Turning a Preferred Food into a New Food

Introducing new foods to our kids who are selective eaters can be tough. Sometimes our kids already decide they don’t like a food before even trying it, which is frustrating. When we present a food that already has some similarities to a preferred food, our kiddos might see it as familiar enough to at least give it a shot. This is where adding new flavors to a preferred food can come in real handy!

I like to use seasons or holidays as an excuse for this. “It’s fall now, so we’re in pumpkin spice mode and need to try our pancakes with a dash of pumpkin spice!” 😁 Hee hee. I like to use these opportunities to talk about how the flavor of the new pumpkin spice pancakes might taste different compared to their original preferred pancakes.

“Smell the pumpkin pie spice! There’s cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice…all warm, cozy spices that make me think of fall!” This way your kiddo can already start imagining what the new pancakes might taste like.

If they already have an aversion just to the smell of the pumpkin pie spice, you can say something like, “Sometimes the smell can be strong, but let’s see how it tastes in the pancakes!” This way you acknowledge that they didn’t really like the smell of the spices but encourage them to still give tasting it a try. 

And if they refuse to even try the new pancakes, you can thank them for keeping an open mind and let them know they can try them another day. Then have them kiss it goodbye and place it in a “goodbye bowl”!

Other ideas for adding fall flavors to preferred foods:

(Click each idea for the recipe!)

• Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

• Cinnamon Peanut Butter Sandwich

• Apple Cinnamon Waffles

• Maple Oatmeal

• Chai Sugar Cookies

• Sage Butter Noodles

• Pumpkin Pie Dip

• Caramel Apple Slices

• Apple Cider Glazed Chicken Tenders

• Cinnamon Sweet Potato Fries

Hope these ideas give you some fall inspiration! As always, Happy Tasting! 🎃

Food Neophobia

What exactly is food neophobia? 

Food neophobia is a fear or avoidance of new foods. It’s your body’s skepticism or distrust of something new and potentially poisonous. Like every guy you met in a bar in your 20s. Your instincts…they always knew, amirite? 😝

Back in the day, it was a super helpful instinct for tiny humans toddling around picking up random plants. They are just about to stick that spotted mushroom in their mouth when their food neophobia kicks in and they’re like, wait a second…this is new and looks different and smells different, therefore I think it might poison me. And they were probably right. Nowadays however it just causes us as parents tons of stress. We’re like, “Uh, pretty sure the FDA okay’d these delicious oyster mushrooms, so just stick one in your mouth and try it!” And our kids are using their primal instincts still and suddenly feel scared of the new food and simultaneously losing trust in us as parents because we’re pressuring them to eat the new poisonous vegetable. 

Okay, so let’s unpack. We know the foods we are buying at the grocery store aren’t poisonous. The FDA has approved them for sale and consumption and if even one person died after eating it, the food would be recalled and all over facebook. So unless your kiddo has an anaphylactic food allergy, we as adults know the foods we’re offering are safe. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to reason with a 2-year old, but let me just say, you might as well be trying to reason with your goldfish, because the logic and reasoning will likely not penetrate. 😆 It will become a battle bigger than The Battle of the Morannon in Lord of the Rings…you know, the final battle in front of Mordor’s Black Gate? Nerds? Anyone? Hello?

Okay, moving on! So what do we do then? We want our kids to trust that we are offering them safe and delicious foods. And oh yeah, also eat those safe and delicious foods!

The first step is to take the pressure off your kids and also off yourselves! Yes, absolutely, stop battling at mealtime! Introduce new foods often and then repeat the offering of the same foods often. With zero pressure. Put a new food item on their plate and begin to talk about what it is, what it looks like, what it smells like, what it feels like, and what you think it might taste like. See if you can get them interested in joining the conversation at least. The biggest concern I hear from parents is that it’s a waste of food when you know your kid won’t eat it. True, and I hate wasting food. However, if you are already eating it, and you put ONE bite of the food on their plate, if they don’t eat it, you can just eat that one extra bite. No food has gone to waste and you model eating it for your kiddo. Win-win!

If your kiddo becomes very upset by the food being on their plate, give them a little side bowl they can put the food in. Even touching the new food is exposure! Next time you introduce it, it will be that much more familiar. Score.

The biggest piece here with this no pressure approach, is your kiddo will trust that you won’t force them to eat something scary, and as they begin to try new things and are not poisoned, they will trust that you only offer non-poisonous food items. Allowing them to place a scary food or food they don’t like into a bowl also builds trust that they can move at their own pace. This will not only help them trust you but also their own body as they start to develop a personal relationship with food.

