In this episode, Jeni and Heidi dive into a topic that doesn’t always get the spotlight it deserves during the tube weaning process: hydration. Hydration is a crucial and separate process with its own cues, rhythms, and strategies. Understanding hydration and its importance separate from nutrition and supplementation can often lead to a safer and smoother wean. We talk about why hydration deserves focused attention, especially in the early stages of weaning when safety is the top priority. How d...
Jul 01, 2025•27 min•Season 2Ep. 14
When we hear the term "tube weaning," it’s easy to assume it simply means switching from tube feeds to oral eating. But in this episode, Jeni and Heidi unpack why weaning is not just a one-time event or a quick fix—it’s a rich, layered process that unfolds over time. Tube weaning isn’t just about getting food into the mouth instead of the tube. It’s a developmental journey that involves emotional, sensory, and motor learning for the child—and often, a full family transformation. It’s not somethi...
Jun 24, 2025•21 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Welcome back! This week, Jeni and Heidi are talking about the role of supplementation during the tube weaning process—why it matters, how we approach it, and what it can look like when done thoughtfully and safely. Feeding tubes are incredible tools that support over 250,000 children in the U.S. They help kids grow, thrive, and heal—and the decision to use one is always made with the child’s best interest at heart. But just like any helpful tool, there may come a time when it's no longer needed ...
Jun 17, 2025•32 min•Ep. 47
In this episode, Jeni and Heidi dive into the often-overlooked but incredibly powerful concept of pausing both before and along the tube weaning journey. After months—or even years—of pushing through medical challenges, therapies, and constant decisions, many families reach a point where forward movement feels exhausting. Stepping back doesn’t mean giving up; it can actually create the space where the most meaningful progress happens. Pausing allows for emotional and physical repair—for both you...
Jun 03, 2025•34 min•Season 2Ep. 11
In this episode, Jeni and Heidi dive into how parents can play a powerful role in protecting and supporting their child’s journey from tube feeding to eating by mouth. When preparing, it’s easy to focus on the practical things like what foods to buy, which cup to use, and what’s the best bottle out there. What really matters is understanding what’s going on under the surface for both you and your child. For many kids, especially those with a history of medical challenges, food can be overwhelmin...
May 27, 2025•22 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Welcome back! In this episode, Jeni and Heidi are talking about how families can form an effective and collaborative team to support their child through the process of tube weaning. Too often, parents find themselves feeling isolated on their child’s tube weaning journey. They are either waiting for a plan that never comes or are trying to piece it together alone. With the right information and questions, a supportive team can be built. As we discussed in last week’s episode, parents are not jus...
May 20, 2025•26 min•Ep. 46
When we talk about tube weaning, we’re not just talking about transitioning from tube feeds to oral intake—we’re talking about creating or restoring joy, curiosity, and connection to eating and feeding. And at the heart of that process is YOU, the parent. Too often, parents find themselves in one of two difficult roles: either sidelined and treated as an afterthought or isolated, left alone to search for answers and support. We know and believe that parents are the experts on their children. You...
May 13, 2025•37 min•Season 2Ep. 8
How many times has a loving adult or professional told you that your child’s eating difficulties are a sensory based “problem”? Yes, feeding IS a sensory experience AND it’s bigger than that. We all interact with the world and situations using our own individualized sensory identities. The ways in which we receive, interpret, and respond to sensory information within that is also constantly evolving. Sensory preferences are our brain’s learned protection and reaction to lived experiences, whethe...
Apr 29, 2025•21 min•Season 2Ep. 7
In this episode, Jennifer and Heidi are diving into how certain feeding strategies, specifically when transitioning off feeding tubes, can backfire. There is a common phrase that we hear a lot as therapists: “I can’t GET them to do it or I can only GET them to have 2 bites”. As loving caregivers, parents often think that it is their job to get their child to eat a certain food or specific volume. While working to transitioning to oral eating, the focus should be less on what you can get your chi...
Apr 08, 2025•16 min•Ep. 45
In this week’s episode, Jennifer and Heidi talk about what motivates children to eat. While hunger is important, it’s not the only missing piece of the eating and feeding puzzle for tube fed kids. When helping tube-fed kids become oral eaters, there are a lot of other pieces of the puzzle we must consider! Comfort, pleasure, curiosity, and relationships are all aspects that you, the loving and caring adult, can help facilitate for your tube-fed child. Eating in a comforting environment, having a...
