It's not just about getting your kid to eat more vegetables. It's not just about a better digestion and better, balance of hormones. All of that is really, really, really important. But it's brain health. It's microbiome health, right? our gut as our second brain, it helps regulate our hormones. It looks at digestion. how well a child learns how to bite and chew and swallow, which sets them up for oral motor coordination. So then they can speak and if they can speak, then they have higher order thinking and better language. It's all interconnected. It also literally feeds our energy and our ability to move. It helps, with better sleep. And if we get better sleep then we can rest and recover and wake up tomorrow. It improves, our allergies and our digestion. So perhaps we don't get so congested and we have better nasal breathing Hello and welcome to Talking Toddlers where I share more than just tips and tricks on how to reduce tantrums or build your toddler's vocabulary. We're gonna cover all of that, I assure you. But here our goal is to develop clarity. Because in this modern world, it's truly overwhelming, especially during these past two years. This podcast is about empowering moms to know the difference between fact and fiction, to never give up, to tap into everyday activities, so your child stays on track. He's not falling behind, he's thriving through your guidance. We know that true learning starts at home and talking toddlers. This podcast helps you develop that with clarity, confidence, and clear communication. So let's get started. Hello and welcome back to talking to. I'm Erin Hyer your host, and this episode we will continue the conversation on how to stop picky eaters in their tracks. And last episode, number 39. If you haven't had a chance to listen to that, go back afterwards and listen. It's not necessarily in a hierarchy, but. All 15 strategies that I discuss will help you set the stage, and that's the whole idea, is to recognize that we're setting the stage for a lifelong relationship with food and daily habits or lifestyle habits that truly help build health and nourishment. But it's also the physical act of learning how to. Bite and chew and swallow that then support early speech development. We have to have a strong jaw that can. At rest have closed lips so we can naturally breathe through our nose. All of those physical growth development helps with speech, but it also then helps with energy production. It helps with sleep. Patterns. It helps with cognitive thinking and reasoning, so it's all interrelated. But in this episode, I'm just helping identify some strategies that you can be really, really cognizant and purposeful in laying this foundation, knowing that for between the months, uh, or six months of life through 12 months of eight, that you're really. Introducing solids to your baby. So then we can build those skills once they're eating, you know, tabletop foods or adult food for, you know, for total nourishment. But because that first year of life, you're really still giving 99.9% of their nutrition and minerals and vitamins through breast milk and or baby formula, then this is a journey of learning how and to to bite, chew, and swallow, like I said, but. Also the appreciation of, of a wide variety of food, of healthy, real, natural food. Not ultra processed, not pre-packaged, and it doesn't have to be quote unquote fancy recipes. It shouldn't be in the beginning, you're, but it should be a wide variety of. Opportunities to, to experience healthy food. So last week when I began this, this whole list, the first five were flavors, embrace flavors, a wide variety of flavors, so your baby's taste buds get acclimated. And to really use this natural gift called a flavor window, where babies are open and receptive to trying a wide variety of tastes. That they're not necessarily gonna push back on. Number two was a variety of textures that, you know, pureed creamy foods is not necessary in the beginning that we are have, that were born with this natural bite reflex. So putting, uh, poached or roasted or softly, um, Cooked foods on their gum line, on where their molars will come, will help bite and chew, and, and they will naturally get that whole kind, sequential pattern through their experience. So textures are really important. I also talk about how you slowly but surely, um, change up the size and so go back and listen and, and safety is always our, our number one priority. Which is also the number one question that parents have or their, their uncomfortableness with introducing solid foods because they're afraid the baby's going to choke or gag, rightfully so. But go back and listen to previous episodes and you will understand that the gag reflexes there to. Help protect all of us humans. And choking is, is the danger zone, right? But, but the baby will gag in the beginning because you are giving them opportunities to desensitize that gag. And so it's a developmental process that we have to help the babies learn how to do that through experience Number three from last week is embrace the messiness. And I talk a lot about this, it parenthood is messy. Babyhood is messy. Toddler ship is messy. But it's a sensory experience. They do not understand yet that they're quote unquote eating. They don't
understand
