Expert Advice On Feeding Your Children

Managing Thanksgiving with New or Selective Eaters

11/25/2019

Mateo, 9 months - @whitneysara08

Thanksgiving is a time to gather family and friends and share a delicious meal. You envision a table full of loved ones - or perhaps just your small family - and enjoying favorite dishes from recipes that have been passed down for generations.

Unfortunately, it's not always how Thanksgiving (or other holiday dinners) work. For parents with picky eaters, Thanksgiving may be stressful as you anticipate comments what family members will say about your kid's eating habits (and what they imply about your parenting). Perhaps you're doing Baby-led Weaning (infant self-feeding) and you worry that loved ones will not understand how your baby eats. The sights and the aroma’s might be completely delicious to adults, but for many children, especially picky eaters or children with special needs or allergies, this meal can cause stress to the whole family.

Remember, flexibility is important with all things, especially children and holidays.

We've laid out some strategies for keeping Thanksgiving fun and low-stress with your BLW baby or selective kiddo.

Tips for self-feeding babies.

Communicate with your partner. Make sure you're on the same page as your partner about how you'll handle your baby's food and when you plan to leave. Keep communication open.
Communicate with your family and friends. Inform your fellow Thanksgiving diners that your baby feeds themselves before you sit down for the meal. This helps prevent any surprises once food has been served. If you'd like, explain why you chose BLW (without judgement of what they may have done with their kids) and explain that many parents are now opting to go this route.
Use us as your scapegoats. If you have taken our Infant course, explain that you got specific instruction from two feeding professionals. Tell them that it is normal for babies to gag while eating, and that gagging and choking are not the same thing.
Keep it comfortable. Offer foods that feel most comfortable to you. Perhaps you just started BLW a few days ago. It's OK to offer baby mashed potatoes on loaded GOOtensils.
Bring supplies. If eating at somebody's home, bring baby utensils and an eating mat.
Thanksgiving dinner may not be the best place to start BLW for the first time.. Practice a few meals prior to the big day.
Decide if you want to include baby in the eating experience. While Thanksgiving is a wonderful memory to share with your baby and we'd hope you feel confident serving them holiday foods on this day, brand new eaters don't necessarily have to share in Thanksgiving if it stresses you out too much. The family dynamic or mealtime environment may not be ideal for your family this year. This is especially applicable to families still navigating new food allergies, or if dinner is served after your child's bedtime. No one solution is right for every family, and it's OK if your baby skips Thanksgiving food for any reason. They can always try leftovers another time.
Protect your host's home. To minimize mess, make sure to put a towel or splash mat on the floor below your baby's eating chair (or your chair if they're on your lap). Don't forget a bib! Avoid serving baby's food on china or glassware.

Tips for selective eaters.

