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Tips for Toddler Mealtime after a New Baby

2/1/2020

 
Feeding Littles | After adding a new baby to the family, toddler meals can become difficult to get together. Give yourself grace and try out some of these tips from feeding professionals

When life changes, so does eating. Having a new baby definitely changes everything in your house. If you also have a toddler or older kid at home, don't be surprised if the addition of a sibling causes disruption at mealtime. You may find yourself serving crackers and milk for lunch. We want to be the first to tell you this: it's ok.

How can you make mealtime a little better with a newborn and an older kid - or multiple kids?

  1. Lower your expectations. Sometimes just feeding your kid anything is a win. This is a season, and it tends to be challenging - it’s OK if you make mealtime simple. Think about something with protein, a veggie or fruit when possible, and offering around 3 different foods with each meal.
  2. Sometimes older siblings feel left out when baby is born. Try to focus on what your older kid(s) can do that the baby can’t, and eat meals together as much as possible - even if they’re on the couch or as a carpet picnic - to try to reconnect with your older child(ren).
  3. Involve your older child(ren) in simple meal prep, grabbing snacks for mama while she nurses, prepping bottles for baby etc. Let them do special activities (grabbing a fresh diaper, finding baby’s paci) to remind them that they have an important role in the family. Small changes like this can help them become less resistant at mealtime since they feel more connected.
  4. Don’t forget about the importance of physical touch! Sometimes eating dinner on Dad’s lap works wonders.
  5. Ask for help when possible. If someone asks you what they can bring over, request food or snacks. People want to help - give them an opportunity to do so!
  6. Utilize convenience when possible. It’s OK to get meals or groceries delivered - do what you need to do!
  7. Expect to feel guilty - but try to see the big picture. We all feel guilty when we can’t give our older child(ren) the attention they’re used to receiving. Try to think of the future. You’re giving your other kiddo(s) such a wonderful gift - a friend, a partner in crime - and in a few months they’ll begin to interact and start to enjoy each other. You’re in the hard part now. Hang in there!

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Feeding Yourself After a New Baby

1/3/2020

 
Feeding Littles | No matter how a new baby has entered your life, it can be really difficult to find time to feed yourself. Here's some ideas from feeding professional moms to keep yourself fed during this time of transition.

It’s so important for YOU to eat when you have a new baby! Whether you’re breastfeeding, formula feeding, exclusively or partially pumping or using a feeding tube, whether your baby came to you via your own birth, surrogacy, fostering or adoption, YOU NEED TO EAT TOO! Taking care of a baby, no matter your circumstance, is physically grueling, and fuel is required to make it happen. Of course, some days that fuel is coffee and candy.

We wanted to provide you with some ideas to help keep yourself fed:
  • Focus on feeding your baby and accept help to feed yourself. It's OK to ask your partner, family and friends to bring you food. Keep in mind that babies seem to get hungry the second you sit down to eat - be ready to feed them too!
  • Keep portable snacks near your favorite feeding spot. Trail mix, dry cereal, durable fruit, nuts, and other favorite snacks are key when baby is eating and you get hungry, too!
  • If loved ones bring large containers of food, transfer it to smaller single-serving containers or bags and freeze what you can't eat right away.
  • Babywear! It will free up your hands to cook and eat. Just make sure you're not eating anything too hot in temperature! Don't be surprised if some food drops on your baby.
  • Foods that can be eaten with one hand (wraps, salads, burritos, smoothies) may be easier if you get stuck in a long nursing, bottle feeding, or pumping session.
  • Take advantage of grocery or food delivery apps and services. This is the time of your life when you need them the most.
  • Breastfeeding increases your protein and water needs. Hard boiled eggs, nuts, Greek yogurt, beans, fish, peanut butter, and meat are great sources of protein. Stash water bottles or cups of water wherever you feed baby.
  • Your Instant Pot or slow cooker will be your friend - try to prep ingredients when baby sleeps (or ask a loved one to do this) so you can pour and cook!
  • Screen shot menus for your favorite restaurants and keep them in a file on your phone. If someone wants to pick you up food, you'll know just what to order.

We know that feeding a baby is emotional, especially in those early months. Hugs those of you struggling with your feeding experience. We are sending you a big virtual high five for the amazing job you’re doing!

Look below to see photos from some members of our Clients Only Group on Facebook as they feed themselves in various way. Notice food dropped on babywearing babies, dads rocking the bottle (or getting their grub on), combo feeding mamas sneaking in a few bites of food while they feed baby a bottle after a breast feed, new moms finally eating after birth, it’s all wonderful and it all represents our own unique stories as parents.

Thank you to the hundreds of parents who contributed photos - what a fun thread to read! It was such a great reminder that we are all doing our best and are all in it together!!