While Food Neophobia can contribute to “picky eating,” there are so many strategies for making new food items less scary and thus reducing food neophobia and the chance for picky eating. If you’d like to learn more ideas and strategies for getting your kiddo more comfortable with trying new foods, sign up for the Mighty Tasters Online Feeding Program!

Summer Eating

Summer is a great time to try new foods!

I don’t know about you, but even though I don’t get my summers off like my kids do, there’s still something so exciting about school being out and feeling like you have that summer freedom. There’s vacation planning, outdoor activities, trips to the park, movie nights, playdates, etc. which to me is equally anxiety provoking and exciting. 😆 

My kids are getting to the age now where they can go out on their own, down to the park,  rollerblading or bike riding with nothing more than a “see ya later!” which I love because it reminds me of how it was when I was a kid. They always come back when they’re hot, thirsty, and/or hungry. Sometimes if my partner and I are busy working, we ask the kids to get themselves some lunch and sometimes if I’m available, I’ll fix them something. It’s great when your kids fix themselves a meal, because there’s absolutely no nagging for them to eat, because they only make what they want! The funny thing is that if I make them a sandwich, there will likely be nagging for them to eat, but if they make the exact same sandwich themselves, there’s no nagging. Coincidence? Ha! Not likely…but there is a piece of control with eating and meals that I want to touch on. 

When our kids are little, there isn’t a lot they have control over in their lives. Sure we read parenting tips and try to give our kids choices, but kids are much smarter than we typically give them credit for and will often exert tiny amounts of control over even situations we’ve fashioned to give them that control. Us: “Do you want the red cup or the blue cup?” Them: “I only want the white cup with the handle!!!” Okay…so then it becomes this constant battle all throughout the day. Some of this is also just kids learning where their boundaries are, which is what makes parenting so challenging! When do I set a firm boundary and when do I not pick this battle? It’s exasperating, isn’t it?

But I digress…the point I was trying to make is that summer is great for giving our kids a taste of independence and thus control! Going outside to play on their own, deciding when they come home, making their own meals and snacks, etc…

Being outside in the sun is also a great way to increase hunger! I feel like even if I’m laying by the pool or on the beach, I’m always hungrier than if I was actually physically doing something, like working or cleaning, inside. And chances are if our kids are outside in the sun, they’re NOT laying by the pool! 😜In my experience, the less hungry a kiddo is, the more picky they are likely to be. And vice versa. When we make a big holiday meal that takes a really long time and won’t let the kids snack beforehand, they are much more likely to try most things on their plate compared to if they filled up on appetizers. And summer is such a great time to get your kiddos active and get that hunger cue wailing!

One of my favorite things during a summer outing to the park is when there is another kid also having a snack and eating some foods my kids don’t typically eat. This is a big reason I love to take my feeding therapy sessions to the park as well! It can be a really great chance for exposure to new foods even when there is no food sharing. Then the next day I can be like, ‘Remember that fruit our new friend had at the park yesterday? That was a kiwi - maybe we could try a kiwi here!’ Positive peer pressure at birthday parties, play dates, family gatherings, etc. can be so beneficial for our picky eaters! Remember, repeated exposure is a big part of tolerance!

Another idea along that same line is when you’re traveling or at a fun event or activity and the only food available is the food at the place you are attending. Now I know some of you have EPEs (extremely picky eaters) who legit just won’t eat anything if there is no preferred food available, but as we talk about exposure and tolerance, these are great situations for that. For example, if you are spending the day at the zoo, and you stop for lunch at one of the cafes there, you can look over the menu together. Find something that sounds familiar to your kiddo and that you think they might at least try. Maybe that’s chicken tenders or a soft pretzel or pizza. Once it comes out, it will likely look and smell different than anything your kiddo has seen before, because the zoo will use their own brand of foods. This is great! You can have a conversation about what is the same as their preferred brand and what is different. If you can encourage them to take a taste, amazing! If not, hopefully you brought an applesauce pouch in your bag to tide them over until you leave! 😜

Summer can be a great opportunity to try “messier” foods that you might normally be wary of trying inside. Very juicy fruits such as watermelon, peaches, berries, etc. can be great to explore outside where you can put your little one in a bathing suit and let them squish and squeeze and poke all they want! The same idea goes for introducing purees to your toddler. Set up their high chair or bumbo outside and just plop some purees on the tray and let them “go to town” with a spoon and their fingers. It’s such great sensory exposure to the foods that familiarizes and hopefully encourages tasting!