Erinthat, you know, it's nourishing their body. They don't understand that, you know, we need to have. X amount of calories or this vitamin or that vitamin, they're just putting whatever they see in front of them, as you know, they'll reach and grab it with that Palmer grasp. You know, they don't have that pincher grasp, which is the thumb and the index finger, so they're not necessarily at. 6, 7, 8 months old going to pick up fine pieces of food, but they're gonna grasp it and then put it in their mouth just like they do with your hair and your shirt and your hand and rattles and biting toys and all of this. And so it's just that interest in how can I gain more information in this immediate environment of this little baby's, you know, circle around his body. And so they're just exploring and we have to give them opportunity to understand the connection between taste and flavor and sensation in their belly and, you know, feeding their brain and all of this. But it's a process that they have to experience with all of their senses and it's, it's there. We really have, our human body has. Eight different senses. We talk about the five, right? The sight, the smell, the taste, the feel, the hearing. But there are additional senses that we'll talk about during this episode and and the following episodes that are also critical in developing a self-regulation system. Right. And so if we want our three-year-old to be able to be self-regulated and attend and focus and to have a conversation, because that's what typical healthy, average three-year-olds can do, then we're we have to wire their, their body, their mind, their body. Together, and it's, and through learning how to eat is part of that, that journey, right? And so number four from last week was model, model, model, which means join your baby, show them how it's done. That's how they're gonna learn. And then there's a big social element to it as well. And then number five from last week was to respect their limits, to understand that it's going to be a trial and error. Um, and that timing is everything. But if we want our little babies to grow up healthy and to have a good solid relationship, a healthy relationship with eating and food. Then we have to respect when they're interested in eating right. And 99.9% of their nutrition, their vitamins and minerals and all of this during this first year of life is from breast milk and or. Formula And so we're not necessarily, uh, giving them the solid food introduction for nutrition, quote unquote. We're introducing the experience to lay this foundation, to set the stage, but, and, and it's complimentary, right? Especially at six and seven. And eight months of age. Now between nine months and 12 months is a little bit different. You're, you're kind of gauging how much they're consuming and how, and what the calories are and, and the variety and all of that. But these first several months you are really setting the stage. For appreciation to expand their, their, their taste buds to hone that, that gag reflex. So it's not quite so sensitive to set up opportunities to physically work out the mouth. Right. And so, a as I've said and shared with, you know, thousands of parents over the time, uh, over my career, but also here on this, this podcast is. To understand the relationship between eating and chewing and swallowing and speech and language development, that we develop these skills in, um, in line with one another, and there's a strong correlation between. The jaw development, the lip and the tongue, oral motor planning with speech and, and eating and, but we have to give them opportunities to literally work out, and that's why chewing is so fundamental to speech and language, self-regulation. And healthy eating. It's also a social experience, right? And that it's a great opportunity to provide a rich language learning experience to talk about food and colors and tastes to share about your day, you know, when they get a little bit older. But to have this conversational flow. And I mean, that's what mealtime has always been, right? To sit around the campfire and to share food and to tell stories. Ultimately, that's what the human race has, has used and we've, we've moved away from that in this modern world so much and I'm, I'm trying to bring it back. I'm trying to be part of the movement cuz there's a lot of us out there talking about baby led weening. And building a healthy relationship with eating, but also making it social, right? Bringing back that family meal. And we'll talk a lot about that in these coming episodes, but we're setting the stage. So for this episode, I'm going to continue this list and, and talk about the next five. There are 15 altogether for these top strategies. To, you know, stop picky eaters in their tracks before they develop. Yes, there's, there is a developmental phase where your toddler typically around two through maybe their fourth birthday, can be more picky, quote unquote. And I use that because I think we have to be careful what we call that. And so men, most kids, Most toddlers will be more selective at that time, and we just have to be ready for it. And it doesn't mean that we, you know, panic and we cave and, and I've talked about that last week and we'll continue to talk about that. But, um, but our, our plan here, my plan here is to really help you set the stage that it's more, or it's not just nutrition, which is. You know, really, really high on my, my radar to support the brain and the body, right? But it's also to build the, that physical part of chewing and feeding the body healthfully will help build attention and engagement. It's that physical workout with the mouth, like I mentioned, and it's interconnected with. With speech, sound development and what we call co