Fit Pregnancy

Jan 6

💃Dips for Toddlers – WHY?

🥰Hi, I’m Melanie, pediatric feeding specialist, here to help you raise adventurous eaters.

✨Introducing dips to your child (especially from a young age) means your kiddo gets more:

✨NUTRITION: Choose dips like hummus, or blend a banana with a nut/seed butter!

✨FLAVOR: Adding a dip means you’re adding flavor, and that means your picky eater just ate a new food! Changing up the flavor as much as possible reduces the risk of picky eating.

✨MOISTURE: Kids need added moisture to safely chew and swallow certain foods. If you’ve got a picky eater, it may be that they don’t yet have the skillset to chew and swallow more challenging foods (like chicken breast) but if they dip it, it’s so much easier to manipulate in their mouth, chew comfortably and swallow safely.

❓Tell me, does your kiddo love to dip? How old are they?

🤍Melanie
#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #pickyeaters #ashaigers #feedinglittles #responsivefeeding ...

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Jan 3

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🦄Sharing my hack to teach your toddler to understand the concept of “swallow”🤍 Does your kiddo know what to do when you say “swallow”?

✨It’s the “full tummy” that makes my technique for teaching toddlers what “swallow” means that makes it so magical…well, that and the 🦄.

✨It’s also a fabulous strategy to help kids learn about hunger and fullness cues! That’s what Responsive Feeding is all about - teaching babies & bigger kids how to pay attention to their internal cues that say “I’m full” or “I’m hungry” and letting them decide how much to eat.

I’m proud to have written the first book of its kind on Responsive Feeding! Endorsed by the AAP, UNICEF & the World Health Organization, Responsive Feeding has been shown to prevent childhood obesity and foster a healthy relationship with food.🥰COMMENT BOOKS for a direct link to all my books on feeding kids!

Tell me, what do you think of that full belly on that unicorn? Kids think it`s so silly and fun!

Melanie
#melaniepotock #feedingtoddlers #pickyeaters #feedinglittles #slpfeeding #originalidea ...

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Jan 3

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In feeding therapy, we often treat kids who won’t swallow – they will put food in their mouth, but swallowing? No thank you, unless it’s in a bottle of course! 🍼

🤔Let’s break it down and problem solve…

👋🏼Hi, I’m Melanie, a pediatric feeding specialist working with the pickiest of eaters and kids with pediatric feeding disorders. Thanks for following along here for daily tips!

🥄You might think, well let’s just do Baby Led Weaning or Spoon Feeding! But that’s not the issue – it is SWALLOWING that’s the problem. (See below for medical testing to consider.)

🎥I’ll post a video tomorrow on how to teach an older toddler the CONCEPT of “swallow” but today we are talking about how to bridge the gap between nipple and spoon/self-feeding. Toddlers are more likely to initiate a swallow if they have something to suck from in their mouth. That “something” needs to be silicone, just like the bottle nipple.

💗Once they feel comfortable with that, move to puree on the OUTSIDE of the silicone (ok to still leave some inside too) and then, gradually move to spooning puree, fingers and puree, etc. THEN move to self-feeding and soft solids.

✨THIS hack of mine is for kids with feeding challenges, but it’s ok to try this with your 6 month old too. I would just recommend moving to a silicone feeder that is more narrow, rather than bulbous as shown in this video. I have several on my Amazon shop, just ✨COMMENT AMAZON✨& I’ll zip that link right to your inbox via DM!

❓Questions? Drop them in the comments, I am here to help!
🥰Melanie

Medical Considerations: Collaborating with GI, a swallow study, an ENT and team specializing in airway issues – there are so many challenges to consider when kids don’t seem to want to swallow readily. Always approach with transdisciplinary treatment to rule out underlying medical causes for difficulty swallowing.

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

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