https://www.thewholisticot.com/

Helping Hands Occupational Therapy, Miami, FL (2025)

09/25/2025

Autism is much more complex. While it almost always involves neuroinflammation, the trigger is unique/buoindividual to each child.

Just like symptoms and presentation of Autism *spectrum* disorder can be varied, there is also a wide array of underlying contributing factors. It’s typically a complex series of environmental events and exposures over time.

The bottom line is that I’m really glad Autism is getting much attention so we can do our best to understand it and help these families find the appropriate treatments and support they need.

06/25/2025

Looking for some healthier swaps for the 4th of July? I’ve got you covered! No need to serve processed foods full of artificial dyes and synthetic ingredients to celebrate our beautiful country 🇺🇸I’ll try to tag as many brands as I can that are doing things better for the future health of our country!

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CallkiTeton Waters RanchPrimal Kitchen

04/13/2024

📈Cancer is the #1 cause of disease related death in children in the US.⠀
📈Autism is now 1 in 30 children, a 50% jump from 2017.⠀
📈1 in 5 children have asthma.⠀
📈1 in 6 have ADHD.⠀
📈1 in 6 have a developmental disability.⠀
📈1 in 5 children are obese.⠀
📈1 in 5 have a mental health disorder.⠀
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Big food, big ag + big pharma are at the root of it all.⠀
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Food regulation agencies have known for decades about the harmful affects of pesticides, herbicides and glyphosate on children’s health and childhood cancer rates but they have done little to nothing to regulate the use of them on our food supply.⠀
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These herbicides and pesticides disrupt the delicate gut microbiome and contribute to the toxic burden of children.⠀
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💫 The only way we can make an impact is by demanding and buying better for our families.⠀
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💫By refusing to buy ultra processed foods, GMOs, supporting brands who care about children’s health and making food at home from real foods, were demanding better options for children and helping to keep the food industry in check.⠀
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💫Here are some practical ways parents can make an impact at the grocery store. Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list, these are just some examples of MANY amazing companies that are working to make safer food products for kids and a few of many practical ways you can make simple swaps in your home.⠀
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1. Opt for grains that are low in glyphosate or certified glyphosate free⠀
2. Buy more “real food” snacks from protein, fruits and veggies instead of ultra-processed processed snack foods⠀
3. Buy grass-fed, pasture raised, wild and local meat and seafood as is feasible for your family ⠀
4. Opt for treats and cereals that are food dye free

07/26/2023

Are humans becoming more allergic to food or is our food and environment becoming increasingly more toxic?

What do you think?

I would argue that it is the latter. Granted, food allergies are real and on the rise more than ever -- In the United States, food allergies are a widespread epidemic. 1 in 12 children (8%) have food allergies and the prevalence has risen by 50% since the year 1997.

I would argue that the rise of food allergies has much more to do with toxicity, synthetic chemicals and pesticides on our food than genetics. Since the implementation of mass food production and caged farming practices that began around the early 1900's, our food has become increasingly void of nutrients and increasingly more synthetic and toxic. Environmental triggers and toxicants in our environment also play a large role in molding the gut microbiome and immune system.

Epigenetics, or the study of how your behaviors and environment cause changes that affect the way your genes work, is much more likely the cause.

05/24/2023

What does glutathione, oxidative stress and Autism have to do with each other?⠀
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✨Glutathione is the body's master antioxidant that plays many protective roles in the human body - primarily as it relates to reducing oxidative stress in our brain 🧠 and at a cellular level (see slides for all it’s important roles within the body) It is a primary nutrient involved in the detoxification process.⠀
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🧪Many research studies show children with Autism have significantly lower levels of serum glutathione. This compromises their ability to detox and defend against every day toxicants and free radicals. ⠀
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🧬There are also many studies that show oxidative stress is much higher in children with ASD, which makes sense since their glutathione levels are typically compromised.⠀
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The two play off of eachother -- less glutathione -- more oxidative stress and free radical damage.⠀
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🔬Oxidative stress happens when there is an imbalance between pro-oxidants and antioxidants in the body. This imbalance causes cellular damage, compromises the blood brain barrier and can cause a cascade of inflammation in the brain.⠀
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✨The good news? Children with Autism can benefit from glutathione supplementation which can decrease their oxidative stress levels. (See the study referenced above)⠀
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Always work with a provider before starting any supplements of course and this is not medical advice.⠀
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Topical glutathione to be best tolerated by children in my opinion. (it can be absorbed through the skin)⠀
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🫐Other ways to increase glutathione levels and decrease oxidative stress in the body naturally:⠀
-consume antioxidant rich foods⠀
-decrease/limit toxicant exposure in food/water/air⠀
-NAC⠀
-Vitamin E⠀
-Liposomal vitamin C⠀
-epsom salt baths⠀
-castor oil packs

06/20/2021

I've been thinking about autonomy lately and why its so critical for raising a child who is confident and trustworthy of food.
Our goal as parents around the table is to teach, guide and model how to make balanced food choices and how to follow our hunger and satiety cues.

This means we are the ones responsible making balanced food options available for our children, but we have to allow freedom for our children to begin making their own choices and we have to allow an open dialogue of trust and communication around foods.

Bribery and coersion doesn't allow for an open dialogue of trust and communication and it often creates the opposite affect we desire. When we force and bribe, we hope this will make our children like that food we're bribing them to eat-- but this won’t ever work - it will only teach children that food is unsafe the next time its offered.