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Pregnancy and Postpartum Snack Ideas

1/2/2020

 
Feeding Littles | Here's a great list of snack options for pregnancy and postpartum that are filling and nourishing. The snack ideas are dietitian approved and delicious!

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One of our lovely followers asked us to put together some filling, nourishing snack ideas for pregnant and breastfeeding moms, but these snacks are also perfect adults of all ages and stages.

Note: if you’re sharing these snacks with a kiddo under 4 there are some choking hazards shown (since these are geared toward adults). Soften the baby carrots, use thinly spread cashew butter instead of whole cashews, and soften/shred the apples.


Let's talk about real-life balance for a moment. Your postpartum snack might be a handful of chocolate chips and lukewarm coffee. That is OK. It’s about grace and survival! Your diet won’t - and really shouldn’t - be 100% perfect. Obsession is not productive. Also, we realize that not every postpartum mama can or chooses to breastfeed. There are some additional considerations for breastfeeding (like more protein, more water), but please remember that whenever we are talking about how you feed your baby we are coming from a place of inclusiveness and love - not segregation or judgement. These snacks are for everyone!

What makes a snack great? Protein, produce (fiber!) and something that’s simple to grab - most of these are just wash and eat! (Yours probably won’t be presented this carefully - what matters is getting it in your belly.)

About the food:
  • Crackers - Simple Mills
  • Energy bar - we love Larabar, Rise Bar, Kind Bars, Bulletproof, RXBAR, Pro Bar, and GoMacro
  • Cottage cheese: Good Culture (probiotic food that tastes amazing!)
  • Hard boiled eggs: Instant Pot makes this so easy! Place on rack, add 1 cup water to the IP, 6 minutes on high then manual release (per CopyKat Recipes)
  • Avocado toast seasoning: everything but the bagel from Trader Joe's
  • Babybel cheese is shown, but any cheese - as long as it’s pasteurized if pregnant - is fine. Sometimes we need individually-packaged food for convenience - just recycle when you can!

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Truths from Feeding Professionals

11/1/2019

 
Feeding Littles | Two feeding professionals share information they have seen to be true for most families. If you need more help navigating mealtime with your baby starting solids at six months or picky eating toddlers and young kids, check out our online courses.

​Oh, the things we learn when we become parents, right? As feeding professionals who have worked with thousands of families - and moms ourselves - we have both learned a lot more about food than we ever learned in school. Fortunately, there is still so much more to learn and more ways to grow in our understanding...but here are some things we know to be true right now"
  1. When feeding goes well, it’s great. When feeding doesn’t go well, it affects the whole family and can be all-consuming.
  2. Not all families - and not every human - are meant to eat the same way. We have different tastes, preferences, nutrient needs, and genetic makeups. We feel different eating different foods, and that’s OK.
  3. HOW you feed your kid is as important as WHAT you feed your kid. Pressure, negativity and tension at mealtime can influence your child’s eventual eating habits even more than the foods they were exposed to.
  4. Culture affects what we eat and how we perceive food. Many of our beliefs and values around mealtime are common to the culture in which we grew up.
  5. Perfection is not the goal. Over-preoccupation with healthy food is actually now a defined eating disorder, orthorexia. Nourishing foods are important, but so is balance (and cookies)!
  6. It’s OK for you to want to do things differently with your kids than your family did with you. We recommend approaching family members with sensitivity and grace when explaining how you manage food, and realize that we all do our best given available information.
  7. Not everyone prioritizes or values nutrition. That’s OK.
  8. Yes, a bowl of cereal or cheese and crackers DO count as dinner. We have to go easy on ourselves - parenting is no joke!

Need more help? Our online courses are here to help you navigate feeding your kids under age 7! The infant course is appropriate for new eaters and babies who haven’t learned to self-feed; our toddler course is best for kids 10 months - 6 years.

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How to Handle Overtired Babies and Toddlers at Mealtime

9/17/2019

 
Feeding Littles | Overtired children don't eat well when they're tired, even as young babies. Here are some tips to help navigate overtired babies and toddlers during mealtime.

Easy ideas to try when kids are overly tired.

Anyone else have a case of the Mondays recently? This was my almost 3-year-old after her first day of full-day preschool school (9-3) during which she refused to nap. I took her sleepy body out of the car at home, set her on her feet, and when I turned around after unloading the car she was passed out on the floor.

Feeding Littles | Overtired children don't eat well when they're tired, even as young babies. Here are some tips to help navigate overtired babies and toddlers during mealtime.

Can we talk about feeding overtired children? As you have probably learned, kids don’t eat spectacularly well when they’re tired. Even young babies struggle to focus on a feed when they haven’t had enough sleep. So, what’s a tired (and frustrated) parent to do when your child is crazy and overtired but needs to eat?