Now. My absolute favorite part of summer eating, however, is introducing my kids to all my favorite summer foods, but especially shaved ice. It’s just the best freaking thing ever invented, isn’t it? And if you have it where you live, go get one now! I insist. 

Happy Summer Tasting! 😎🌞🍉

What Feeding Therapy Looks Like (And how that translates to Mighty Tasters’ Online Feeding Program)

Feeding Therapy is a type of intervention that works on helping a person learn to eat orally or learn to eat more efficiently and effectively.

As a pediatric speech language pathologist, I have been doing feeding and swallowing therapy with kids since my first internship back in 2008! I have worked on feeding and swallowing in a variety of settings including hospital, outpatient, clinic, school, in home, and via telehealth. I have worked with patients in the hospital who were NPO (no food by mouth) and only fed via feeding tube and patients who had a limited food inventory and were just wanting to learn to try new foods. And kiddos everywhere in between! 

Typically in feeding therapy I’m looking at what’s the cause of the feeding difficulty, whether that be an oral motor weakness, a sensory processing difficulty, anxiety, a learned behavior, etc. and targeting that thing through the actual task of eating. Despite the goal for most kiddos being to “eat more foods,” therapy itself can actually look quite different depending on what the underlying cause is and what the resulting behaviors at mealtimes look like. 

For example, there could be two kiddos of similar age who both have a limited food inventory of 10 foods. So they look similar to an outside eye. However, while kiddo A might be more sensitive and anxious about trying new foods and more prone to shutting down when presented with a challenge, kiddo B might be less sensitive to change and generally have less anxiety around foods, but still refusing new foods. Contrariwise depending on parent interaction during meals, structure and routine during meals, previous trauma, and/or typical variety of meals can play a huge role as well. These are all factors I’m looking at during that initial feeding evaluation of each kid. Once I get a sense of what’s going on in the home environment, build some rapport with the family, and begin to understand this particular kiddo’s personality, I determine reasonable and reachable goals for this individual child. I work with the family to prioritize foods that might make mealtime easier or that are generally just important for the family and begin to educate the family on how therapy will be conducted and set expectations. Setting expectations are huge as feeding therapy can be very slow progressing and often feel like two steps forward, one step back. 

Feeding therapy can also be so frustrating at times for families because learning this new skill of trying new foods is really challenging for most kiddos. But we as adults, with our higher level reasoning, have a hard time seeing how eating can be so “scary” or “challenging”. Especially when it’s so delicious! 😜 But thinking about how our kids are continuously inundated with new information to process and how so much of it is out of their control, it makes sense that mealtime becomes a place where they have some actual control over the newly presented information: eating. New food can feel scary and invasive and it can be easier to just say “no” than try to process another new piece of scary information that day. 

What I’ve learned from my 14 years of feeding and swallowing therapy is that each kiddo is different and going to respond differently to intervention, so every plan of care needs to be individualized to be the most effective. But also, that parents are incredibly smart and intuitive when it comes to their child. And with adequate guidance and education, parents become the most effective therapists their kiddo could ever find.

This being said, of course there are cases where kiddos have more medical involvement or are weaning from a feeding tube or have a diagnosis that requires direct 1-on-1 intervention from a board certified therapist or specialist, and I continue to see those kiddos in person and via telehealth for direct treatment. However! The majority of families that seek out feeding therapy for their picky or selective eater or problem feeder, are able to obtain enough information and training over a few months of weekly sessions with me, that they are then able to take the skills and knowledge they’ve learned and carry out “feeding therapy” with greater specificity and frequency than I as a therapist ever could! And it’s amazing! My one hour per week couldn’t hold a candle to you incredible parents!! (Is that the term, couldn’t hold a candle? What does that even mean tho? 🤪) So being able to reach more of you super parents and to help more kiddos out there has always been my inspiration. I’m pretty sure I can achieve world peace by helping one picky eater at a time…😁 Ha!

So how does this translate into an online feeding program? 