Host a Thanksgiving dress rehearsal, especially if your child is very picky or has sensory issues. Serve a practice meal with your kids including many sights, aromas, and sounds of Thanksgiving Day. Many grocery stores or casual food restaurants have complete Thanksgiving meals you can purchase to practice. Have your child sit in a different chair, especially if you already know what kind of chair they might be sitting in on the big day.
Communicate with your family and friends. Inform your fellow Thanksgiving diners that you have been working on picky eating strategies and will not be forcing your child to eat or bribing them with dessert. Make sure to talk about this away from the table and away from your child. Kindly ask them to let you handle mealtime dynamics instead of stepping in themselves. They simply want to help, but the strategies they have used on their kids may be contradictory toward your end goal.
Taste test and dip! Kids love to learn to taste and dip into sauces. You may want to bring special tasting cups or separated plate to allow the child to deconstruct their meal for an increase in eating on that day. It's OK to add ketchup or another favorite dip alongside your child's food.
Keep portion sizes tiny. Remember, most children can get easily overwhelmed at Thanksgiving Day meals. We recommend using a tiny serving spoon to serve themselves less overwhelming portions - they can always have more. You may want to explain to the host that your child will eat better if Mom, Dad or another preferred person (like an older child who is a role model) plate your child's meal.
Kid table...or not? Many families use the kid table for older kids (2 years+). Only kids sit at this table. This can go either way, and predicting your child’s participation can be tricky. Remember - keep the end goal in mind: to enjoy the day and be thankful for friends and family. It's OK for your child to fill up on bread with butter and pumpkin pie filling for one meal, we promise!
Focus on making memories. Allow your child to help in the meal preparation process or other decorating ideas for Thanksgiving. Kids can participate in many fun ways, including coloring or decorating name cards for the table or using stickers to decorate placemats. (Remember - heartfelt and kid-made can be better than "perfect.") Making a Thankful Tree is also fun! Each guest writes what they're thankful for on construction paper leaves, and older kids can help cut out these leaves with age-appropriate scissors. Some families do a Thankful Table Cloth and write what they're thankful for on the cloth itself. This is a great way to make positive memories with your child and start traditions for your family. It also takes the focus away from food if mealtime causes any stress. Your kids will look forward to these activities as they grow, and they will be fun keepsakes to look back on!
Set expectations low and stay in the moment. Your child might be overwhelmed by so many things: experiencing new smells, the timing of the meal, their chair might not be perfect, there are way too many people talking at the same time, and the visual stimulus of candles, glassware, people and food on the table. It is a lot to take in, even for us parents! Keep your expectations low and enjoy the things you can control, like staying present with your family and having food on the table. The rest will all fall into place. Don’t expect your child to be a marvelous eater or sit there for the entire meal. Keep an eye on your child at the table and have a game plan with your partner for how to handle who gets up first with the child. Have one parent tend to your child while the other parent finishes dinner and then switch so each parent can have an adequate social engagement and meal as well.
Serve something familiar with the meal. There's no need to make a special meal for your child barring medical or developmental issues, but make sure there's one familiar food your kiddo can fill up on if they don't want to eat the main dish. Bread with butter is a common "safe" food for toddlers.
Make sure your child doesn't get too hungry - too full - before the meal. A hangry child is not a fun child, so offer a snack a few hours beforehand - kids don't appreciate or tolerate the "wait until the Thanksgiving meal so you're super starving" approach. They need regular meals and snacks on the big day. Conversely, appetizers can prevent your child from wanting to come to the table if they get too full. Remember, this won't be perfect. Do what you have to do to make the day pleasant.
Bring Turkey Day activities. Check out Pinterest for fun crafts and Thanksgiving ideas. Involve the kids so they have enough to do while the dishes are cleaned and football is watched. Bring enough for all of the kids in attendance - this can make the day last a little longer!
Protect your host's home. To minimize mess, make sure to put a towel or splash mat on the floor if your child is prone to spilling or dropping food. Some toddlers do well with china and glassware, but Thanksgiving is not the time to start practicing with keepsake dishes.
If you are at someone else’s house, have an exit strategy. Know when you anticipate leaving, and communicate throughout the day to check in. This can be especially important with babies and young toddlers who may struggle to nap in new environments. Holidays are different with little kids than they used to be, and sometimes plans change. It's OK! Things will get a little easier as they get older, but right now you're in a special season.

Managing allergies?

If your child has known food allergies, make sure to inform your host ahead of time. Always ask for ingredients in foods you didn't make, and consider bringing allergy-friendly Thanksgiving dishes your child can enjoy so they can be part of the celebration.

Intuitive Eating Challenge with Candy

10/1/2019

Feeding Littles | A dietitian mama provides tips for a simple mindful eating activity that's perfect as Halloween approaches.

A strategy for more mindful eating.

As Halloween approaches, so many parents get anxious about candy and sugar - check out more on this in our other posts about handling Halloween candy and stressing less about sugar!

What I (Megan) have seen is that many parents are uncomfortable around sugar and candy because they don’t know how to handle it themselves. Perhaps you find yourself eating an entire bag of Reeses’ Pieces the week leading up to Halloween, or your kids’ candy loot feels like it has some sort of control over you. Sound familiar? You aren’t alone.

