Melanie Potock

Without even realizing it, are you raising your kiddo to be a picky eater?

Here are 3 mistakes I still make, and I’ve written 6 books on raising healthy happy eaters.😳🤦🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

🤍It’s just so easy to do, but the key is give yourself grace, and try not to do these too often. So, in the interest of reminding myself to STOP IT😉, I am confessing that I sometimes (not "all the time" like I said in the video - I`m being way to hard on myself today)...

1.✨Have trouble sticking to a mealtime/snacktime schedule. So, I have a copy of my OWN Hungry Not Hangry Schedule printed and posted where I can see it as a reminder that kids are often bored, tired, or just “in the kitchen” and all of those may prompt requests to eat.

👉🏼(COMMENT SCHEDULE to download your free copy).

2.✨They may actually be thirsty, and toddlers tend to request snacks even if they are feeling thirst. It’s a reminder for me to keep their water bottles within reach and offer water frequently.

3.✨I admit it – it’s so easy for me to reach for something I’m sure they will eat, because honestly, it’s easier on me too. And occasionally, that’ totally fine! But if I reach for favorites too frequently, and I don’t focus on exposures to all kinds of foods – I’m going to regret it.
✨❤️✨Exposure is everything when it comes to raising a healthy, happy eater.

✨Rather than trying to follow all the rules you find in books (including mine!) – just know that following those suggestions most of the time is good enough.

🥰Melanie

#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #ashaigers #feedinglittles #pickyeaters #responsivefeeding

My kid likes to look at a book while they’re eating…
🤔Is that ok?

✨COMMENT TABLE✨ for 3 links to the best mealtime books, but first, 👉🏼let’s breakdown the YES and NO:

👉🏼Here are 3 reasons I’d say YES and 3 reasons I’d say NO:
1)✨YES, because it’s “while they’re eating.” If they are enjoying a book and enjoying their meal at the same time, that’s wonderful!
❌AND NO, if it’s interfering with them eating. If it’s too distracting and gets in the way of focusing on the food, then no, it’s not ok.

2)✨YES, it it helps them pace themselves. Toddlers are especially notorious for grabbing large handfuls of food and overstuffing, rather than picking up one piece at a time and chewing, then swallowing and taking another piece. A book is often a wonderful solution for this!
❌AND NO, if it appears that they are not eating mindfully. In other words, the book is the main focus, and the food is somehow just finding their way to their mouth. Like eating in front of a screen, occasionally a book can make kids zone out, especially if it’s an interactive book with buttons and sound effects.

3)✨Yes, if it’s only on occasion, and they aren’t dependent on it. Mealtimes are an important time for connection and to build cognitive and language skills.
❌AND NO, if they cannot be flexible and come to the table without a book. That dependency on an object at the table signals to me that they need something to keep their mind off their anxiety at the table, or around some foods.

🤍TIP: The more you can sit with your child, engaged and connecting, the better! Reading a book to them while they eat, pausing several times on each page to comment, point out the pictures and pause, waiting for their response, is a lovely way to get that mealtime conversation going!

🥰Tell me, do you have favorite books to bring to the table? I have an entire list of favorite books about food on my Amazon Shop. ✨COMMENT TABLE✨for 3 links to the best books to bring to the table and more!
🩷Melanie

#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #ashaigers #feedinglittles #pickyeaters #responsivefeeding #arfidawareness

Solving picky eating starts with fun! Think about it…

🤔 The best teachers make the lesson fun! Go from fun to YUM with 100 activities and recipes in Adventures in Veggieland!

✨And don’t forget…

✨Smile✨Research shows that when YOU smile when presenting a new food, kids are more likely to try it. 🙂

👉🏼🔗COMMENT VEGGIES for 3 links that will help you with the tools to raise more adventurous eaters.

🥰Melanie
#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #ashaigers #feedinglittles #pickyeaters #responsivefeeding #adventuresinveggieland

Preventing picky eating is best done by focusing on …

✨VARIETY✨

✨VARIETY - even if they don’t eat it.
✨VARIETY - tiny portions of a variety of flavors, about a tablespoon each… then more if they want it.
✨VARIETY - include texture variety too- smashed, meltable, safe crunchies, etc.

👉🏼✨👉🏼Let’s jump back to flavor for a minute… even if you are serving only mac & cheese (because that’s all you have time for), take one minute to divide out some of the portions and add some dried herbs (dill is a great one) or a bit of pepper, or quickly stirring in some canned pumpkin...well done! 🥰

😎Save this post to help you remember that one word: VARIETY.

