1587393469015child Feeding Guide

FROM
STRESS TO
SUCCESS
4 WAYS TO HELP YOUR
CHILD EAT BETTER
WITHOUT LOSING
YOUR MIND
Jennifer Anderson, MSPH, RDN

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Hi! I'm so glad you're here.
Feeding kids is tricky.
I know. I've had the pediatrician tell me my first child wasn't eating enough. I also
had to teach my second child to learn to eat and try new foods, because he won't
do it on his own (aka "he's picky"). I know the day-to-day challenges of having
kids who aren't easy to feed.
Maybe you feel defeated and run down. You feel like mealtimes are stressful. In
fact, you may have even cried because you've had it with how badly mealtimes
are going. You're worried about your child.
Are they getting enough? Will they be okay? Will this picky eating thing just go
away? Maybe you're fighting with your partner over what to do. Or you're
dealing with this on your own and you feel like you don't have any energy left.
Overall, you feel like something is wrong. There has to be a better way.
I created this guide for you.
There ARE things you can do, 4 things,

in fact. Four things that can
transform mealtimes and put your
child on the road to eating better.
I've seen these 4 things

transform the lives of
hundreds of thousands of
families and I hope they help
your family find less stress
and better health at
mealtimes.
Jennifer
1. USE THE 4
MEALTIME RULES
Believe it or not, most picky eating and eating problems I see are
caused because of a mix up between what parents are in charge
of and what kids are in charge of.
First, let your child decide

whether to eat & how much
This means no pushing your child to eat a certain number of
bites, no more "you can't have dessert until you eat xyz," and no
more "you can't have more of xyz until you finish your plate."
When you pressure your child to eat, it often makes picky eaters
pickier. It also makes typical eaters less able to listen to their
bodies.
Read more about pressure in: Child Suddenly Not Eating? 5

Things to Check Right Now
Giving up pressuring your child doesn't mean you let them run
the show. You still need to be in charge of the followin things...
Second, serve meals at your
eating place & help kids sit
Kids need to be able to sit at an eating place Click to see
on Amazon
during a meal for safety and better eating. Here's
how to get your child to sit at the table using a
timer (my favorite timer is to the right):
1. Start with 1 min. per year of age.
2. Set a sound timer.
3. Make them sit until the timer goes off, then let them get down.
4. Increase time by 1-2 min. every day.
5. Increase until you reach their max attention span. That may be only 5 min. for a
walking 18-month-old. It may be 12 min. for a 4-year-old. It may be 20-30 min.
6. Once you find their max attention span, you can switch to a sand timer so the child
can see how long they need to sit (good for ages 2 1/2 - 3).
7. If you have a kid who sits too long, do the same, but start high and decrease time
every day until you're at 20-30 min.
Kids also need to be properly supported during the

meal, so that they can focus their energy on eating.
Your child needs a foot support. They will ideally have
their elbows and knees at a 90 degree angle.
Once they are supported, they can often use their

energy to focus on eating. You can make your own
Click to see
on Amazon
supports, or use a chair with adjustable foot support
like the Stokke Tripp Trapp chair on the right (it lasts
through childhood). We recently purchased them for
our 4 and 6yo and they have helped a lot with sitting!
Third, you choose
what food is served
Decide what food you will serve for meals
and snacks. Don't make them a special
meal or make multiple meals. DO make
sure to serve at least one food that they
usually like.
Picky kids often don't like food touching

and that's fine. I recommend using cute or
divided plates. This keeps them from
fixating on foods that they don't like. They don't have to keep
unwanted food on their plate. If they will keep it there, that's
best, but if they won't, that's fine too.
Here are my top three favorite plates that we use at home:
Click each to
see on
Amazon
Fourth, have a meal and

snack schedule
Serve meals and snacks according to a predictable routine, with
only water in between meals and snacks.
Read more about setting up a meal and snack schedule in: The
Eating Routine that will End Your Food Battles
The 4 things we just discussed have been summed up by many
feeding professionals as, "parents provide, child decides." Any
time there's a mix up, then problems often start to pop up. A child
may become picky or stay picky. Or a child may lose touch with
when they are hungry or full and not eat the right amount of
food for their body.
Stopping at this step doesn't always get your child to start

eating new foods though. You have to keep going.
2. SERVE THE FOODS

YOU WANT YOUR
CHILD TO EAT
If you never serve a food, your child will never
eat it.
There is another reason why many children

become more picky over time instead of less
picky. Parents try feeding the child a food once
or twice and then they give up. The thing is,
there's no way many kids can learn to like a
food seeing it just one or two times.
You need to keep serving it over and over and

over.
The way that I make sure this happens in my

home is by having a menu that includes meals
that repeat often enough that my kids have
learned to like them. Even my picky eater has no
problem eating fish, rice, and roasted broccoli
and
cauliflower (most days ;-). It's no accident either - I have spent years teaching
him how to eat and enjoy this meal.
If you need help with meal planning, I created an easy meal plan for busy families
called Real Easy Weekdays. It's not specifically for your picky eater, it's for your
family because catering to a picky eater keeps them picky. You should add on a
safe food for your picky eater if they haven't learned to eat what is on the menu
yet.
Serving a balanced family meal (that doesn't revolve around the picky eater) is
extremely important for your picky eater to learn to eat a variety of foods.
Click to learn
more
3. MAKE EATING
FUN!
Many kids have no reason to learn to like foods because they
have no interest in food. They may be scared of it or they don't
even want to look at it. Here are 3 ways that you can engage
your child in mealtime and help them learn to like more foods.
1. Use shapes & colors

