More often than not, the main obstacle to adding new foods to a child’s diet is not related to how the food tastes, what the child’s chewing skills look like, or what flavor preferences the child has. The main obstacle is that as soon as the mere idea of a new food is presented, kids immediately go into “NO” mode. Every so often, you may entice your child to examine the food in question or even pick it up...but that’s as far as they’re going to take it. Many times, the offend

“You will sit right there until your meatloaf is gone, young lady!” (3 hours later, the meatloaf, and the child, are still sitting at the table). “Ok, corn dog for Lucas, PB&J for Emily, and cobb salad for the rest of us!” (By the time Mom or Dad is done with food prep and sits down to eat, the rest of the family members are already finishing up their meals). It seems like when it comes to dinner time, parents fall into two camps: The Iron Fists and The Short Order Cooks (or

I have some serious pet peeves about a few feeding “milestones” that all of our little ones pass through (although I’ll tell you right now that I skipped them!*) These are milestones in more of a marketing sense than in actual physical development...products that seem to have become so ubiquitous, every parent just hops right on board because that’s how it’s done, of course! If you use these products, STOP RIGHT THIS MINUTE! Too much?? I’m only kidding...kind of. It’s highly

Now, before you throw your kale and brownie mix-covered whisk at me, hear me out! I understand why hiding veggies seems like a good idea, and I have even recommended it to families in rare circumstances and with specific guidelines. Of course, for a child who is severely nutrient deficient, you are going to get whatever you can into their tummies to keep them healthy and growing. But...we all know it’s a band-aid. It fixes the issue without addressing the underlying problem.

As I have developed my own approach to feeding therapy as a behavior analyst, and later as I have worked to build Sprouts Feeding Therapy as a business, I have often gotten to thinking about what “behavioral feeding therapy” may mean to the average person, perhaps a parent trying to find an appropriate service provider for their child. The behavioral approach to feeding therapy is not the go-to method that most doctors and other professionals recommend to families (typically