A parent asked me this question this week and it got me thinking that maybe other parents wondered this as well. So here goes… When I do a Nutrition Assessment, I gather lots of information about your kiddo: medical & growth history, prescription medications, supplements, family culture, sleep patterns, water intake, body movement, screen time, […]
With the upcoming Holidays I thought it was a good time to remind you that the food we share with those we love is about connection. It matters more that we share enjoyable foods with our family than if the kiddo eats something green. When I think about people that are important to me and […]
I’m a huge fan of check lists and visual schedules for kids. I think it’s the former teacher in me. I’m such a check list dork that I when I make a list I even make that little box before each item just so that I can tick it off! Here are a couple of […]
One of the frustrating comments that parents tell me that they hear about their picky eater is “maybe she’ll outgrow it”. Or worse “her growth is fine, don’t worry so much”. These comments, although said to reassure a parent, dismiss the reality that selective eating affects more than just the kiddo. Sometimes parents share with […]
I had a boss who liked to say “Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan“. He’d remind us that we’d likely be more successful if we took the time to figure out what we needed to do rather than winging it. Sometimes I think about this when I make a meal plan for the week. […]
If you have kids of any age, you know that the most exciting holiday (Halloween) is this week. My kids are grown and gone, but they absolutely loved Halloween. Planning costumes sometimes started well before the weather turned chilly or sometimes were a last minute scramble. Once or twice costumes planned early were scrapped—I hated […]
Food Chaining is a strategy for introducing food variety. Kiddos with selective eating are often “stuck” on a particular food and won’t entertain any variation. Your kiddo might like Ritz crackers and reject graham crackers (same crunch, but different shape, different color, different smell, different taste). So how do we gently shift a picky eater […]
It’s been a while since I ranted about hiding veggies in foods……so here we go again! Some new foods that I noticed have “hidden veggies”- Cheerios (what the heck?), Annie’s cheddar crackers and Beechnut mini waffles. Just Google “hidden veggies” and you’ll get plenty more examples. It seems that we’ve convinced ourselves that the only […]
The mom of a kiddo that I saw weekly for 2 years just called. She wanted me to know that her kiddo is eating at school! This is a BIG DEAL. When J started with me he was very selective about what he’d eat and if the food wasn’t just so he’d reject the whole […]
This is what a parent recently said to me while sitting in my office. I had seen this family during the summer for help with their 11 year old’s picky eating. Mom and dad were really frustrated. Meals were stressful and they were nagging their kiddo to eat. They tried negotiating, bribing, encouragement, education about […]