’s lips, as a new texture on top of a puree, or the spoon can be dipped into crumbs.
When thinking about crumbs, crumbs can be offered on different continuums:
dry texture – crumbs sitting on top
wet texture – crumbs mixed in
even texture – crumbs all the same size
uneven texture – crumbs of different sizes
A great illustration of this technique can be found here.
Parent: Aside from textures, is there anything else to consider?
Another aspect is what to offer as the crumb. Crumbs can be sweet, salty, spicy, colorful, bland, snack food, healthy food, or meltable. For my client, he loved Ritz® crackers and then added oyster crackers, which have a more solid texture. He also loved taking the crumb as a whole cracker and dipping it into his purees. It was so much fun watching him enjoy his mealtime and watch his caregiver relax and also enjoy the mealtime experience.
Parent: Doing this Favorite Strategy series has been so informative! Thank you, Vanessa!