Mighty Tasters Online Feeding Program was developed by taking all the commonalities I see when working with families who have a picky eater in the home. It’s all the background knowledge I teach from session to session including typical oral motor development and what you might see if there is weakness or discoordination involved. It teaches parents feeding therapy terms and their meanings such as food inventory, flexible thinking, chaining, etc. It provides you with strategies and ideas to use at your own pace during meals and snacks. And more importantly, it gives you a step-by-step framework for implementing all the information and strategies you learn. But MOST importantly, Mighty Tasters looks at your individual child and their specific food inventory and creates goals specific to your kiddo! That’s right. I, Chelsea Bell, write food goals specific to YOUR CHILD. I’m right there with you the entire time, analyzing the data you send me, supporting you and your kiddo, and celebrating all your successes!

I know it seems like there are so many feeding programs out there that promise to help your picky eater. Trust me, I’ve paid for them all in doing research to develop mine. 😆 And most of them have some very useful information and ideas! But Mighty Tasters is the only one developed out of 14 years of feeding and swallowing therapy experience by a board certified speech language pathologist who individualizes your program for YOU! I want to help you and your family achieve happy meals and healthy kiddos!

So come join the Mighty Tasters community! Sign up for the spring session online feeding program starting this month!! See you there! 

Working toward that world peace,

Chelsea ✌️

Increasing Flexible Thinking about trying new foods without even trying new foods!

Today in one of my 1-on-1 direct feeding therapy sessions, the kiddo was presented with a familiar and preferred food: toast with butter. Her mom had cut the piece of toast into 3 long strips rather than into bite-sized squares like she usually does. I recommended her mom do this for two reasons: 1) this kiddo struggles with some oral motor weakness and taking bites off a larger piece will work on strengthening those bite muscles and 2) this kiddo also struggles with COGNITIVE RIGIDITY, or lack of flexible thinking. She always gets her toast presented in the same way and likes it that way. She is not open to trying new foods or even new presentations of her favorite foods.

At first she picked up a slice of the toast and took an effortful bite from it, but then realized she got some crumbs on her fingers. She received a rag to wipe her hands on, however when she went to take another bite, she started to pick up the toast but then looked up at us and yelled, 'These are not squares! I eat my toast in squares! I'm not eating anything!' and she pushed her entire plate away from her. Her mom became slightly panicked that she wouldn’t eat anything, so she immediately offered to cut her toast into squares. I offered an alternative solution:

“Can you tear your toast into the squares you want to eat?”

“No!”

“Can Mom bring you a fork/knife so you can cut your own squares?”

“No!”

“Okay, well how about we eat the other delicious foods Mom put on your plate while we think of a solution for the toast.”

“I’m done! I wanna get down!”

“Let’s set a visual timer and when it’s done, lunch will be over and we can all leave the table together.”

Mom set a timer with her phone, set it out of reach but visible on the table and gradually during “boring grown up talk” this kiddo started eating her strawberries and hummus and even took a bite of the green bell pepper, the new food item on her plate. Her mom at that point again offered to cut her toast into squares and she nodded. She then ate her toast as well.

After lunch was done, her mom and I sat and processed what happened. Developmentally, she’s entered into a new phase where she is throwing more tantrums for not getting her way (she is 3 years old), she is seeking more and more control and independence, she is beginning to experience bigger feelings that she doesn’t know how to express, I have been rocking her world for the past few months now by coming and changing up her food routine…ultimately this seemingly small change felt like the straw that broke the camel’s back to this sweet little one!

This is not an uncommon scenario at all for many Extremely Picky Eaters (EPEs). In fact, starting this small is often where I tell parents to start! Don’t even introduce a new food until your kiddo can tolerate eating their preferred foods in newly presented ways!

So cut their sandwich into triangles instead of squares, roll up their quesadilla, bust out those cookie cutters and cut their cheese or bread or apples into fun shapes! Put their spaghetti sauce on the bottom and have them mix it together! There are so many ways to present kiddos’ already preferred foods in new ways that will increase their flexible thinking, preparing them for being more open to trying NEW foods!

Happy Eating, Mighty Tasters!

Why is my kid a picky eater?

I get asked this question a lot and it’s a completely reasonable question!

The truth is, there could be a number of different reasons your kiddo is a selective eater, and it might be a combination of factors. I often find in my direct treatment that I am using some combination of sensory-based, motor-based, and behavioral approaches for almost every kid. (You can see descriptions of the different types of approaches on the Resources page!)

