Parenting a Picky Eater

Blogs on Parenting a Picky Eater

Feeding Babies, Feeding Toddlers to School Age, Parenting a Picky Eater

How To Pick A Lovey For Your Kid & Give Them Perfect, Easy-To-Hold Comfort

By Caroline Shannon-Karasika My husband and I have what we call Brave Little Toaster syndrome. It’s our theory that the ’80s Disney movie that assigned feelings and personalities to inanimate objects officially scarred...

Feeding Babies, Parenting a Picky Eater

Baby Self-Feeding Week: 5 Ways to Help with a Picky Eater

This week we’re talking all about baby self-feeding. Why, you ask? It just so happens Nancy Ripton and Melanie Potock’s new book, Baby Self-Feeding comes out on FRIDAY! We’re so...

Parenting a Picky Eater

3 Ways to Play in Food Without the Mess

By Melanie Potock Speech-language pathologists often recommend kids explore food by getting messy—sinking hands deep into yogurt, painting with pudding or squishing avocados to make “hand-made” guacamole. For kids hesitant...

Feeding Therapy, Parenting a Picky Eater

Make a Choice: Food Police or Food Education

By Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP In Aurora, CO, a preschool teacher in a public school setting would not allow 4 year-old Natalee Pearson to eat the Oreo cookies in her home-packed lunch....

Feeding Babies, Feeding Toddlers to School Age, Parenting a Picky Eater

Why You May Want to Skip the Sippy Cup for Your Baby

By Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP Are sippy cups really the best cup to introduce after (or alongside) breast or bottle? Experts suggest a straw or open cup instead, and here’s...

Parenting a Picky Eater

How To Deal With Picky Eaters

By Katherine Martinelli HAVE A PICKY EATER ON YOUR HANDS? YOU’RE NOT ALONE. HERE’S WHY TODDLERS ARE OFTEN SO SELECTIVE ABOUT THEIR FOOD—AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. There are...

Challenges at School, Parenting a Picky Eater

Snacktastic Tips for Back-to-School: Keeping Foods Fun, Fresh, Healthy and Interesting

As summer reaches its close, anyone else find a little back-to-school anxiety triggered by the contents of the fridge? Kids aren’t the only ones who may have to work at...

Parenting a Picky Eater

5 Expert Tips for Feeding Your Picky Eaters

A Mom asked “I want my 4-year-old son to drink Orgain Kids™ Protein Shake, because it’s so nutritious. But he will only drink regular chocolate milk, and way too much of it! ...

Parenting a Picky Eater

Three Structures in a Child’s Mouth That Can Cause Picky Eating

By Melanie Potock Babies, toddlers, and older children can develop feeding difficulties—ranging from general picky eating to severe feeding disorders—for a variety of reasons. As a speech-language pathologist who specializes...

Challenges at School, Feeding Toddlers to School Age, Parenting a Picky Eater

The Definitive Guide to Help Parents Prepare for Back to School Stress

by Allison Hendricks As the final month of summer has official begun, it’s time to start thinking of the upcoming school year. With back-to-school shopping, choosing extracurricular activities and attending...

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Apr 19

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❓Wait - Babies can have raw celery and raw carrots even before starting solids? BE SURE TO KEEP READING so you know how to do this safely.

🥕Teethers for 5-month-old babies can include hard, resistive food such as a fat carrot stick, or a wide stalk of celery. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Always supervise baby with food teethers.
2. Make sure their back/trunk is well supported so that their little hands can easily bring the food teether to their mouth ( just like a non-food teether).
3. Wash food teethers thoroughly before offering to baby.
4. Safety Test: Can you snap it in half with your thumb and forefinger on the same hand? Yes – don’t offer it. No – offer with supervision!

🥰Benefits?
Even before baby is ready for solids (closer to 6 months of age) they can get small tastes as they mouth these resistive foods, just like you can taste carrot if you lick a carrot! Babies are open to trying new tastes and programmed to explore with their littles hands to mouth, so this is the perfect time to introduce veggies in this manner.
👉🏼Like any teether, the munching (up and down repeated chomps) will strengthen their jaw and facial muscles. It will also offer sensory input in terms of different textures, cooler temperatures and because it’s food – flavor!
👉🏼All teethers help babies learn to manage their gag reflex, but in my professional experience, I notice that babies like to suck on food teethers as well as try to chew them. 👉🏼Both are great experiences for the mouth, and both “work” areas of the tongue that play a part in developing tongue lateralization skills, tongue protrusion skills (for spitting out food) and learning to manage the sensation of a gentle gag with no other food in the mouth.

🪥Think of it this way – if you experience a gagging sensation, do you find it easier to manage if you accidently did that with you toothbrush or if you accidently start gagging while eating? The toothbrush of course! Neither is comfortable at first, but the toothbrush is quickly removed and we can swallow to relieve the sensation.

❓Questions? Drop them in the comments!
❤️Melanie
#melaniepotock #foodteethers #ashaigers #babyfood #feedingtherapy ...

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Apr 12

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🥰ARFID:The Anxious Eater is my most popular Masterclass and I rarely offer a discount code for it! I don’t have any seats available for my virtual courses (they are booked solid) and it’s so fun to see all of you in-person!

✨Join me for this 4-hour intensive training on how to help kids with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). Come to Atlanta to learn how to help them find joy in food!
❤️Melanie

👉🏼DM if you prefer a direct link for more info.

✨👉🏼✨ discount codes are not retroactive and must be entered at time of registration.
#melaniepotock #arfidawareness #arfidlife #extremepickyeater ...

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Apr 10

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👶🏼Although babies can begin to have teethers as they begin to bring their hands to their mouth, a 5-month-old needs specific features to help with oral development:

🤍Very young babies need “nubby projections” but at 5-month-old can typically manage a bit more of a protrusion, ideally made of soft silicone, to gnaw on. I still shy away from a very long protrusion till closer to 5 ½ months, when baby has good trunk stability for controlling hand movement near the face. Those longer protrusions are excellent for helping baby get ready for solid foods and learning to tolerate a bit of gentle gagging, but they need that fine motor control to make it the most comfortable exploration experience possible.

❤️Varied texture on the silicone projection will help their tongue move to the left and right, an important skill for starting solids at 6 months of age!

✨Sensory experiences like squeaking (soft, smooth silicone parts are the squeakiest on gums!) and light-up rattles are always fun too! It’s a also a great time to introduce teethers that gently vibrate just for another fun tactile experience.

🛍️You’ll find my best teethers with these qualities and more (and for various ages) on my Amazon Shop: Amazon.com/shop/mymunchbug with notes on which are best for each age.

❤️DM me if you have questions!
🥰Melanie
#melaniepotock #5montholdbaby #babyteethers #slpfeeding #ashaigers ...

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Posts filed under: Parenting a Picky Eater

Parenting a Picky Eater