Apr 01, 2025•32 min•Season 2Ep. 5
In this episode of Tube to Table, Jennifer and Heidi are letting you all in on a little secret: most kids learn to eat while they’re eating and participating in continued meaningful experiences surrounding a mealtime. Often times, traditional feeding therapy has a narrow skill-based focus that may include oral motor skills, self-feeding skills, increasing volumes, or expanding varieties. Skill development actually includes much more than just those things! To target a skill, we need to zoom out ...
Mar 25, 2025•23 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Welcome to Tube To Table: The podcast about helping tube fed kids become happy and healthy eaters. In this episode, Jeni and Heidi are here to help parents understand why hearing “no” from your tube-fed child can be a good thing. Learning to accept “no” as parents can be a game changer for mealtimes and can help caregivers reframe what refusal means for their tube-fed child. Did you know that food refusal is actually developmentally appropriate, regardless of the neurological identity of your ch...
Mar 18, 2025•21 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Did your child just receive a feeding tube? Are you feeling stuck in feeding therapy? In this episode of Tube To Table, we are diving into the topic of what parents wish they had been told when their child first got their feeding tube. Feeding tubes can be a medical necessity and can help keep kids safe when needed. We’re here to remind you that this is not your fault, and your child can do this! The transition from being tube-fed to becoming an oral eater can be tricky and it is often not an au...
Mar 11, 2025•24 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Welcome to Tube To Table: The podcast about helping tube fed kids become happy and healthy eaters. In Episode 1 of Season 2, you’ll get re-acquainted with your hosts, Jennifer Berry and Heidi Moreland as they talk about Responsive Feeding and the transition from Tube to Table. Jennifer is an occupational therapist and founder of the Thrive by Spectrum Pediatrics Tube Weaning Program, and Heidi is a speech-language pathologist and clinical coordinator of the Thrive Tube Weaning Program. Both Jenn...
Mar 03, 2025•13 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Welcome back to the Tube to Table Podcast. On this week’s episode, Reframing Refusal, Heidi and Jennifer are talking about how to reframe the experience you and your child have when they refuse to eat. We are so thankful for all of our listeners and have loved hearing how this podcast is helping therapists and families implement responsive feeding into their mealtimes! With the summer approaching, we are planning to take some time off to record some new episodes and will be back with Season 2 in...
Jun 11, 2020•14 min•Ep. 44
In this week’s episode of Tube to Table, Jennifer and Heidi are discussing the Thrive Parent’s Bill of Rights. You may have seen this in a recent blog post at Thrive, but during this episode Jennifer and Heidi will dive into more detail and walk through each crucial step in the Bill of Rights. This was created by the Thrive Tube Weaning Team for any feeding therapy, not just tube weaning, although it especially applies to children with feeding tubes. This is an important tool to help remind pare...
May 27, 2020•20 min•Ep. 43
On this week’s episode of Tube To Table, Jennifer is joined by Jamie Hinchey, a member of the Tube Weaning program at Thrive. Jennifer and Jamie are talking about the measurement trap and how families can easily get caught up in it. Many families get stuck measuring progress with numbers, graphs, charts, and logs, rather than looking at their child and focusing on the responsive mealtimes. This is one of the most common difficulties that we see while working with families after an intensive tube...
May 20, 2020•18 min•Ep. 42
Welcome back to another episode of the Tube to Table podcast! We are continuing our “Parent’s Perspective” series with Joe’s story. On this week’s episode, Heidi sat down with Maggie, Joe’s mom who participated in the Thrive Intensive Tube Weaning Program at their home in Nashville. Maggie and Heidi talk through Joe’s history including his medical complications that led to the feeding tube, past therapy approaches, and how they ended up at Thrive. You’ll also hear Maggie talk more about what she...
May 13, 2020•41 min•Ep. 41
On this week’s episode of the Tube to Table podcast, Heidi and Jennifer are talking about the “where” of tube weaning. Where should tube weaning take place? What are the pros and cons to different weaning settings? They’ll answer all of your questions and talk through the important factors to consider when making a choice for your child’s tube wean. At Thrive, we believe children should be weaned at home whenever possible, but that may not always be possible for some families. Different settings...
May 06, 2020•27 min•Ep. 40
Welcome back to another episode of Tube to Table! We are so excited to have another episode as part of our “Parent’s Perspective” series. This week we are joined by Jessica & Chris, whose daughter, Noelle, went through the Thrive Tube Weaning Program a few months ago. Jessica and Chris are sharing their story with Heidi, the clinical coordinator of the program and Noelle’s therapist during her wean! Throughout this episode, you’ll learn more about Noelle’s history, what feeding therapy looke...