I’d love to know what questions you have…please ask away, I’m here to help!

🤍Melanie

Oh, and can we prevent picky eating in every child? No. But even if you`re kiddo is in feeding therapy for hesitant eating, our goal is variety, one step at a time!

#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #ashaigers #feedinglittles #pickyeaters

#sponsored The @gobekids cup teaches your toddler how to drink properly from an open cup the way nature intended. As a speech language pathologist specializing in mouth and feeding development in children, that’s important to me, and here’s why:

Some circular “360-style” open cups require young children to jut their jaw forward, brace their mouth and apply pressure or suck very forcefully to get the liquid to flow. In my professional experience, that’s not an oral motor pattern we want to teach little kids, and it has nothing to do with drinking from an open cup. We want kids using the correct muscles of the face to comfortably drink from an open cup in the same manner that adults do – and BONUS if we can reduce spills!💦

Choose a cup that truly teaches the correct motor pattern for open cup drinking. I choose the @gobekids cup because it was designed to support your child’s mouth development and speech and feeding milestones. PLUS, and you’ll love this – it automatically closes if your kid drops it on the floor (because they will).😉

Cheers!
🥰Melanie

#melaniepotock #toddlers #toddlermom #parentingtips #toddlersnacks #parentinghacks #dadlife #ashaigers #slpfeeding #otfeeding

🐇Marshmallow candies are a THING in Easter baskets, and many adults have no idea how easy it is for a child to choke on even a piece of a marshmallow.

✂️You can’t cut them smaller than a child’s airway and they are so lightweight and fluffy, they are easily inhaled. The stickiness and squishy texture acts as an ideal plug – making them extremely difficult to dislodge.

👋🏼🤍👋🏼Hi, I’m Melanie, as speech language pathologist and swallowing specialist devoted to helping you with your child’s feeding development…and that includes food safety. SAVE THIS POST under “holidays” on your phone and now is the time to share with friends and family.

✨Most major health organizations recommend waiting to serve a child marshmallows (yes, even in hot chocolate) until age 4. Why not age 3 you ask?

👉🏼The size of a 3 vs a 4-year-olds airway isn’t that different and can vary depending on the overall size of the child…BUT, the attention span of a 4- year-old is typically better than a 3-year-old. It’s simply too easy to laugh or inhale before starting a sentence and that sticky little pillow of a marshmallow is now a plug in your child’s airway.

❓Tell me, did you know this about marshmallows? Also, anybody ever play that marshmallow game where you stuff as many marshmallows in your mouth and try to talk? Stop it. Don’t play that. Don’t model that for kids. I’m serious. 🤍

🥰Thanks…good talk. Have a lovely holiday!
🤍🐇🤍Melanie
#melaniepotock #eastersunday #eastercandy #easterbunny #chokinghazards
#feedinglittles #feedingtherapy #pickyeaters

I had so much fun creating this safe play space to boost gross motor, language, cognitive skills and so much more!

Comment SPACE & I’ll send you a link to all my favorites, including those in the video at many more! Don’t forget to create their own “gated community” to keep everyone safe – I’ll send you that link too!

Melanie
#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #ashaigers #feedinglittles #pickyeaters #toddlerplay #toddlerskills

💗The Coach Mel Barbie comes with 4 books to Help You Raise Healthy, Happy Eaters!

😳But wait, It might seem crazy what I’m about to say, but TRUE STORY and I can’t even believe I am telling you this because it’s the weirdest coincidence.

✨When I was a brand new speech therapist working at a hospital, I learned my supervisor had never had a Barbie as a kid! So I surprised her and made her one for her birthday, and clearly I had too much time on my hands because it included:

💁🏻‍♀️A brunette Barbie that looked like her (of course) AND
🥜A teeny tiny jar of peanut butter and goldfish crackers.
🧣An itsy bitsy fancy scarf around her neck.
🪥A miniature “nuk” brush.

😂Back then, SLPS were considered a bit posh (not like those fun and oh-so-cool OTs), and a lot of us wore silk scarves, don’t ask me why. What the heck were we thinking? We also used PEANUT BUTTER a lot in therapy, usually to put goldfish crackers on the corner of kid’s mouth to work on tongue lateralization. Geez…I am praying I considered food allergies! And finally, we used little bristled brushes ALL THE TIME to elicit tongue movements called a Nuk brush.

