Our children need to eat less than we think. Refer to our tummy size guide which illustrates just how small your baby’s stomach is during their first year of life. In addition, your toddler’s food consumption can vary greatly day-to-day, where one day they eat an entire Costco hotdog and the next day, just a few crackers.

There’s a great mindset shift you can take to ease the stress: “I will focus on food exploration instead of food consumption.“

The more a child is exposed to flavors and textures, the more their food repertoire will grow. Focus on describing the foods with their color, shape, smell, texture and taste. Check out Arielle Dan Lebovitz: 101 Descriptive Words for Food Explorers for ideas.

Food exploration also helps us learn about our child’s preferences and how to offer foods they have been denying in different ways. For example, if a child prefers crunchy foods over soft foods, try offering a mashed food (I.e. avocado) on a crunchy food (i.e. cracker). 

Research say foods need to be offered up to 15 times before we know if we like them! We just have to continue the exposure in fun ways. An additional way to explore foods outside the table is with sensory bins and food prep!

Furthermore, remind yourself that it is  developmentally normal for toddlers to resist foods. They are learning bodily autonomy, testing boundaries, and their senses are changing. 

So be patient and be confident that your child will expand their food horizons in time, as long as we keep offering foods in fun ways. Follow along on our newsletter and on social for ideas and inspiration! 

The post The Number One Mindset Shift to Take to Lower Anxiety at the Table  appeared first on Feeling Yum.

At Feeling Yum, we share recipes for sensory bin recipes with supplies you can find in your kitchen. If your child gets curious and puts some of the materials in their mouth, it will be safe because everything is edible. This recipe suggests to bake the flour prior to playing with it to kill any bacteria that may be present, since there have been some cases where E-coli has been detected in raw flour. In addition, you won’t have to shop for anything extra to create this fun activity! For this activity, we used Inspire My Play Sensory Bin for the container and adapted a recipe from their cloud dough recipe.

If your child is cautious about touching the textures at first, let them watch you mix and interact with the materials first. You can then offer them utensils, such as spoons or cups, so they could interact with the textures without touching them. Once they are more open to touching the materials, offer them a towel they can wipe their hands on so they are more open to exploring.

Moon sand is able to moulded and shaped, so get creative with what materials you’d like to add to the bin. In this example, we offered silicone muffin cups so your child could engage in pretend play and bake some cupcakes for a birthday! We are showing a Valentine themed bin and used dragon fruit powder (you could also use beet powder) to make the material a vibrant pink. Variations could include using cocoa powder (to make pretend mud or chocolate ice cream) or spirulina powder (to make it green for a St. Patrick’s Day theme).

This recipe does get messy, so some tips are to lay a tarp on the floor (such as a sheet, shower curtain, or picnic blanket) or take the activity outside. Also make sure to wear clothes that can get dirty or be washed.

Moon Sand Valentine Sensory Bin Recipe

Age: 3 years+

Messiness: Level 3/3

Ingredients

• 4 cups of flour
• ½ cup of vegetable oil (we used Safflower oil)
• ¼ cup dragon fruit or beet powder (alternatively, you could use powdered food coloring)

Directions

1. Spread the flour on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes at 350° Fahrenheit.
2. Scoop and pour the flour into the sensory bin container.
3. Mix the dragon fruit or beet powder with the flour.
4. Evenly pour the oil over and flour mixture and stir until combined and the mixture creates small balls.

The post 2 Ingredient Moon Sand Sensory Bin Recipe appeared first on Feeling Yum.

OT Feeding Therapy Tips

*Ages 9 months- 2 years: If you’d like to share the crêpes with your baby, you can blend the ingredients without the added sugar and reserve some to the side for your baby, before adding sugar to the rest of the batter. If your baby is 9 months+, you could serve them strips or bite-sized pieces of the crêpes. To introduce hazelnuts to your baby, you could reserve the blended hazelnut butter for your baby before adding the chocolate mixture. When serving the nut butter, stir this into a puree, such as oatmeal.

**Ages 2 years +: If your child is a toddler or older, you could get them involved in the cooking process by helping add ingredients to the blender and/or food processor for both recipes. Emphasize how crêpes are like another food they might love, such as pancakes. To help encourage them to try some new foods, serve different fresh fruits or dried fruits with the chocolate hazelnut butter or chocolate dipping sauce, so they can practice touching the fruits and dipping them.