We can have healthy boundaries AND allow room for our children to have their own autonomy and control. The more autonomy we give, the more the child feels in the driver's seat and the more relaxed and safe they will feel around foods.

Here's a short list of 5 ways you can offer you child more autnomomy at mealtime.

01/26/2021

There are many early life experiences that help set children up for success when it comes to feeding and integrating their senses. Many have to do with attachment, caregiver bonding and the suck/swallow calming reflex (this can look like successful breastfeeding or bottle feeding).

The sucking reflex is probably one of the most important reflexes your newborn has. It is paired with the rooting reflex, in which a newborn searches for and finds their food source.

The suck/swallow reflex (along with lots of skin to skin and caregiver bonding) helps babies to learn that food is a soothing and calming experience AND as a bonus serves to help regulate and soothe babies emotions and sensory systems too.

To put it simply, these activities help LINK 🔁the senses and reflexes together to help baby be more confident with their experience with food and handling sensory experiences. When a babe or toddler misses out on these early experiences (theres so many different reasons why these experiences can be impacted) -it can impact the way they tolerate and manage food when its introduced.

Don't worry though, even if one or more of these experiences is missed, theres much you can do to help integrate the senses later on in life!

For OLDER kiddos with sensory and feeding challenges, I recommend routine messy play and exposing the bare hands and feet to earths natural elements of dirt, water, grass, sand.

Over time, these messy experiences will help your child tolerate more textures on their plate too.

Regularly smelling spices and new smells is something that is helpful for sensitive eaters because the smelling sense is closely tied to how we perceive taste. Opening up the spice cabinet and letting your little one smell all the smells can be very helpful.

Continuing to routinely offer a variety of textures and tastes is beneficial for both babes, toddlers and older sensory challenged kids too.

I hope you find these helpful!

01/15/2021

One critical milestone in learning how to eat occurs very early on in life, when babies place ALL THE THINGS in their mouth. The process of mouthing helps babies to develop a sensory map of their mouth - in other words, it helps them to:⠀
1) know where the lips, tongue, cheeks and jaws are⠀
2) prepares them for chewing and swallowing skills ⠀
3) helps to refine their tactile/touch system in their mouth so that they can tolerate and manipulate and chew a greater variety of textures when they begin eating.⠀
4) There is also research that shows mouthing harder objects helps with tooth erruption⠀
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Many babies miss this critical developmental milestone because their parents don't know the benefits of mouthing for feeding skills and how it sets babies up for a successful eating experience.⠀
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1) Do you or did you have a hard time letting your baby chew on everything? (obviously you have to be very careful to make sure the item they're mouthing is not a choking hazard)⠀
2) Just for fun, whats one of the wildest things you found in your babies mouth😱?⠀
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Tag a mama who might need this!

11/11/2020

Many children who are more selective eaters often have underlying sensory sensitivities to certain textures. It's common for children who are sensitive to messy or mushy textures to gravitate more towards "crunchy" harder foods because they feel safe to them and they also provide sensory feedback to the mouth that helps them to chew.⁣
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Children who are typically avoidant of mushy textures in food (examples: applesauce, cream cheese, jelly, yogurt, guacamole, mashed potatoes) are often also avoidant of messy, mushy textures on their hands. These are the kids that avoid the sandbox at the playground because they don't want to get their hands dirty, who request to wash their hands immediately when doing an arts and crafts activity that involves glue, glitter or wet paint. These kiddos often need more messy sensory play to increase their tolerance to this texture before they'll ever allow these "mushy" and "wet" textures in their mouth.

Here are just a few ideas to get you started with your mushy texture avoider 👇
🥑 Avocado: Let them help you smash it with a fork
🥣Oatmeal: let them stir it and mix in toppings
🍕Pizza dough: have them roll and squish it
🍅Tomatoes: have them squeeze the seeds out
🍝Spaghetti: have them pull apart the strings or write letters with them
Paint 🎨 with purees

If you're stuck in a mealtime rut with your little guy or gal and looking for more ideas on how exactly to help your try new foods, check out the resource I developed to help kiddos learn about the different sensory components, colors, shapes and superpowers of the fruits and vegetables on their plates. It's called Veggies are Friends and you can always purchase it at the link in my profile👆

09/01/2020

I’ve been wanting to share some pre-chewing tools with you all and McKenzie gave a great explanation for parents wanting to try BLW but worried about choking👇

If you are worried about baby choking but are very curious about BLW and all it has to offer-start safe and slowly progress! A chewy tube or oral sensory tool can build oral motor skills to teach baby to manage foods before baby needs to actually manage foods! Once baby starts chewing, use it as a dipper for purées.

You can also use a hard munchable dipper like a raw celery or carrot stick. This is big and hard-for exploration and not to break off. If you are scared of choking and baby has teeth, stick with the dipped chewy tube.

My next favorite tool for parents working on chewing is a stick-shaped meltable like these snap pea crisps. They dissolve like puffs but have more texture. Their long, stick shape allows baby (or you) to hold one end and place it is baby’s back molars so baby can chew and manage easily.

Hope this helps ease some anxiety for some of you out there! Keep trying and gaining confidence because a baby-led approach can be so much fun and rewarding! Tag a momma who could use this info!

Helping Hands Occupational Therapy

09/25/2025

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04/13/2024

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