articulation, how we move. 26 muscles from our diaphragm up to coordinate and speak, right? Whether it's English or German or French, it, it doesn't matter. We physiologically, we have the same developmental or physiologically we have the same makeup. Um, you know, our sound, phon names and whatnot might differ, but it's all about giving that physical workout. So speech. And language, language is, is our thoughts, right? Our, our ability to, to think and reason and problem solve and socially engage and, and all of that. And so it really is this network that we're building. It's. And, and, and that's what I want to remind parents. You know, even when you're so dang frustrated that your kid isn't eating, uh, where he is pushing away or he is crying, or he is throwing the food, he's physically telling you, now is not a good time. Let's, let's go back to the drawing board and figure out why. Right. So for today's episode, I'm gonna cover the next five really key strategies to, to, to think about beforehand, to to be ready as you're laying this foundation. It's sort of like building a house. You don't just go out and start, you know, hammering. Some sticks together, right? You, you level the ground. You, you look at your, the dirt and you, you dig a hole. You, you look at the, how, you know the drainage is you're looking at a lot of the underneath. To how best to support the structure that you're building. And that's what we're doing with our children too. So this introduction period between six months and eight months, they're getting 99.9% of their nutrition through. Breast milk or formula, but between six months and eight months really focus on one meal that you're a one meal family. And I know it sounds a lot easier, you know, for me sitting here in front of this microphone, but, um, the reality is that. If you are not ready for this pushback that most kids do between, you know, 24 months and 48 months, and sometimes a little bit further, right? If you are not ready for them to push back and, and test their independence, no, I don't want that. No, no, no, no, no, no. No carrots. No carrots, and they're trying to find their. Their strength in their little tiny bodies and their little tiny lives. We panic cuz we're like, oh my gosh. They, they need to eat. I, I, I need to eat some, I need to give them something. If we let that fear drive us, it becomes a really slippery slope. Very quickly, and you don't wanna become a short order cook, nor do you wanna become the fast food mama. Nor do you want to, you know, reduce their, their food intake to a hand, literally a handful of packaged, highly processed foods. I know you want to reduce the complaining and the whining and the tantrums and the meltdowns, and you're. Possibly just saying, okay, just this one. It's just, you know, I've had a long day. It's been a long week. I'll just give them, you know, chicken nuggets one more time. It won't kill 'em. It's true, it won't kill 'em that particular day, but you are setting this stage for your family, for your lifestyle, for your, your mealtime, and it's really, really, really important. That you have a plan going into this. I cannot stress this enough because I have literally seen hundreds of families over my career, and it's only gotten worse in my 35 years. Picky eaters were pretty, you know, occasional 35 years ago. And because our lifestyles have changed so much, not only because of the food industry, but the busyness, right? And it parents have slowly but surely kind of gone further and further away from one meal, one family togetherness. Because you have three kids, then you have soccer practice and music lessons, and you have a job and you have to clean the house and you know your husband's traveling or whatever the scenario is. It gets complicated. I get it. But in the long run, Having a picky eater when he is 10, or having, you know, health issues because they're, they're overweight or they have allergies, or they have poor learning skills. It's all related. So I want parents to, to look at these 15 strategies. Openly. Right. And honestly, and don't be afraid, it's not complicated, but it does take effort and it takes being conscious and, and being willing to stand in your own uncomfortableness to say, no, we're not gonna go to McDonald's. No, I'm not gonna buy, you know, frozen. Chicken nuggets, you know, so my kids can quote unquote, eat something. You're going to set the stage and, and develop over time what your family system will, will look like. And it'll be tri, uh, trial and error. And yes, every once in a while you're gonna have to eat chicken nuggets. I get that. But every day you might want to look in the mirror and say, I'm gonna do my best to walk this, this clean, healthy, natural food life. Keep in mind it's about setting the stage and that variety is key. I talked a lot about last episode to take advantage of this flavor window in from six months of age to 18 months of age, and to introduce. At least a hundred different foods to them. So when they start pushing back at 18 or 24 months, that you have a wide variety of food to choose from, that you've already strengthened your courage to say, no, honey, this is what. We're having for dinner. This is our, and you know, if you're not hungry, that's fine. I'm not gonna force you to eat, but you can choose from what our family has prepared. And if you aren't hungry right now, that's fine. You can have some of the same meal later. Right, but the one meal is going to be your family boundary, and it's really, really important