Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP is a mom who once had a picky eater. She’s experienced first-hand the stress that parents feel when they are worried about their child’s nutritional health. Fast forward to today, and you’ll find Melanie blending her knowledge of feeding therapy with practical parenting strategies that help the entire family eat healthier. She’s an international speaker and author of six books, including co-authoring the award-winning Raising a Healthy Happy Eater. Whether you’re raising a child who seems to be on the path to loving all kinds of healthy foods (and you want to keep it that way) or if your child is stuck in the chicken nugget rut, “Coach Mel” is here to guide you.
Melanie Potock
Pediatric Feeding Expert and Author
Expert Feeding Help
for Professionals and Parents
Melanie Potock’s keynotes, courses, books & articles focus on raising kids to be healthy, happy eaters. From babies to toddlers to teens, “Coach Mel” is here to help.
Raising a Healthy Happy Eater Isn’t Always Easy
Get Expert Advice on Feeding Babies, Toddlers & School Age Kids,
Including Extreme Picky Eaters
Upcoming Events & Courses
On-Demand Courses
Visit the Course Library
Live In-Person Events
Atlanta, GA on April 27, 2024
Anderson, SC on April 29, 2024
Live On-Line Courses
Food Allergies Masterclass, August 10, 2024
Appetite Masterclass, August 10, 2024
Appetite Masterclass, August 10, 2024
Babies
This book is designed to answer the most common questions about feeding babies and toddlers up to age three. It also debunks myths while offering practical tips on making mealtimes joyful and less stressful. It teaches a no-nonsense, straightforward approach to responsive feeding that’s focused on nurturing trust and communication between parent and child. Read more about Responsive Feeding here.
Toddlers & Preschoolers
In her award-winning book, Raising a Healthy Happy Eater, Melanie and her co-author, pediatrician Dr. Yum, teach parents how to guide their children on the path to adventurous eating. Parents report that toddlers are the most challenging to feed, thanks to active little bodies and fleeting attention spans. Learn how to lay positive foundations for eating at 6 months of age, navigate the “terrific twos” and avoid picky eating in the preschool years! Get the brand new, updated 2nd edition. Read more about feeding young children here.
School Age
Kids can cook right along with their parents from an early age, but it’s especially important from preschool and into the elementary school years. What’s the number one food group that parents struggle with the most? Vegetables! The secret to helping kids love any kind of food is to follow Melanie’s Three E’s: Expose, Explore, Expand. You’ll learn how to use the Three E’s and create veggie-love in Melanie’s book, Adventures in Veggieland: Help Your Kids Learn to Love Vegetables with 100 Easy Activities and Recipes. Read more about feeding school-age kids here.
More fun!
As a speech language pathologist, Melanie combined her love for language, little kids and food by writing a children’s book! You are Not an Otter: The Story of How Kids Become Adventurous Eaters is available on Kindle, in paperback, and in both English and Spanish. Don’t miss the parent tips in the back of the book! Learn about all of Mel’s books here.
🤍It’s no secret that I’m a serious fan of @lovevery play kits!
👉🏼Comment Lovevery for a direct link sent to your inbox so you can explore OVER 20 Play Kits!🙌🏼#affiliatelink
💕Melanie
#melaniepotock #loveverygift #lovevery
My phone garage strategy makes “parking the phone” till dinner is over so much fun!📱🚗🙌🏼
👋🏼Hi, I’m Melanie, and I’m here to help your growing family get back to happier family mealtimes! If you’d like to learn about feeding babies, toddlers and bigger kids, I hope you’ll follow me!
🏰You and your kiddo can make a garage, a castle, a fort, or whatever your child’s heart desires with a simple box, scissors and craft materials to customize it. Help your child cut doors into the box that lift up (like a flap) for any screens or phones to have a resting place till dinner is over.
👩📲👧Kids can be in charge of making sure EVERYONE in the family parks their electronics before sitting down together. Kids love to remind parents of house rules, so occasionally take your phone to the table 😉so they can say “Mom, park your phone please”. That reinforces the idea that this is a family rule and we don’t need electronics at the table.
⏰Some kids may need shorter mealtimes at first to learn to adjust to the new family rule of “no screens at the table”, and that’s ok. Give it three days of consistency and they’ll often make the adjustment quickly!
🚀DM me a photo of your screen garage – or phone castle – or ipad rocket ship! Can’t wait to see what your kids make!
📌💕Like this idea? Save it! Thanks for sharing and tagging friends!