What I love about being in the Instagram community is learning from so many other intuitive eating dietitians, and one phrase I’ve seen floating around many of their accounts is that we are simply giving candy and sugar way too much credit. We’re giving it too much power. It’s so true. The more we obsess about it and restrict it, the more we crave it and the less we actually enjoy it while eating it. Do you notice that you eat candy very quickly so you “destroy the evidence”? If you think about it - what’s the point? Why eat it if we don’t actually enjoy it??

I challenge you to give yourself a little more credit and take the power away from that food. One way to do this is by sitting with candy (or any food) and really letting yourself actually enjoy it. Yes, eat it like you’re wine tasting. Really taste it. Give it time and aim for satisfaction from the eating experience.

Here are some tips for doing a simple mindful eating activity:

Remember that the purpose of eating candy is to enjoy it. Give yourself a moment to focus on the eating process.
Smell the candy (seriously!) - connect your senses and get ready for the eating process. Notice that you may start salivating or feel really anxious to eat this food. Do you like the smell? Is it appealing to you?
Take a small bite and close your eyes. What do you taste? Really try to capture the flavor of the candy. Is it what you expect, flavor-wise? Better? Worse?
Swallow the bite and just sit for a moment, noticing how the candy made you feel. Did you actually like it? Does it feel like it "hits the spot" or perhaps you don't like it as much as you expected?
Slowly eat what feels right for you and move along with your wonderful life. It may be too much for what your body wanted or not enough to satisfy you right now, and those are both OK. Remember that this is a discovery process, and you are learning for next time.

What you may notice is that a few bites hit the spot, or that you don’t actually like the candy once you’ve let yourself taste it. Maybe you need more than you thought. Perhaps you realize that you’d prefer another type of candy. Whatever you discover is OK.

I challenge you to try this again a few times as Halloween approaches, giving yourself unconditional permission to eat - and enjoy - some candy, however much that may be. You are worthy of eating food that tastes good, and that applies no matter what size you are or what you’ve eaten that day.

Do you need help with this? Please check out the book “Intuitive Eating” by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. I have said it before and I’ll say it again - it will change your life!

Sensory Play with Wet, Sticky Textures

10/1/2019

Feeding Littles | A feeding therapist provides the next step for sensory play strategies to help selective eaters tolerate mixed textures, including wet and sticky textures.

One step at a time.

Hey everyone! OT/feeding therapist Foodie Judy here with more techniques to help your child’s eating habits improve through play!

Your child’s sensory system helps determine which kinds of food he or she eats. The inputs food gives us via our sensory system can be either positive or negative, and when children struggle to process these inputs correctly, food can seem really scary or off-putting. One common issue is a strong dislike for touching wet or sticky foods like pasta with sauce, hummus, “juicy” fruit or peanut butter on toast. Does your kid dislike these foods too?

My job as a feeding therapist is to help kids struggling with sensory, developmental, oral motor, or behavioral issues around food become more competent, successful eaters. When children have sensory challenges with food, we introduce those textures in a less threatening way - through play!

In this post, we are continuing our sensory play strategies using these wet textures. In our last post about this we started with dry mixed textures, so if your tot is struggling or you want to help develop and challenge their sensory system, check out that post too!

Here are my tips for successful sensory play with a wet/sticky bin:

Present the bin with the toys inside and just play with the toys. Start with comfortable hard toys, then move to sticky toys like stretchy spider webs from the Dollar Store. Don’t be afraid to get into it yourself!
Bury the toys and bring the toys to life using voices, noises and actions. Go dig for buried treasures!
If this is going well, consider adding water to wet the pasta and change its texture.
Never force your child’s into the bin. Go slowly and let your child guide the way. Let your child wipe their hands or stop the activity if needed {although tolerance of the liquid on their hands is a good sign}!
Avoid doing this near the table or at mealtimes - we want it to be seen as a very positive, low-pressure activity.
Keep practicing - remember, the more your child can tolerate touching something, the more likely they are to eventually eat that texture.

Keep in mind the following end goals:

Tolerate wet or sticky textures on hands, which leads to tolerance in mouth
Play with familiar hard/smooth toys in the wet/sticky medium, and then play with sticky toys in the gooey medium
Tolerate the appearance of wet, sticky toys - and eventually food

What's with the Teal Pumpkins?