Cookbook Used in This Video

Cannelle et Vanille: Nourishing, Gluten-Free Recipes for Every Meal and Mood https://www.arangoyoaga.com/cookbooks

Products Mentioned in This Video

Chocolate chips: Guitarrd semi-sweet chocolate chips https://www.guittard.com/our-chocolat…

Fleur de Sel: Esprit Du Sel, 5.64 Ounce https://www.amazon.com/Esprit-Sel-Sal…

Maple Syrup: Tree Juice Pure Maple Syrup https://www.treejuicemaplesyrup.com/c…

Recipe Ingredients

Buckwheat Crepes

Serving Size:

15 10″ crêpes

Time:

30 min.

Difficulty:

Medium

Ingredients

• 2 cups filtered water
• 4 eggs
• 1 ¼ cup of buckwheat flour
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon vegan butter

Directions

1. Combine the water, flour, eggs. olive oil, sugar and salt in a blender, and puree on high speed until well mixed, about 30 seconds. *If serving some crêpes to your baby, reserve a portion of blended flour, eggs and olive oil batter to avoid the added sugar and salt. You can use the batter right away or chill it in the refrigerator overnight (which allows the flour to hydrate fully and results in more flavor, elasticity and crispiness).
2. When you are ready to cook the crêpes, give the batter one good stir, especially if it has been resting in the refrigerator. Heath a nonstick crêpe pan over medium- high heat. Brush the pan with a little bit of melted vegan butter, then pour in about ½ cup of the batter while swirling the pan to ensure it goes in as a thin layer. Small bubbles will appear around the batter as it cooks. Tuck in the edges with a rubber spatula and cook for 30 seconds, or until golden. Grab an edge with your fingers and gently grip the crêpe over, or use a spatula if the pan is too hot. Finish cooking for another 30 seconds, then slide onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.
3. The crêpes can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
4. When ready to eat the crêpes, heat them on the stove until warm on both sides. Spread about a teaspoon of Chocolate-Hazelnut Butter over half of each crêpe, fold, and serve.

Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

Serving Size:

1 ¼ cup

Time:

45 min.

Difficulty:

Medium

Ingredients

• 2 cups roasted hazelnuts (optional: sprouted roasted hazelnuts)
• 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste ( or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
• 1/2 teaspoon of flakey sea salt (optional: fleur de sel)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 2 tbs. coconut oil or olive oil (add more if needed)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300° F. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until fragrant. Transfer the hazelnuts to a clean kitchen towel and rub them together to peel off the skins. It;s OK if you cannot remove them completely, but try to get as much as you can, as the skin is bitter. As an alternative, you can also use pre-roasted skinned hazelnuts.
2. Transfer the hazelnuts to a high-speed blender or food processor and blend until creamy, stopping to scrape the bowl a few times. It will take a few minutes to pulverize the hazelnuts; exactly how long depends on your machine. If the motor gets hot, stop and restart a few minutes later. *If sharing the nut butter with your baby, reserve a small portion of this nut butter before adding the chocolate ingredients (which contains caffeine, sugar and salt).
3. Meanwhile, bring a small pot with 2 inches of water to a simmer. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl (we used a glass bowl) and position over the pot. This is called the double broiler method. Reduce the heat to low and melt the chocolate, making sure no water gets into the bowl and no flames reach the sides. Add the melted chocolate to the blender and process until smooth and incorporated. Add the olive oil (or coconut oil), maple syrup, vanilla and salt and blend until combined.
4. Transfer the butter to a glass jar with an airtight lid, seal and store at room temperature for 2 weeks or in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. it will harden solid when refrigerated, so bring the butter to room temperature a couple of hours before using.

Chocolate-Covered Berries:

Serving Size:

4-6

Time:

30 min.

Difficulty:

Simple

Ingredients

• 3 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 container of strawberries
• 1 container of blackberries

Directions

1. Wash your berries and dry them very well so the chocolate will stick.
2. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
3. Bring a small pot with 2 inches of water to a simmer. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and position it over the pot. Reduce the heat to low and melt the chocolate, stirring frequently to avoid burning the chocolate. Once melted, remove the bowl from over the pot and place a handful of chocolate chips to melt in the bowl to temper the chocolate.
4. Holding a berry from the step or top, dip into the melted chocolate and then lift and twist slightly before lying it on the tray. Make sure to work quickly before the chocolate melts and hardens. **Kids may like to eat the dipped berries with melted chocolate before chilling the remainder of the berries. You could have your child help add toppings, such as shaved coconut or crushed nuts, to encourage additional food exploration.
5. Chill the tray of chocolate berries in the refrigerator until the chocolate sets, about 15 min.