  1. ​Overtired babies may not do well in the feeding chair. It’s OK to take them out and try again next time. Sometimes a milk feed is what they need more.
  2. Toddler melting down before dinnertime? Sometimes we have to offer dinner earlier than planned and put them to bed. Try to serve what you’d be having normally and at least sit with them if you’re not hungry for dinner. Make it as positive as possible and get that child down! This is where you use the strategies of routine and novelty to make the meal as manageable as possible. Tomorrow will be a better day.
  3. Go easy on yourself if you have nights where you fill ‘em up with mac and cheese and praise God that they’re asleep early.

The overall goal is that we have family meals *most of the time* and serve our kids what we eat *most of the time* (maybe with some special considerations), but we’re also real parents with real kids who sometimes just need a full tummy and a good night’s sleep.

​Tomorrow will be a better day. Get that sweet babe to bed and get down with some mindless TV or a good book, because you deserve to celebrate surviving a day with an overtired, adorable little lunatic!

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Music During Mealtime

8/13/2019

 
As music lovers, we created a mealtime Spotify playlist for you to use with your family. Music can be beneficial to babies, toddlers, and children of all ages to have fun before the meal and help them focus while eating. Feeding your kids just got a little easier.

Music adds ambience and fun to dinnertime.

In our Toddler Course we talk about the importance of minimizing distractions, including TV and devices, during mealtime. Some of us like the TV on while we eat for some background noise, but you may have noticed that young eaters become easily distracted when the television is on. 

Music can provide low level sound and some wonderful ambiance while not being distracting. Turning on music at the beginning of a meal can be a fun pre-meal ritual that directs your child’s focus from play to eating. Plus, listening to music in childhood helps your child develop language skills and learn about rhythm and sound. Make sure that the music isn’t too loud or jarring while you eat or it will feel distracting. For many people, high-energy, fast songs don’t work well for family meals, but do what works for your family.

Sharing your favorite music with your child can be a powerful way to connect. You can sing and dance together now when they’re little and go to concerts together when they get older...and one day they’ll think fondly of you and those memories whenever they hear that special song.

We decided to share some of our favorite mealtime songs with you below. As music lovers and big concert-goers, our selection here is a little bit eclectic. This list could go on forever. What matters is picking music YOU enjoy to create a positive environment for your family. Check out the Spotify playlist we created with these songs.

Judy's Favorites:
  • Bright by Echosmith
  • Stop this Rrain by John Mayer
  • Rumour Has It by Adele
  • Witchcraft by Frank Sinatra
  • Circle of Life by Elton John
  • Claire de Lune by Claude Debussy
  • Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones
  • You Got a Friend by Carole King
  • I Say a Little Prayer by Aretha Franklin

Megan's Favorites:
  • 63 Days by Atlas Genius
  • Beloved by Mumford & Sons
  • Love Me Anyway by Christ Stapleton & P!nk
  • Wild Love by James Bay
  • #41 by Dave Matthews Band
  • High and Low by Empire of the Sun
  • An Evening I Will Not Forget by Dermot Kennedy 
  • My Blood by Twenty One Pilots
  • When the Party's Over by Lewis Capaldi (Billie Eilish remake)

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Creating Mealtime Memories

8/13/2019

 
Meals with young kids can be a struggle, but we're here to help. Check out our toddler course to help your little ones with eating, especially if they are picky eaters. Here are ideas to build traditions with your kids surrounding mealtime so they have positive associations with food and meals.

Mealtime is about more than food.

Meals with young kids can feel chaotic and stressful. It can be a serious struggle. We work with thousands of families who are at the end of their rope (Friends, please consider our toddler course if this is you!)

Sometimes it’s important to take a step back and think about what you want mealtime to feel like 5, 10, 20 years from now with your kids. What associations do you want them to have with food? What do you want them to remember?

Mealtime is oftentimes the only time of day that we get to sit and connect with each other, hence why we can have such vivid memories of how it felt when we were kids.

Here are some simple ways to build positive traditions that your kids will remember:
  • Play a special playlist or music genre for dinnertime.
  • Use a fun plate for big celebrations - birthdays, work or school successes, holidays.
  • Serve a specific type of food on the same day of the week - Taco Tuesday, Build Your Own Pizza Friday.
  • Teach your child to make a famous family recipe.
  • Ask specific questions each dinner - “What was today’s high? Today’s low? How were you a friend to someone today? What is one thing that amazed you today? What is something you’re grateful for today?”

One day they’ll use these memories to create traditions with their own kids. It’s hard when we’re in the thick of it...but we’re going to miss this, friends! We promise.

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A Reflection on a Mom's Parenting Journey

8/13/2019

 
A mom reflects on her journey into parenthood through the memories of the rocking chair she spent many nights with her babies breastfeeding and how she celebrates the journey of motherhood.

Enjoy those sweet snuggles!

As World Breastfeeding Week comes to a close, we wanted to share the story of this nursery chair. 