🥰Melanie
#melaniepotock
#feedingtherapy #originalidea #slpfeeding
👎🏼I’m not a fan of starting baby with bland, infant cereals. When babies first start solids, research shows that’s the time to take advantage of the “flavor window” when babies are readily accepting all kinds of flavors and textures! But…
💪🏼Babies also need iron at this stage. It’s crucial. A box of infant cereal is an easy way to shake a little bit here and there & add iron to:
✨ pancakes & waffles
✨ pasta sauce
✨ spreads like avocado & nut butters
🙌🏼Bonus Tip: Skip the rice cereal - it’s higher in arsenic than other baby cereals.
👉🏼You’ll find more tips like these in my latest book, Responsive Feeding 🤍 Comment #BOOKS for a direct link to all of my books. Let me know if you have any questions!
🥰Melanie
#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #ashaigers #pickyeaters #feedinglittles #responsivefeeding
🤦🏼♀️Got a picky an eater who just doesn’t want to eat vegetables?
🥕🥬🥗🫛The place to start is to eat yours, a lot. And, put a tiny bit on their plate too.
✨There’s a bazillion other things that we can do (OK maybe not that many) but that is where you start! You’re doing great!
🥰Melanie
#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #asha2024 #pickyeaters
✨🙏🏻✨To be honored by The American Speech Language Hearing Association for my volunteer work with @picky_eater_partners and @doctoryumproject … wow. What an experience!
✨Beyond grateful to be nominated by @csha.co 🤍 and to spend the evening with these incredible researchers & clinicians at the ASHFoundation Awards Ceremony.
🤔A friend asked me this at dinner last night: “What do you want to be your legacy?” That hit me hard. I thought for a beat and said…
“I just want people to remember that I was a helper.”🤍
🙏🏻Thank you for following me and letting me share with you something that means a lot to my heart and soul…the absolute honor to help kids find joy in food.
🥰Melanie
#MelaniePotock #pickyeaterpartners #doctoryumproject #coloradoslp
📺Screens at mealtimes, especially with picky eaters? Yay or nay?
🙂Hi! I’m Melanie, pediatric feeding specialist here to help you!
✨In a perfect world (Ha! I can’t even say it with a straight face!)…never use screens to help them eat if your kid…
1. ✨Is under age two
2. ✨Has never needed a screen at meals to “get them to eat”. Just don’t start. Needing a screen to zone out means food isn’t pleasurable and eating is hard! Ask your pediatrician for a feeding evaluation for help.
3. ✨Can’t sit still for short periods of time. They get up from the table or they graze…a feeding evaluation will provide strategies to help everyone enjoy their time at the table.
🤦🏼♀️But the world isn’t perfect. Here’s when it’s ok to include screen time during mealtimes:
1. ✨When your kid is reliant on it to eat and you’re addressing this in feeding therapy. Your therapist will help you fade out the screen over time. Don’t do it without help.
2. ✨When you need a break and it’s the only option or you’re going to scream. (We all know the feeling!) Just don’t make the screen a habit.😉
3. ✨When it’s family movie night. Snuggle up, grab a slice of pizza and enjoy!
Thanks for following me🥰
💗Melanie
#melaniepotock #asha2024 #pickyeaters #tvtime #responsivefeeding
🤍There are plenty of nutritious packaged snacks to include in your kids’ lunch (or for snack time at school) but here’s the problem…
😖They are so darn hard to open! For many little kids, especially if they have even mild motor delays, ripping open the package is frustrating, and they sometimes ignore it completely in a lunch. And if you’ve got a picky eater, the last thing we want is them to ignore a preferred food.🤦🏼♀️
⏰PLUS, did you know that the average amount of time for kids to ENTER, EAT and EXIT the elementary school cafeteria is just 20 minutes in the USA? The last thing we want is kids wasting time holding up their hand and waiting for help to open their food. Oh holiday daycare/camps coming up soon! Definitely use this hack then too!
👉🏼🥰👉🏼Use my hack – it’s so simple – and tell me what you think!
✨Pro Tip✨Draw a ❤️or a 😊 on the @postit tab. The kids love that.
🥰Melanie
#melaniepotock #originalidea
#schoollunch
#lunchboxideas
Who’s going to #ASHA24 in #Seattle this week? Drop a ❤️ if you’ll be there!
I’m thrilled to be signing copies of my latest book, #responsivefeeding at the @innobabyllc booth 728 on the expo floor! See you Friday between 11 AM and noon!