✨The trend took off in our hospital setting, and many more Barbies were made for staff, in their likeness or with little quirks that only we could laugh about, because we were a very, very quirky bunch!

🩷🤦🏼‍♀️🩷Little did I know social media would be making Barbies too one day, and so, here’s me, Barbie Coach Mel, wishing you a fun weekend in your dreamhouse.

#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #ashaigers #feedinglittles #pickyeaters #responsivefeeding #startingsolids

😳 5 signs your picky eater is constipated that might just surprise you:

💩Large stools – like really large. Like WOAH. Large stools may indicate that the bowels are moving slower than they should, creating larger stools that aren’t easy to pass. Or if they are easy, it’s because the intestine has stretched around the stool and eventually pushes it out. Intestines that get stretched a lot STAY STRETCHED and that in turn, leads to constipation.

〰️Tracks on the undies: While you may consider diarrhea, usually diarrhea means lots of stool, not a track. That line of brown (sorry to be graphic!) may indicate that the poop is lodged in the intestine and the looser stool is leaking around it. It can also indicate muscle weakness around the anus secondary to chronic constipation.

😉Speaking of graphics and tracks… did you spot the Bristol Stool Chart graphic in this video? You can Google and pick your favorite to download. The first thing we do in feeding therapy is begin to track how often kids go #2 and what it looks like. Parents are often surprised to learn that it should be smooth and sausage-shaped.

🤢If your child has been diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) then constipation may be the culprit. The pressure in the gut (from being stopped up) pushes the stomach contents upward, creating a wash of stomach acid into the esophagus (the tube in your throat for eating).

🚽Irregular stool textures is another sign – see the Bristol Stool Chart for an example

😞Poor appetite – when kids are “stopped up” they lose their appetite.

If you’re here to learn about raising an adventurous eater, honestly, it often starts with regular 💩s.

🤔What questions do you have? Ask away, I’m here to try and help! 💕Melanie

Keep in mind, this is not medical advice. This is general information that any professional in this profession shares, but your child’s gut is unique, so ALWAYS check with your pediatrician if you have any concerns about your child’s gut health.

#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #ashaigers #feedinglittles #pickyeaters #responsivefeeding #startingsolids

🤦🏼‍♀️Most toddlers go through a natural phase of picky eating between 18 months and 3 years. UGH. That’s a long time!!! Here’s why:

(Hi! 👋🏼Melanie Potock here, author of Responsive Feeding & 5 other books on feeding your kids.)

1.✨Growth slows wayyyyy down after baby’s first birthday, and thus, so appetite decreases too.

2.✨They have learned to say “no” and rightly so! It’s a good thing and represents a jump in cognitive development and their sense of autonomy. But it’s still maddening as parent, who am I kidding?😂

3.✨Toddlers TODDLE. They are BUSY. Who wants to be strapped into a high chair when there’s a whole new world out there?

Here’s what to do:
1.👉🏼Make sure they stay on a feeding schedule with “eating time” and “growing time”.
✨🗣️Comment “schedule” and I’ll send you a free download of that schedule for your kitchen, and a link to all my books!

2.👉🏼Don’t be a short order cook. Focus on variety – 3 or 4 foods on the plate, in small amounts. If they don’t eat it, it’s really ok. Try again with the same foods or a new combo at the next meal.

3.👉🏼Keep snacks small, just enough to fit into the palm of their hand for most kids, along with water or milk. Younger toddlers may need “2 hands full” – and that’s ok too. Meals start small, but they can always have more. For snacks, typically we don’t serve “seconds” unless there is a medical reason to do so.

🥰You’ll learn so much more in my books – even my children’s book has tips in the back for parents!

❤️Thanks for following me @mymunchbug_melaniepotock
😊Melanie
#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #ashaigers #feedinglittles #pickyeaters #pickyeaters #responsivefeeding

Help your kids learn to love vegetables with 100 easy and oh so fun activities, and recipes! Adventures in Veggieland!
🥦🥕🥬🫛🫑🥒🌽🍅🍠

Comment VEGGIES for a link to look inside the book!

❤️Melanie
#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #ashaigers #feedinglittles #pickyeaters #responsivefeeding #arfidawareness #originalidea #adventuresinveggieland

📷Eric Harvey Brown