10/1/2019

Feeding Littles | Kids with food allergies can have a hard time with Halloween. The Teal Pumpkin Project is helping make Halloween safe and fun for all kids by offering allergy friendly options or non-food alternatives.

How to include all kids on Halloween.

Do you have a kid with food allergies?

If you’d like to include all kids - including those with food allergies or those who have medical issues that prevent them from eating candy - in Halloween, then consider being part of the Teal Pumpkin Project! This important project encourages families to display a teal pumpkin and have non-food options available for kids who can’t have standard candies. You can even add your house to the map HERE so trick-or-treaters know where to find safe treats.

We know that it’s tricky maneuvering the food allergy world. In fact, both Judy and myself have food allergies, and I (Megan) grew up with a severe anaphylactic allergy in my immediate family. It’s hard.

If you have an allergic kiddo, try to focus on language about “keeping you safe” when discussing allergies. Phrases like, “All bodies react differently to foods. Some people can eat all foods, but some people can’t. Your body doesn’t like xyz, so in order to keep you safe we have to have other options.”

Make sure to have alternative treats for your kiddo to enjoy too. There are some great common allergen-free candies at Target, where you can also find a teal pumpkin most years (and it's reusable)!

You can also have alternative options to candy all together. Some ideas include:

Stickers
Temporary tattoos
Pre-made slime
Bubbles
Vampire fangs
Glow sticks
Pencils, pens
Bouncy balls
Crayons, markers
Mini notebooks

If you're interested in joining the Teal Pumpkin Project, here's how to participate:

Purchase non-food treats.
Display a teal pumpkin (you can buy one or paint one yourself).
If desired, add your home to the teal pumpkin map.
Ask if trick-or-treaters have allergies, or give all trick-or-treaters a choice of food vs non-food item.

Sensory Play Starting with Dry Textures

10/1/2019

Feeding Littles | A feeding therapist's first step in helping a child's sensory system to help with selective eating. This activity promotes sensory processing to help kids tolerate mixed textures.

What causes a dislike of mixed textures?

Do you have a child who hates mixed texture foods like casseroles or soups? Perhaps they don’t like toppings on their sandwich or pizza...sound familiar? Judy here to discuss some occupational therapy strategies utilizing sensory play that can decrease selective eating. The dislike of mixed textures originates from the sensory system and your child’s level of tolerance for different tactile (touch) inputs.

Interestingly enough, when you let your child play with mixed textures in a safe, no-pressure way (where they don’t have to eat it), you help their comfort level when they’re presented mixed texture foods at mealtime. Tactile tolerance also helps in every day life - it will be easier to put sunscreen on their face, clip their nails, or wash their hair when they can tolerate these types of touch. This is just one type of tactile input - dry items - and we’ll show you in upcoming posts how to transition to wet or even “gooey” textures, which helps them to tolerate multiple types of foods when eaten.

Read all about sensory processing in this post.

How do we do this in a gradual way using dry textures first? See images below for examples of each step.

Start with a simple single texture like rice or other dry grains, dried lentils, dried beans or even sand. Offer a long utensil if your child is hesitant to touch it, and provide a motor activity with a bowl or cup so they have something to scoop into. Never force them to touch it, but encourage them to get their hands in the bin if they’d like to. Play along with them!
Add a new texture like bath toys or other different texture objects. Allow them to use longer utensils first as they get used to mixed textures (they can use hands if ready).
Offer a shorter handle utensil like tongs to slowly get them closer to touching the objects.

Words of advice:

Keep this activity short and never force them to touch anything.
Place a beach towel or blanket in opposing colors on the floor before setting down the sensory bin for easier clean up.
If your child is sensitive to their clothes getting dirty, have clean ones nearby.
If they don’t want to touch something, try putting it in a ziplock bag first - that may feel more safe.

No matter how you feel about sensory play yourself, keep your emotions positive.

How to Boo your Neighbors

10/1/2019

A fun Halloween tradition.

Do you Boo? Booing is surprising your neighbors and friends with a Halloween-themed gift and running away before you are spotted!