There are several ways that you can make food more fun for
them. And yes, before I had kids, I made fun of parents who "cut
food into shapes." Why would I ever do something like that?
How ridiculous!
Oh the things we say before we have kids!
Now I love having the ability to cut food into shapes! It's a
useful tool and helps me teach my kids to eat well. Turns out
parents make food fun because it helps kids eat more nourishing
food!
Here are my favorite cute food cookie cutters & silicone muffin
cups that are the most popular among parents:
Click each to
see on
Amazon
For more on making food "cute" without spending a lot of time,

read: Make Cute Lunches FAST with these Five Easy Hacks
2. Provide a new utensil
I've seen my kids eat food they never would have eaten before,
just because they had a new utensil! Kids love to learn to use
new utensils. They will even interact with new foods, just to try
to learn how their utensil works.
I most often see parents have huge success with the following
food utensils: food picks, constructive eating utensils, and trainer
chopsticks.
Click each to
see on
Amazon
If you need more utensil ideas for

babies, toddlers, or kids you can visit
Which would you the utensil section of my Amazon store.
rather eat?
Making food cute and using a new

utensil may be great. It also might not
be enough for a truly picky child. In that
case you'll need more strategy for your
food play.
3. Have a Food Play Strategy
Food Play is one of the most powerful things that you can do with your kids.
Allowing kids to touch food with their hands and play with it during meals (as
long as it isn't very disruptive) can help them start eating more foods.
Food Play is good for all kids. To help a picky eater though, it needs to be
strategic. It needs to start with looking at food and moving to tasting it - all in a
low pressure way.
If you need a strategy and food play ideas to teach your picky eater to be more
comfortable with foods, I recently released a beta version of Food Play Every
Day: 102 Activities for Picky Kids. It gives you a food play strategy and provides
activities for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and older kids. It was previously only
available to families in my BetterBites program, but now it's available to everyone!
Click to learn
more
4. KNOW WHEN TO
SEEK HELP
Sometimes you can improve your mealtimes, do lots of
repetition of meals, and do lots of food play - and still seem to
have a problem.
How do you know if your child needs even more help?
Here are 3 questions that you can use right now to give you an
idea of whether your child and your family may need more
support with picky eating.
1. Does your child stop eating foods they used to

like? What happens after that? Do they ever
start eating that food again or is it permanently
gone from their diet?
2. Count the number of foods your child is willing
to eat. Is it lower than 20? 20-30? Above
30?
3. Think about what eating is like in your home.
Have you ever thought:
a. "I've tried all the things that other parents
have tried and nothing seems to work for
me!"
b. "Something seems different with my child
compared to all the other children we know,
I just feel like something is wrong with how
eating is going."
c. "Meal time is like World War 3 in our
house."
d. "I feel defeated trying to feed my child."
e. "I dread mealtimes so much. I know that
it's not going to end well."
Signs Your Child Needs More
Support
Here are some signs (not an exhaustive list) that your child and
your family need more support with eating.
Your child is permanently dropping foods and food groups
off the list of foods they will eat
The list of foods they eat is getting smaller and smaller
Your child is eating less than 20-30 foods
You think something is wrong and your child is much
different than other children
Feeding is much harder for you than other families
If 2, 3, 4 or more of these things are true for your family, then

your child likely has additional challenges with eating compared
to kids with "typical picky eating."
Picky eating can be really
"
challenging for families and that's
The BetterBites program
why I created BetterBites.
provided my family with the
guidance and creative strategy we BetterBites is a therapeutic program

needed to help improve mealtime for the families of picky eaters.
for everyone. The behaviors
Jennifer has shared in the course

BetterBites helps you reduce your
mealtime stress and get your child
and via the live Q&A have already
on the road to eating new foods at
started to help my son learn to like
their own pace.
a few new foods. I've become
more confident about what and You can read more about
how I'm feeding my son and I no BetterBites and get on the waiting
"
longer dread meal times! list if you need to reduce your
stress and gain more tools to teach
your child to eat the foods they
- Sarah Petersen
need to thrive.
Thanks for walking through this guide with me! I can't wait to hear what tips are
the most helpful for you.
Send me an email if you get a chance [email protected].
You can also read the Kids Eat in Color blog kidseatincolor.com
Come be friends with me on

Instagram @kids.eat.in.color
Facebook /kidseatincolor
Pinterest /kidseatincolor
Tiktok @kids.eat.in.color
~
Jennifer

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FROM

Jennifer Anderson, MSPH, RDN

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any

You're welcome to share this guide

I created this guide for you.

There ARE things you can do, 4 things,

I've seen these 4 things

First, let your child decide

Read more about pressure in: Child Suddenly Not Eating? 5

Kids also need to be properly supported during the

Once they are supported, they can often use their

Picky kids often don't like food touching

Here are my top three favorite plates that we use at home:

Fourth, have a meal and

Stopping at this step doesn't always get your child to start

2. SERVE THE FOODS

There is another reason why many children

You need to keep serving it over and over and

The way that I make sure this happens in my

1. Use shapes & colors

Oh the things we say before we have kids!

For more on making food "cute" without spending a lot of time,

If you need more utensil ideas for

Making food cute and using a new

How do you know if your child needs even more help?

1. Does your child stop eating foods they used to

If 2, 3, 4 or more of these things are true for your family, then

Picky eating can be really

guidance and creative strategy we BetterBites is a therapeutic program

Jennifer has shared in the course

Send me an email if you get a chance [email protected].

Come be friends with me on

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