Here, I’d like to offer some ideas that might explain why your kiddo responds to food the way they do. While there are several different ways feeding specialists may categorize selective eaters, here are the main groups I look at when evaluating a kiddo:

Group #1: Motor Strength/Coordination

Many kids struggle with their mouths not being able to manage some of the grown up foods they’re presented with. You might see them chew and chew and chew some more and wonder if they will ever swallow that seemingly tiny bite of chicken. For many kiddos, their mouth gets tired with certain textures of foods and it might hurt, and they might even spit their food out. Then sometimes they get scolded for spitting their food out, because “it’s not appropriate dinner table etiquette.” This can lead to avoidance of ever eating that food or similar foods again. Our kids are like, “I’m no dummy, I got in trouble last time for not being able to chew that food up and spitting it out so I wouldn’t choke! So...either choke or get in trouble?! No way I’m ever eatin’ that again!”

The real reason for this “Neverending Chewing Story” (see what I did there?😜) that can lead to spitting out bites is oral motor weakness. Some part of your kiddo’s mouth doesn’t quite have the strength to chew the food enough to feel safe for swallowing. Often I see kiddos with weak jaw muscles, weak tongue strength or weak cheek strength that impacts their ability to adequately chew up all textures of foods.

Another thing you might see is your kiddo only chewing on one side of their mouth. This might indicate weakness on one side of the tongue. The strong side always pushes the food to the opposite side. Or if your kiddo has difficulty sticking their tongue out to lick their lips, they might have some tongue weakness.

The good news is the best way to strengthen these muscles of the mouth, is to use them in the task they are weakest! The bad news is the best way to strengthen these muscles, is to use them in the task they are weakest! 😝 That’s what we in the biz call a double edged sword. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Don’t feel discouraged, I have ideas for you if this is your kiddo! (See Ideas/Strategies Handout)

Group #2: Sensory Processing Difficulty 

Some of our kiddos have difficulty processing sensory information. We all process sensory information differently, but some people are hypersensitive (our kids who are extra) or hyposensitive (our mellow fellows) to that information.

Looking at the eight different sensory systems…

Visual

Auditory

Touch

Smell

Taste

Balance (Vestibular)

Movement (Proprioceptive)

Internal (Interoceptive)

…you can see that our body uses information from every system when eating.

Our body’s interoceptive system is what gives us our hunger cues or helps us regulate our emotions if we’re anxious about eating. This can be an important area to look at if it seems like our kiddos are just not hungry ever. Are they not getting that hunger cue? Do they feel dysregulated?

Our body’s proprioceptive and vestibular systems help us to know where our body is in space and keep our balance to sit and eat. I often look at how fidgety a kiddo might be at mealtime. Are they more comfortable getting up and walking around and stopping by the table to get a bite but then continue walking around? They might have core weakness, difficulty processing proprioceptive information, or difficulty maintaining their balance while seated.

It's important to note your kiddo’s response as they take in information via the other systems. Do they seem fearful just seeing the food? Are they sensitive to loudly crunchy foods? Do they avoid touching slimy textured foods? Do they reject a new food after smelling it?  

These are really good clues to determining what system is having difficulty processing the new information. And that sensory processing difficulty can be really scary. If something feels too unsafe, your kiddo’s fight or flight response may kick in and shut down their hunger sensation, and so when they say (seemingly out of nowhere), “I’m just not hungry,” they’re probably not lying. However, once their sensory system is calm and regulated, ten minutes after the meal, they will likely ask for a snack. Which is only, like, the most infuriating ask ever of parents…amirite? 😤

I’d also like to add that until the age of 7 years old, kids will choose a preferred texture over a preferred taste. Which means, even if they love love love apples, but do not like “slimy” foods, they may refuse delicious TASTING applesauce because of its “slimy” TEXTURE. You’ll hopefully start to see your kiddos grow out of the TOT (Texture Over Taste) phase as they get closer to 7 years old and beyond.

Group #3: Exposure/Opportunity

This is a tough category because we as adults sort of settle into the meals and foods we like and are easy to prepare. Especially on weeknights after working all day. Oftentimes those are the foods our kids will actually eat. Pasta dishes, pizza, apples, chicken nuggets, etc. But the one night we decide to cook a fancy, time-consuming meal for a special occasion, our kids claim they are “not hungry” or “not eatin’ that”. Research shows kids need 8-15 exposures of a new food to tolerate and accept that food as safe. I have found the pickier a kiddo is, the more exposures of a new food they will need and more gradual exposure as well.