We were Booed earlier this week by some (unidentified) neighbors and are excited to carry on the tradition! Included in our Boo were instructions for continuing the Boo and a printable to hang on your front door that shows you’ve already been Booed from Tidy Mom - check out these printables!

For the families we are Booing, we included Target Dollar Spot gifts (socks, window clings, temporary tattoos, light up sticks, kid cups, bouncy balls, etc.), some candy and non-candy food (like name brand candy and some Made Good nut-free, dairy-free granola bars), something for the parents (Halloween-themed candles in our case), and instructions to continue Booing two additional people!

Our baskets are a little different since the families we are Boo-ing have different aged children, but you can make them generic if you don’t know whom you’re Booing! We love this Halloween tradition and the spirit it brings to our neighborhood!

Easy and Memorable Halloween Craft

10/1/2019

Feeding Littles | Looking for a fun Halloween craft that's both easy and creates memories? This simple craft activity is perfect for babies and toddlers. Plus, parents keep a memorable moment in time.

Because kids grow up way too fast!

I don’t know what it is about fall and the holidays that makes me feel all crafty, except, I’m not the super artsy type. I can’t just come up with a craft on my own or make a homemade witch out of pipe cleaners and twine (serious props to the mamas who have this skill - please send me the materials and a tutorial.)

Thank goodness for Pinterest and the simple craft inspirations I find there. I don’t know who originally posted this, but it’s such a cute way to commemorate this holiday and have a record of your tots’ little feet. We did this a few years ago, and I can’t believe how small their feet were then!

This will be something I hope to hang up each year, even when I’m a grandma, to remind myself of a time when Halloween meant pure magic for my little kids. I know they won’t always be like this - eventually trick-or-treating will be uncool, and they may decide to not dress up for a few (or many) years. Hopefully they’ll inherit my Halloween obsession and will always think costumes are cool though!

Don’t get caught up in what you are or aren’t doing to celebrate with your kids this season. No need to pressure yourself to turn into "Perfect Mom" - it just doesn’t exist. Just carving a pumpkin together can be such an incredible memory for your whole family, and for many families it’s plenty of celebrating.

If you’re feeling adventurous and want to do a craft, do something like this - it just takes some non-toxic orange and white tempera paint, a sharpie, and a small canvas. Simply paint the canvas and let it dry. Then, put some white washable paint on your little ones’ feet and make the ghosts (this is the hard part - protect your floor!) and let it dry. Finish it off by using a sharpie for their eyes and words!

Don’t forget to date it on the back! One day, you’ll smile looking at those little ghost feet!

Halloween-Themed Smoothies

10/1/2019

A great snack for kids and adults to enjoy.

It may be October, but it’s still hot in much of the world and smoothies are A-OK year round! We love featuring these each year because they’re tasty and appropriate for many allergy families too! (We aren’t dairy-free but know many of our followers are for various reasons!)

We found these fun glass Halloween milk bottles at Target again this year in the dollar spot! Worried about glass? Tuck the milk bottle in a sock before serving! It’s great to get toddlers used to handling glass (with assistance) so they can safely drink from it as they get older.

Each recipe makes about 2 cups of smoothie, but the glass bottles fit about 3/4 cup liquid each. Make them with your kids this month for a fun Halloween-themed drink that's tasty and satisfying!

Scary Berry Ingredients:

1/2 cup blackberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1 T coconut oil
2 T dried gogi berries
1 T hemp hearts
1 T chia seeds
1 T cocoa powder
3/4 cup almond (or coconut, hemp, etc.) milk
6 small pitted dates
6 ice cubes

Sweet Pumpkin Spice Ingredients:

1/2 cup pumpkin puree (unsweetened)
1/4 cup walnuts (sub 2 T sunflower seeds or 1 T coconut oil if nut-free)
1/2 peach (fresh or frozen, about 1/2 cup)
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon (more if you like cinnamon)
1 tsp. nutmeg
6 small pitted dates
3/4 cup almond (or coconut, hemp, etc.) milk
6 ice cubes

Green Goblin Ingredients:

1 large ripe banana
1/2 pitted avocado
3/4 cup almond (or coconut, hemp, etc.) milk
1 T chia seeds
1 T hemp hearts
1/2 cup kale
1/2 cup spinach
2 dates
6 ice cubes

For all recipes - throw all ingredients (liquid first) in a high powered blender like Vitamix. Blend until smooth and serve. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

10/1/2019

Delicious, festive pumpkin cookies!