that you understand. In the long run it will be so much easier. It, it might be a quick fix just to throw something in the microwave and get your kid to eat something, but in the long run, it's not serving anybody with that in mind. Know that most toddlers, and I mentioned this in last week's episode, will be quote unquote selective, not necessarily picky. I, I choose my words carefully, but selective at one time or another. But if you have those hundred. A hundred, uh, foods to choose from, you know, that you've introduced in this first year from six months to 12 months, or six months to 18 months, then you have a lot more bandwidth. You know, you have a lot more items in your, in your cupboard, so to speak, going in your, your repertoire to, to manage, right? And so the second big. Item in these strategies is to use no bribes or a mandate about cleaning your plate, because that too becomes a slippery slope. The short order cook is a slippery slope and bribes a really, really easy to fall into. It's an easy trap, right? Oh, honey, just eat five more bites and then you can have X, Y, z. What's that message? That message is telling them that I know the green beans tastes yucky, and the pudding is so much better for you or hap it will make you happier on a subconscious level. Introducing that there's like this delicious scale, right? Yeah, the main course are yucky foods and these treats, these yumminess over here, you can have afterward. No, no, no. You don't want to set that message either. To me, in my household and with me as a therapist over all these years, I've really looked at treats as something special, and they should be occasional, and I know it's really, really hard. Everybody wants, you know, ideally to, to have dessert after dinner, but it's not a healthy habit to fall into. And what we're trying to set the stage for is that these delicious foods, this yummy roasted chicken and these carrots and green beans and rice or quinoa or tomatoes or, or red peppers that have been sauteed in some butter. All of these are yummy, are yummy and satisfying. And if you really feel satisfied after your meal, you don't need, you know, a bowl full of ice cream or yogurt or you know, something to top it off. Right? And that's what we're setting the stage for. Making deals at the dinner table is, is an easy way to backfire and, and that you, as the parents, as you know, the, the leaders in charge, you lose your power really easily. And then it becomes a battle. It becomes, you're having food battles with a two year old that is so debilitating for your child and yourself. Right? That's not what you signed up for. And when, and I've mentioned this last week and I'll, I'm going to continue to mention this. 50% of parents, of children ages 18 months to six identify having their a, a picky eater. And it really throws everything off course right from mealtimes being stressful and power struggles and emotional battles to, like I said, it does not support development, physical development, cognitive development, or emotional development. So you don't want to go into the bribing or let's clean everything, even if you're not hungry. You have to eat every dang thing on your plate. That's, you know, that was back out in the fifties, right? When we, when we came back from World War II and there was, or food shortages and, and all of this, it was all about cleaning your plate, right? They're starving kids in Africa. We've all heard that. That's silly. What's not silly is helping your.
Your
Erinbaby, your toddler. Learn how it feels to be hungry versus full. Learn what true satisfaction is and to have a, a self-regulation. Internal. And so I mentioned earlier that we have our five senses that basically everybody is aware of, right? Uh, taste, sight, smell, et cetera. But we also have three additional senses that I'd like to touch upon. One is called the interception, and that is how we understand and feel what's going on. Inside our bodies and our six month old, our 12 month old, is still learning really, that they even have a body right, let alone what it feels like inside. But this is a sensory processing element that helps us understand when we feel hungry or full or hot, cold, thirsty. It also is critical in helping toddlers through that potty training, right? Is my bladder full? Do I have to go potty and how can I hold it till I get to the bathroom? All of those internal senses helps with, with all of these major developmental milestones, and so it's really, really important that we don't bribe our kids or expect them to eat everything that's in front of them that they can. Tune in and like, Hmm, no, I'm not hungry anymore. I've had enough. Right? And that is a process that they learn to respect and say, they come back 10 minutes later and say, mama, I'm hungry. And I'm say, and it's like, well, I guess you really weren't full. Right, and perhaps the, the process of sitting down with one meal, one family, and let it be easy and comfortable and pleasurable and social, gives them time to sit at the table. And wait till everybody else is finished. And I'm sure you've heard that. You know, our brain doesn't register whether we're truly full or not. It, uh, it, it needs 20 minutes for that registration to take place. I don't know if that's exactly true, that we need 20 minutes, but I know there's a window of, let me stop eating. And figure out whether I'm still hungry, if I want more or not, if I want a second helping, right? And so we learned that, how to gauge that over time and through