So herein lies the challenge for us parents. And I am 1000% guilty of this exact scenario I’m about to unfold. 🙋🏻‍♀️

We give our kid cooked carrots and they despise them. Next week we try again with the cooked carrots but maybe less cooked, with a little bite still. Al dente, if you will. “Mom, I told you, I hate cooked carrots.” Next week we slather the cooked carrots in a maple brown sugar sauce and sauteé them. Mmm…“Ick disgusting!” Okay, next week we roast the carrots with a variety of other root vegetables. “I still hate cooked carrots.” At this point, it’s kinda like, how many leftover cooked carrots am I gonna have to eat the next day because my kid will NEVER eat cooked carrots? So you give up completely and only offer raw carrots because at least your kiddo will eat those and you’re not wasting food by presenting something they’ll never eat and hey, they ARE getting a vegetable!

There’s a few problems with the aforementioned scenario. 1) We’re changing the item each time, so in all reality, it’s like offering another NEW food, not a familiar one. 2) It’s only been 4 exposures, spaced out, and again, changed each time.

Our kiddos need consistency of exposure to build familiarity. Maybe the first exposure is really just having it present on the plate without even tasting it. Hint: give them a TINY portion until they feel comfortable enough to eat it. I often don’t even cook enough of the new food for all my kids and just give them each 1 bite of a new food. The magic here is sometimes if your kiddo thinks they only need to eat that 1 bite and can be done with dinner, they might suck it up and just scarf it down just to “be done”. I’m okay with this method. 😏 Or they might balk at it and throw it in the compost. Hey, at least they touched it and got some exposure! And cleaned up after themselves! Win-win.

Group #4: Fear/Anxiety

Some of our kiddos have naturally higher anxiety than others. If you know this about your kiddo and that change or trying new things or just being uncomfortable exacerbates their anxiety, you might need to move more gradually through the feeding program. Take more time to build trust with your kiddo that they can move at a pace that is comfortable for them and that you won’t be forcing them to eat anything they find terrifying.

I find talking through their fears of new foods really helpful. Spend more time in Food Exploration and give them a lot of validation and reassurance that they are making progress and their body and mind will feel so healthy and good with the results.

As a speech language pathologist, something I have done with a lot of my kiddos who suffer from anxiety about new routines or experiences, is create a social story to go through ahead of time. You can put pictures of the new food in there and pictures of your kiddo smiling before and after. Include wording from the scripts handout such as: “I’m still learning about this food, and I’m not ready to try it yet.” Having language to use when in a state of anxiety can be really powerful for your kiddo.

Welcome to Mighty Tasters!

Hi!! Welcome to my first ever blog! I’m so happy you’re here! 🤗

My name is Chelsea Bell and I’m a pediatric speech language pathologist who specializes in feeding and swallowing disorders in kids. I’m also an actress, a model, and a MOM! So while much of my experience as an SLP is working with kids with diagnosed feeding and swallowing disorders, I also understand the impact of a kiddo who has no diagnosis yet still seems to struggle when it comes to eating a variety of foods.

I also happen to be an overuser of exclamation marks…in emails, texts, and now apparently blogs. Just to give you a heads up…I just can’t help myself really!

This blog and my accompanying resources are not only for parents of kiddos with feeding and swallowing disorders, but even more so for the parents of kiddos who can be described as picky or as I like to refer to them as “Selective Eaters.” The families who find mealtime a struggle. The families who are at a loss for how and why their kid won’t eat seemingly delicious foods.

I want to be candid right now and let you know that feeding intervention…is a bit of a dance. Progress can often feel painfully slow and parents frequently tell me they feel like it’s 2 steps forward, 1 step back. So if your kiddo is not eating chicken cordon bleu with sautéed asparagus and ordering tiramisu for dessert after trying one strategy, that’s totally normal and expected! We have to look at kid-sized goals and kid-sized progress and celebrate every tiny kid-sized win! And to be honest, you’re already here reading ways to expand your kiddo’s food inventory, so give yourself a gold parenting star! We often focus so much on what we’re not doing enough of as parents/caregivers, we need some new perspective to see all the ways we’re going above and beyond! Let me be that perspective and tell you you’re doing great! 

Now let’s get your kiddo trying some new foods! (Did I mention I like to use exclamation marks?)

On this site, you will find resources that will help you understand your kiddo and what might be going on with them when it comes to food and meals. You can also follow the Mighty Tasters account on a variety of social media platforms to get more frequent updates, videos, and tips and strategies.

If you’re looking for more hands on intervention, check out the Mighty Tasters Feeding Program! It’s a 6-week course designed to help turn your Selective Eater into a Mighty Taster! 🥳