Megan here. To most people this is a simple gray rocking chair. To me, this chair represented the beginning of my journey into motherhood. I gave it away last year to a mama who really needed something special for her new baby, and I was surprised at how emotional I was when parting with it.

This chair was by far the most utilized piece of furniture in my oldest child’s nursery {shown here in our living room}. It represented all things baby to me - nights filled with broken sleep, intoxicating baby breath and gummy smiles, sweet snuggles as you feel their body relax and drift off to dream land, quiet nursing sessions where nothing else exists. This chair also saw us through teething and ear infections and strep throat the night before her first birthday and SO MANY FEEDINGS (including the painful ones). In this chair, we read books, sang silly songs, and held each other close. I know I cried many times in this chair, begging for sleep or simply asking the universe to keep my baby young just a little bit longer.

This chair represented my motherhood journey, and for me that journey included breastfeeding. Your journey may include breastfeeding for one hour, one day, one month, one year+...or not at all.

You see, these journeys teach us things. They humble us and mold us and impart beautiful lessons. Maybe your experience breastfeeding was overall amazing. Maybe it was really hard. Maybe thinking about it brings back wonderful memories. Maybe it brings pain. These experiences are all unique to YOUR journey, and you learned from them. You grew.

Celebrate your journey, whatever it looks like. Be proud of the times you spent in your cozy chair feeding your baby the best way you could. Know that your breastfeeding and early feeding experiences don’t define you as a mother - they teach you valuable lessons of resilience and grace.

One day that chair won’t have a place in your house. Those early morning feeding sessions will be a very distant memory. But you’ll still be the strong, rockstar mama you’ve always been.

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My Feeding Journey with my Babies

8/7/2019

 
A New Mother's Feeding Journey

What I wish I would have told myself.

This is me, age 29, with my husband and first baby Hannah. I didn’t cry when she was born...I cried when she latched for the first time, which happened moments before this image was captured. This photo, taken by Doula Dianne, means so much to me now because it was the beginning of my feeding journey. It’s also the true start down a path that led me to knowing all of you wonderful humans and getting to live out my passion with my amazing business partner Judy.

I appear giddy and joyous here, but I was also so anxious about breastfeeding. I put SO much pressure on myself to breastfeed, and fortunately after a TON of pain and latch issues (we later realized she had a severe tongue and lip tie), I had a great breastfeeding experience. Not always easy, but great. I wish I had told myself that no matter what, it would all be ok.


When we started baby-led weaning at 6 months on the nose, my eldest took to it like a champ. My second daughter was even more of a foodie and was demanding to take part of every meal we ate once she started with solid foods. I have been fortunate to have the wisdom of Judy and what would eventually become our online infant and toddler courses to help me navigate any challenges that came up. I know I am lucky.

I know from the clients I see every day that not all feeding journeys go this way, that mine may seem especially easy. Judy and I work with feeding and nutrition challenges every day - we listen to and comfort sweet mamas as they cry, mourning the loss of an experience they so wish they had. We celebrate even the tiniest of successes and offer our professional and mama-to-mama support when things get tough. We adore meeting such wonderful, diverse, passionate families and witnessing new parents evolve into the fiercely protective people they never knew they were.

Feeding and nutrition are SO emotional, so personal. Everyone does it differently, because everyone is different. We are grateful to be part of your journey. Thank you for being part of ours too!

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Intuitive Eating and Self-Worth

8/1/2019

 
Body Size does not Define You

You are worthy.

You are worthy of enjoying food, of finding joy in the eating process, of eating when your body - no matter what size it is - says it’s hungry! Your body size does not define your worthiness as a partner, as a mother, as a woman, as a human. Don’t let your life pass you by as you strive to be something, someone else. Yes, taking care of yourself and moving in a way that feels good to your body is important, but so many times we self-sabotage because we don’t feel like we are worthy of the same love we give to everyone else, including our kids whom we adore. You are worthy!

If you need help with this, please check out “Intuitive Eating" by Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole. I trained under Elyse in graduate school and the Intuitive Eating philosophy completely changed my life and the course of my career. This book is a complete game changer. Judy and I hope to teach you how to navigate food with your kids so they grow up seeing food as just food - delicious, enjoyable, and yet just food. Let’s break the cycle of chronic dieting, body bashing and shame surrounding food so our kids don’t have to struggle as well. If you're looking for a more step-by-step approach to this with your little ones, check out our Toddler Course.

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    Authors

    Megan and Judy, co-owners of Feeding Littles, bring you helpful info on food, nutrition, picky eating, and feeding young children. Megan McNamee MPH, RDN is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Judy Delaware, OTR/L is an Occupational Therapist specializing in feeding therapy with children 3 and under in Boulder, Colorado. Megan and Judy are both moms of two and love helping families develop a healthy appetite for all foods! 

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