experience and helping them through trial and error, but, You know, having these mandates, um, and bribes at the, at your one meal is not healthy for anybody on many, many levels. Okay? So number eight would be to give them choices. And that's especially as a toddler, right? They, they have to find some kind of autonomy. Everything is mandated. They feel right when to go to bed, when what to get. What to wear, um, what to play with all, all of this, right? So it's really important that they start to, to trust that they have a choice, right? That they have an opinion, that they're part of this family and that they are respected. But at the same time, that doesn't mean that you become that sure order cook or that you give them chicken nuggets. Um, and you know, packaged protein bars. Because they need to express their opinion or need to have some say no. You as the grownup, place the boundaries and then they get to choose, right? So it's not just one item and you have to eat this or starve, but you know, you, you need some meat and you need some vegetables and you need a, a healthy starch. Pick something, right? And so giving them some choice in any of what we call their ADLs, right? Their activities of daily living to give a 2, 3, 4, 5 year old some choice. For example, an. And I've, I've taught thousands of parents the strategy that, you know, if your kid is lying on the floor and doesn't want to leave, even though, you know, and this was often in my, it was a meltdown, right? As we're trying to get him out the door after his therapy session, or, you know, in the middle of the parking lot at school, I, I've seen it all. Um, or the playground, or you're. Your aunt's house that they really like to hang out with and they don't wanna leave, or they're too tired and they have a meltdown. And so you simply say, Hey sweetie, you know, we gotta go now. And they're like, no, I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go. And you say, Hey, you know, do you want me to help you or can you walk by yourself? Be Those are the two choices, right? And so they want independence. So they'll, nine times outta 10, they pick themselves up and start walking. It's not always that smooth, but. It's giving them this false sense of control, right? You, you hear, you do have choices within my boundaries, right? And so you have to be concrete with your expectations. Be flat, which means, you know, don't take it personally. It's really, really hard when they're having to meltdown. I get it, but. If you take the wind out of their sails, meaning that you don't overreact and you don't take it personally, you take literally a step back, count to 10, do whatever you have to to bring your internal. Emotional state to something that's neutral, they won't pick up on that. Right? And then they'll have less power and, and you just write it out. Sometimes it takes one minute, sometimes it takes five minutes. So at the dinner table, if you give them choices, You know, a family style meal that you have, you know, some meat and you have a couple of different vegetables, and you have some sweet potatoes, then they can pick. What they want from this meal and decide how much they're going to eat. That's, that's their choice in this. You choose what foods your options are and then they get to, you know, try one bite or five bites that's on them. Remember about this neophobia, which means a fear of new food. Again, part of the developmental evolution with with toddlers that they are. Apprehensive of trying something new. And so it's really important as you are introducing new foods or perhaps a new recipe, that you put it side by side with something that you, you know, if they're always like green beans, then give them some green beans with this different kind of squash, change it up and be open to letting them explore. On their, their time. So if we create a family style meal for, for dinner, mostly that, that would be ideal. That you, you know, let them pick. Right. Um, and one of the things that. A lot of families do, and I'm always stressing to help, is to build some themes. Everybody's familiar with the commercials of, you know, taco Tuesday or Rice Bowl Mondays, or you know, in my family we had breakfast on Wednesday and there was always like a, a scrambled egg, right? And we would put leftover vegetables or leftover, you know, hamburger meat or whatever. We had to make this kind of concoction That was always kind of yummy and. Easy. And kids could participate, right? They could build their own little taco bowl, but if we offer two or three different vegetables and let them pick, then, you know, and even if it's like, no, I, I just want two or three pieces of this red pepper. Um, and then I'll have, you know, my green beans over here or my. Broccoli or carrots or, or whatever. Um, but let them be part of the process. And the other piece to this family style meals and give them choices is to learn how to, to create batch cooking. And I, and I haven't really talked about this, but that was a life saver for me when I had a full practice. I had a baby and a toddler, and my husband has. Always, always traveled. And so we would batch cook together on the weekends, mostly on Sunday. Um, and, and do you know, two or three different meats and you know, many vegetables that would be prepped and ready. So, you know, after work and after dance and after school and all of this, we could easily put. Dinners together. But you know, I kind of joked and I had many friends that, that had this scenario where the husbands