The post Get Your Child to Try Different Foods with Fun Chocolate Recipes appeared first on Feeling Yum.

What Is a Sensory Bin?

A sensory bin is a container that contains wet and/or dry ingredients with at least one new texture your child can explore. Working with dry textures is easier than working with wet textures. 

Where to Start?

Your kitchen is your best resource! You don’t have to run out and buy special materials. Your kitchen contains plenty of textures and smells your child can explore. This is also a great way to use any expired foods in your pantry. In addition, your bathroom and yard are also great resources for materials.

How to Contain the Mess:

Lying the sensory bin on a collecting blanket, sheet, shower curtain etc. will help with easy clean-up. Doing these activities outside is also a great choice!

Additional Benefits to Sensory Bins:

Your child can also simultaneously work on their fine motor skills by scooping and pouring ingredients with different kinds of utensils. 

Pro-Tip:

WIth both wet and dry sensory bins, hide your child’s favorite toys inside so they can search and collect them. Bubble tongs, sand tools, ice trays, shovels, rake toys, squeeze bottles, spray bottles, and kid tongs are all very useful. Give them a task and include something they love!

Warning:

Sensory bins are only safe when the child is provided constant supervision, since they can contain choking hazards. 

Dry Sensory Bin Ideas:

• Dried Pasta (I love to use fun shapes and colored pasta from natural additives, such as spinach and tomatoes) or food-dyed pasta
• Oats with ground or whole spices
• Rice with sprinkles or food-dyed rice
• Dried beans (such as pinto beans, black beans, lentils, etc.)
• Coffee beans
• Cacao powder with cornstarch
• Whole or crushed cereals
• Corn kernals
• Any kind of flour
• Cotton balls
• Sand or kinetic sand
• Dirt with rocks, leaves, pinecones, seashells, flowers, etc. 
• Crinkle-strip paper used for wrapping
• Pom poms
• Feathers

Wet Sensory Bin Ideas:

• Whipped cream or Cool Whip
• Chia seeds soaked in water
• Flour wand oil
• Cornstarch and shaving cream
• Cooked spaghetti or pasta
• Baking soda and vinegar
• Boba pearls
• Fruit/veggie stamps (such as cut apples or celery) with condiment sauces or paints
• Cacao powder and water
• Bubble water
• Ice cubes in water
• Whole veggies and fruits (such as pumpkins) with paints

The post My #1 Recommended Play Activity for Picky Eaters appeared first on Feeling Yum.

Selective eating is a trait that many kids share, thanks to the incorporation of processed foods into our diet or comfort with drinking excess milk, among other culprits. If your child is experiencing more significant feeding concerns, see article When Do I Request a Feeding Therapy Evaluation? Selectiveness is based on different temperaments and actions and does not have to be viewed as a fault. We can all learn to be more open to exploring foods together.

1. Normalize

It is developmentally appropriate for kids to become pickier between the ages of 15 months- two years old, as they start to discover and remember their likes and dislikes and separate themself from their parents. This can be compounded if a child is motivated by movement and not interested in sitting down for a meal.  Learning to taste is a skill, which takes time to develop.

2. Embrace the Positive Qualities

Your child is being cautious and trying to make safe choices. They also may be super tasters, which can smell and taste more nuanced flavors than we may notice. Learning to slow down is a great mindful exercise and yes, makes us learn to become more patient. You can also learn more in this process about where foods come from and creative ways to create them! 

3. Control the Commentary 

Explain to others that your child can be selective about what foods they eat and how they are prepared, but they are learning how to expand their palates. Kids are always learning and we want them to practice a growth mindset so they can rewrite their story.  Name any new foods that were explored recently to reinforce positive behaviors.  

4. Manage Expectations

Go to eye level. Do something grounding. Play with something safe, hold in hand. Model the behavior you do want.

5. Debrief

Do not praise social norm of eating everything but celebrating the baby steps. Team tiny changes. I love how you were being so brave and curious and came to the table. 

6. Refrain 

as a positive expericien : What did you like about trying the food. I saw at first you were nervous but you took a bite and that’s great

The post How To Talk About ‘Pickiness’ appeared first on Feeling Yum.