I have always loved to bake. I started making cookies for friends and family in high school, and along the way I discovered this super simple combo: 1 can of pumpkin, 1 box of cake mix, 1 bag chocolate chips. Fortunately, I eventually learned about cake mixes with some pretty simple ingredients and not a lot of dyes or additives, and Immaculate Baking became my go-to cake mix for this recipe (not sponsored).

This is a cookie. It has sugar. It’s OK to have some - check out our post on sugar if you want more info. I like that Immaculate Baking mixes have sugar, flour, baking powder etc - the simple stuff! You could also use any store brand yellow or white cake mix. Or if you’re all fancy, I’m sure you could make the dry mix from scratch, but that makes it way less simple!

You can also make this recipe with spice cake mix, but I"m personally not a fan of cinnamon/pumpkin mixed with chocolate. Others are!

The best part about this recipe is that if made with Enjoy Life Foods chocolate chips, it’s dairy- and soy-free, as well as egg free if you use an allergy-friendly cake mix! It’s a cookie everyone can enjoy that doesn’t taste like a “modified” cookie. I have also tried gluten-free mixes with success for those who need it!

Here are the specifics:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, blend 1 box Immaculate Baking yellow cake scratch mix with 1 can pumpkin purée using a hand mixer; combine until smooth.
Stir in 1 bag Enjoy Life Foods chocolate chunks.
Form into 1-1.5" balls and place on 2 cookie sheets (will make about 24 cookies total).
Bake for 12-14 minutes or until set - don't let burn!

Serve with milk/milk alternative of choice for dunking!

Pumpkin Chili

10/1/2019

A festive and delicious recipe full of nutrients.

Even if it's still hot where you live and enjoying fall foods hasn't quite hit yet, keep in mind that pumpkin is a crazy good source of beta carotene, which is a powerful antioxidant and supporter of eye health! Just one tablespoon of pureed pumpkin can exceed your child's needs for vitamin A (as beta carotene) for the day.

This simple, freezable recipe is adapted from Wellness Mama and is seriously tasty!

Here's what you need:

1 pound grass-fed ground beef (omit for vegetarian - can sub another can of beans, bison, turkey or chicken)
2 onions
1 (16 ounce) can of BPA free diced tomatoes (drained)
1 (15/16 ounce) can or jar of tomato sauce
1 (15/16 ounce) can of pureed pumpkin
1 can beans of choice, rinsed and drained (black, garbanzo and great northern work well)
1 cup organic beef broth (or water)
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon Himalayan salt (omit if serving babies and add after)
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 avocado
Cheese and sour cream to top (can sub Greek yogurt)

Brown beef in a large pot. When beef is almost completely cooked, add the onions and cook until soft.

Add the pureed pumpkin, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, stock, beans and spices. Simmer for 10 minutes until heated through. Top with cheese, sour cream/yogurt or avocado slices. Feel amazingly festive and satisfied (even if you could still cook an egg on the sidewalk).

<<Previous

Managing Thanksgiving with New or Selective Eaters

Tips for self-feeding babies.

Tips for selective eaters.

Managing allergies?

Intuitive Eating Challenge with Candy

A strategy for more mindful eating.

Sensory Play with Wet, Sticky Textures

One step at a time.

What's with the Teal Pumpkins?

How to include all kids on Halloween.

Sensory Play Starting with Dry Textures

What causes a dislike of mixed textures?

How to Boo your Neighbors

A fun Halloween tradition.

Easy and Memorable Halloween Craft

Because kids grow up way too fast!

Halloween-Themed Smoothies

A great snack for kids and adults to enjoy.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Delicious, festive pumpkin cookies!

Pumpkin Chili

A festive and delicious recipe full of nutrients.

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