We know we aren't alone when we say that many families feel challenged when their children prefer to eat the same foods consistently. So we asked local Lori Caplan-Colon MS, CCC-SLP, founder of Montclair Speech Therapy, for her guidance, here is what she had to say:
Lori, How can we help children diversify their palate and diet?
At Montclair Speech Therapy you will never hear us use the word 'struggle' when discussing feeding and mealtimes for our client's children. We want all feeding opportunities to be positive. Our approach doesn’t place value on any type or group of foods, rather all food is food, each with different nutritional values.
The goal we want for all children is to have the ability to tolerate, interact with, and consume a variety of foods from different food groups. However, we know this may not have happened yet in some family's homes and we are here to help. Our goal at Montclair Speech Therapy is to help children eat different consistencies, flavors, colors, and sizes. We encourage our kiddos to be "Little Food Scientists" so they can discover what makes food taste better to them or not by focusing on modifying mealtimes and giving children control while building their skills.
Ultimately, the focus at mealtimes should be on social aspects like family time and connection, not on the food.
If a child is in a heightened state of anxiety due to a variety of reasons, mealtimes are not perceived as positive and the battles will begin. Oftentimes families come to us with a feeding methodology that just doesn't work for so many of the kids who we work with. We recognize the child's sensory system, motor abilities, previous feeding experiences, GI/medical system, and all behaviors that they come to the table with.
Previous generations suggested that kids should not play with their food, but, what we know is that children learn through play.
We want our children to feel safe, have fun, and enjoy the process of meal preparation and feeding as much as possible. Kids learn about how foods will feel in their mouths by interacting with the foods at their fingertips, hands, arms, and faces, and how they smell so they can predict how it may taste and feel inside of their mouths. Allowing and encouraging a child to play with food is a valuable experience and one that we use in all of our sessions to help a child truly gain familiarity with food(s).
Research shows that children are much more likely to consume food when they have food exposure through multiple play-based sources such as books, songs, faux foods, cooking, gardening, mealtimes, and more.
A successful feeding session is one in which a kid has made a mess, has food on their face, and extremities, and most importantly, a smile on their face.
Q. If you could share just one informational piece of advice with parents, what would that be?
A. Get your kids in the kitchen as much as possible and give them experiences that involve food. Allowing opportunities for meal preparation, baking, cooking, gardening, food shopping, listening to songs with foods, etc.
We are often asked when parents should worry and ask themselves if they are experiencing a food-related issue and we always suggest they trust their guts. If a parent senses an issue, they should first bring it to their pediatrician's attention. And, if a parent is experiencing mealtime stress, the child certainly is as well.
At times, Pediatricians won’t recommend intervention because they see they are growing fine, but it's so much more than the numbers on the scale or the curve on their charts. If intervention happens only when a child drops weight, doesn't gain, etc., then we are waiting too long - as children by that time already have noticeable weight loss, and can be building up their negative associations with feeding and meals. This can take years to undo.
Feeding specialists, like myself, are available to help children and can support the child and family to get on the path to becoming more successful and competent feeders. Our job is to better educate our communities that we are available for these situations.
Q. What is the first step to getting that help? Does the conversation start with a pediatrician or should parents consult a different specialty?
A. The first step to getting help is talking to your Pediatrician about the issues you are questioning. Feeding is a complex task and is developmental.
We want to analyze what is working and what is not so great, to create a plan to best serve our children and families to build healthy relationships with food and feeding.
We take most major insurance companies including Horizon BlueCross Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, and Medicare.
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Montclair Speech Therapy
17 Watching Plaza Montclair 07042
(973) 744-0804