Apr 28, 2020•33 min•Ep. 39
Welcome back to another episode of Tube To Table! This week, Heidi and Jennifer are talking all about love and attachment. How do loving and attached relationships impact tube weaning or your child learning how to eat? If there was ever a time that we are all more aware of building these relationships, it is right now. Things can seem hard right now, but as we’re all having more video calls, calling our grandparents more, or reaching out to friends, it’s important to think about how attachment a...
Apr 17, 2020•25 min•Ep. 38
We hope everybody is well and staying close at home, keeping themselves and everyone in their community safe. In this week’s episode of Tube To Table, Heidi and Jennifer are back together to answer a question we have been receiving from many families. Is this a good time to move forward with a wean? In the past, we have talked about how high stress times can be a difficult time to wean, but now that we are looking at the long-term view and unknown of how long this “new normal” may last, it’s imp...
Apr 08, 2020•16 min•Ep. 37
At Thrive, we miss seeing our families in person, but we are so happy we have been able to reach out and see our families online! For many children and families, this can be a challenging time because therapy is on hold or transitioning to teletherapy. Therapists are struggling to reach out to children, parents have multiple tasks to take care of, and families are feeling overwhelmed. In this week’s episode of Tube To Table, Heidi is joined by Jamie, a member of the Tube Weaning team. Our team a...
Apr 01, 2020•16 min•Ep. 36
We know that this past week hasn’t been easy for our families. We are thinking of you and sending a big virtual hug! It’s important to remember that what’s more important than what your kid is eating or how much they are taking by mouth is the comfort, security, and attachment they feel for you. There is a lot of evidence to show that your mental and emotional well-being are very important and can help make things easier, so hang in there! Although this might not be a time to dive into tube wean...
Mar 25, 2020•16 min•Ep. 35
In this week’s episode, Heidi is joined by Jamie Hinchey, a feeding therapist and member of the Thrive tube weaning team. Heidi and Jamie are discussing the importance of bringing calm to a situation, specifically around children. This could be moving houses, a new baby in the house, spring break, or a change in the weather. If you are listening to this in real-time, then there are many of you who are dealing with a sense of chaos or disruption in your house right now. We’re here to help. It can...
Mar 18, 2020•22 min•Ep. 34
On this week’s episode of the Tube to Table podcast, Jennifer and Heidi are talking about autonomy. What is it and why is it important in your child’s tube weaning journey? It is so important to allow your child to be autonomous and independent while building a healthy and happy relationship with food. This should be a priority over efficiency and skill development. We have received feedback from therapists and parents who are struggling to find this balance within therapy. Your hosts will elabo...
Mar 11, 2020•13 min•Ep. 33
On this week’s episode, Jennifer and Heidi are talking about liquids and how they play a role while weaning your child from a feeding tube. As we all know, liquids are an essential part of our life, especially when we are sick or not feeling our best. Think about when you are dehydrated and how that makes your body feel: typically tired, low energy, swollen, and just generally uncomfortable. Kids feel that way too, even small babies, but they are not able to communicate that as well. At Thrive, ...
Mar 04, 2020•20 min•Ep. 32
On this week’s episode, Heidi is joined by Brianna Brown, a feeding therapist and member of the Thrive Tube Weaning Team. To follow up with last week’s topic on anxiety, Brianna and Heidi are discussing how to move forward when there is an actual problem or crisis during a tube wean. Anxiety and the feeling of a crisis are common during tube weaning in all families with children of all ages. Although the problem may be different for each family, there are common strategies that we find very impo...
Feb 19, 2020•23 min•Ep. 31
On this week’s episode of the Tube to Table podcast, Heidi is joined by Jamie, a feeding therapist and full-time member of the Thrive Tube Weaning Team. This week is Tube Feeding Awareness Week and we are so happy that this podcast has been able to reach families who have a child on a feeding tube, who are ready to wean, or who recently received a feeding tube. This week’s topic is all about worrying. Why do we as therapists need to worry about worrying? This topic will be helpful for all famili...
Feb 12, 2020•21 min•Ep. 30
Welcome back for another episode of Tube to Table! This week we are talking about how to measure progress while weaning your child from their feeding tube. We have been hearing from various families that we work with that there is confusion over how progress is measured. This is also a common conversation we find ourselves having with healthcare teams when discussing a child’s progression throughout a tube wean. Last week, we talked about how to initiate the conversation with your medical team a...
Feb 05, 2020•20 min•Ep. 29