🥰Melanie
#melaniepotock #slpeeps #asha24 #asha2024 #asha2024seattle
✨My ARFID Masterclass (It’s more than just picky eating) fills QUICKLY✨ and now you can take it in January via a VIRTUAL-LIVE option or IN-PERSON in Colorado!
🥰Hi, I’m Melanie, and I train parents and professionals how to support kids with ARFID.
✨Comment ARFID for details straight to your inbox, AND drop questions in the comments too! I am here to help.🤍
🙂Melanie
#melaniepotock #arfidawareness #arfidsupport #slpfeeding
✨ARFID, AUTISM & ANXIETY✨ - ✨there’s so much to learn!✨
❓Drop your questions in the comments AND comment ARFID for my latest Masterclass dates, on-demand courses and more.
I’m here to help.🤍
🙂Melanie
#melaniepotock #arfidawareness #slpfeeding #asha2024 #feedingtherapy #itsnotjustpickyeating
Thankful.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
🥰Melanie
#melaniepotock #coloradothanksgiving
❤️Because I am so thankful for you, my most popular course about raising healthy, happy eaters and navigating picky eating is $50 off!
✨Comment THANKFUL
AND I’LL SEND YOU THE DIRECT LINK.
🤍Wishing all of you the most beautiful day with your friends and families tomorrow.
🥰Melanie
#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #ashaceus #feedingtherapy #pickyeaters #pickykids #pfd #arfid
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Pediatric Feeding Expert and Author
Melanie's Advice Shared In...
Courses for Parents & Professionals
Melanie offers both on-demand courses and live-streaming Masterclasses. CEUs are optional for both OTs and SLPs, yet audience members include parents, RDs, pediatricians & other health care professionals.
Need help with a picky eater, or just want to prevent kids from falling into the chicken-nugget rut? As a parent, SLP or OT, what do you need to know about child nutrition? What about the anxious eater – Could this be more than just picky eating? Melanie’s on-demand course subscriptions provide the answers!
Want more in-depth instruction in a small group, virtual setting? Register for one of Melanie’s Masterclass!
Explore course options here.
Parenting Advice
Melanie’s advice has been shared in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Parents Magazine and more. Over 150 articles for both parents and professionals are found here or contact Melanie for a personal one-hour coaching session via video chat.
Masterclass participants get a 25% discount on coaching.
Learn more about professional and parent coaching here.
Keynote Speaking
An international speaker, award-winning author and pediatric feeding specialist, audiences find Melanie’s advice to be practical and possible, even in the most challenging cases. That’s because Melanie is in the trenches, working closely with the most extreme picky eaters and supporting families and health professionals around the world. Melanie has been invited to speak at over 100 different events, including the American Speech Language Hearing Association’s National Conference and the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo.
Audiences say it best: If you are looking for a professional speaker who can “provide practical solutions” for parents, caregivers and therapists and your company needs a “highly knowledgeable, organized presenter” with “energy and enthusiasm” who can deliver a “dynamic course”, then your best choice is Melanie Potock. Contact Melanie here.
Product Consulting
Need expert input on your new parenting product? Melanie has provided expert advice for Orgain, Inc., Holland Health Care, Inc., Healthy Height, Inc., NumNum, LLC and numerous health care and parent product companies.
Looking for an expert to educate your team on how children learn to become adventurous eaters, baby-self feeding or the importance of purees? Feeding is developmental, just like learning to crawl, walk, run. At least 1 in 4 typically developing children have trouble learning to eat! Raising a healthy, happy eater requires the right tools and the right advice. Melanie provides company education and collaboration via webinars, social media and creating educational videos for your audience.
Contact Melanie here.
Blog
feeding advice for parents and professionals
50 Easy Ways to Get Your Kid to Eat New Foods
By Salma Abdelnour Gilman It may seem like an impossible dream right now, but your kid has the potential to love all kinds...Read More
A Special Needs Guide for Learning to Eat with Your SEVEN Senses – Part One
Most of us think of five senses and the human body: Sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. But, when it comes...Read More
3 Ways to Explain Baby-Led Feeding to Your Extended Family
By Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP Whether it’s a holiday dinner, a virtual family brunch or an outdoor family picnic, well-meaning relatives may...Read More
Planting for Kids
By The Lettuce Grow Team Melanie Potock has a knack for taking eaters of all ages from picky to passionate. Here are a...Read More
