Foods to eat/avoid with a palate expander?

[erosenst]

DD gets hers next week. So far, she's had two rounds of spacers, and we're having her avoid 'sticky' foods to avoid pulling those out. But once the expander is in, what will she/won't she be able to eat? I know things like tootsie rolls are on the 'no' list - but what about bagels? Fruit snacks? Guessing fresh fruits (which she loves) will be ok once she learns how to chew?

Any insights/tips/etc much appreciated!

[twowhat?]

I had one as a kid and I could eat pretty much anything. I did avoid things like peanut butter though because it just took too long for it to work itself free of the expander. I remember they told me not to chew things like ice or peanut brittle or corn nuts but generally, as long as you're diligent with keeping it clean using the water syringes that they give you, you can eat pretty much normally.

[egoldber]

It took my older DD about 3-4 days to figure out how to eat around the expander. She at a lot of yogurt and applesauce, for a few days. :)

After that, she didn't like super squishie foods, especially for lunch at school when she couldn't really clean it out very well. But she could eat almost anything.

[erosenst]

Thanks - DD will be thrilled to hear this. She's been very very good about it so far, but it was sort of a bummer for all of us that some of the favorites were off limits.

Ordered the Water Pik yesterday so we're good there. And she doesn't like PB, so we avoid that problem!

On a funny note, she's been making a list of things that she can't have after trick-or-treating (tootsie rolls, airheads, laffy taffy, etc.) Think it will be soon enough after she gets it that we'll keep those on the 'off limits' list to be safe.

[ECMom]

Interesting......our Ortho said to take out the palate expander to eat.

[erosenst]

My understanding is that there are two kinds....but hers will be cemented in :).