Kate Berger, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
Nutrition counseling & Health promotion
Feeling healthy on the inside-and-out
Child nutrition
& feeding dynamics
Have you ever said this about your little ones?
¤ My child eats too much.
¤ My child doesn't eat enough.
¤ I doubt my child gets enough nutrition with the foods they eat.
¤ Meals are always a struggle and I resort to distraction, bribes, punishment and sometimes force food.
¤ I don't want my child to have a weight problem and my efforts to regulate what he eats and how much are not working.
¤ It's important that my child only eats healthy foods.
¤ My child was born prematurely or has had problems eating early in their life and I have good reason to worry about their eating.
¤ I don't enjoy mealtime.
¤ I have worries about my child's ability to regulate their eating and growth.
¤ I want some guidance and information to help my child develop a healthy lifelong foundation for eating.
Working with a Dietitian can be an important first step for parents and kids who struggle at the dinner table.
If you're a parent or caregiver, you know feeding a child is only one aspect of helping our children grow and learn to take care of themselves. The goals in eating are to teach our kids to be part of the family, establish their autonomy and sense of enjoyment for food. Our job as parents are to provide these foods, prepare them, and offer a safe space without judgement so that kids can make food choices and eat what they need.
These tools of communication and respect for the child when feeding are the foundations of the Ellyn Satter model called the division of responsibility. The parent decides when the child eats, where and what foods are offered. The child determines which foods and how much. These tools use positive discipline strategies that engage both infants and kids in the feeding process, limit the responsibility of the parent and support the individual nutrition needs of growing young kids and adolescents.
If you are a parent who has questions about your feeding relationship with your children or would like resources and nutrition guidance- reach out! It takes a village to help raise kids so don't hesitate to ask for the support you need.