traveled, um, most of the time during the week, and that we had to learn how to be creative and bring the kids into the kitchen, and we'll talk about that. But it's really important to plan ahead and batch cooking will help you do that. It's also important. To plan ahead so you can look at what are some of the preferred and familiar foods and how to pair them with something that's a little bit novel or new. So if they really like broccoli, you can then also add some asparagus or. Uh, sauteed cabbage. And so you're giving them options to try alongside of something that they're already familiar with. So also along this with modeling and having a meal together, that gives you opportunity to demonstrate. And you know, as well as I do that half of parenting, especially when they're very, very young, like. This is play acting is showing kids how you process information and how you perhaps will work through something that's a little bit different. So for example, if you're looking at something that's new and you're trying to introduce. Asparagus and you say, Hmm, I wonder what this new green vegetable, I haven't seen it in a while. Let me smell it. Let me, you know, taste a little bit and you're giving the demonstration of how you might investigate or experience something that's a little less familiar. And we do this all the time in other kinds of, Language-based learning. Say you're helping your little one get dressed and you, and you look at the different clothes option, you go, Hmm, I wonder what I do with this sock. Let's see. Does it go on my ear? And you put it close up to your ear and then you smile and laugh and shake your head. It, it gives them language rich. Activities, right? As you're trying to get him dressed. It pulls him into the quote unquote conversation. It helps it be lighthearted and playful as you're trying to get ready in the morning. Right? And. It works wonders to help your toddler, whether they're one or two or three or four, to help you or to then begin to express themselves. Well, you, you use those types of quote unquote strategies with, with food as well, and you're looking at your plate and go, Hmm, I wonder which one I will eat first. Let me think. I know those are. Orange carrots and, but these red peppers, I think they're peppers. Yeah. Are they peppers, honey And you, and you pull them into your little sphere and you make it lighthearted and there's no kind of do this or else kind of. Stressful environment and it's works really, really wonders with a lot of things. Getting dressed, getting out of the bathtub, you know, helping you buckle up in the car seat. A lot of different. Stressful. Let's get going. Kind of events are lessened. Right? And it's, and then they work with you versus pushing back against. Right. Okay, so with that, let's get to number nine, which is, To get creative and it goes along with giving choices and having a fla, a family style meal setting. But it also helps kids understand that food can be presented in different forms, like, you know, some, it could be sauteed and some could be. Cut up into small pieces. Sometimes you eat it raw, you know, there's a lot of different creative ways to present different foods. Um, for example, I love raw spinach, but I don't like cooked spinach. You know, so you just find different ways of trying them and then figuring out what works better for your little guy, your family as a whole. And to be flexible with that. The more they're exposed, then the more familiar they get to, to be around new foods. Right? And so it's not always that they have to eat it or participate with eating it, but. If you serve asparagus often, then it, the novelty dissipates, right? Um, the whole neophobia, you know, the fear of new foods is really, it lessened and because they've seen it, they've seen it a couple times this week, or they've seen it at grandma's house, or they've seen it here, or they've seen it there, and so it's not, You know, scary to them and they're like, okay, I'll try one bite. You know, or some beets or some arugula, you know, different kinds of foods that perhaps they wouldn't necessarily gravitate toward on their own. But if you keep. Putting it out there in a family style setting, then they're familiar. You talk about, uh, you know, the name of it, where, how it grows. Is it above the ground? Is it below the ground? Uh, you know, is it green? Does it taste sweet? Is it bitter? Is it orange? You know, all of these characteristics, and that's rich language that you guys can talk about. What does it smell like? Do, do you cook it? Is it room temperature? You know, all kinds of elements that you can just share and without. Having them feel pressured to put it in their mouth and try it. So with being able to get creative, think back to, um, last episode where I talked about different flavors, right? And so you can prepare a lot. Of variety or this creativity through different herbs and different spices. And uh, I just wanted to give you a little heads up. There's um, a doctor Fernando, and she's actually referred to as Dr. Yum in her practice. She's a pediatrician, but she does wonderful things around exposing kids. To a variety of foods and helping them, you know, solid foods and reducing the risks of picky eating. But she has a couple of great books out and great recipes, and one of them is, and I tried this years ago, is using nutritional yeast on sliced vegetables and then baking them. Whether it is brussel sprouts or kale, but you can make your own veggie chips and the, the store, yes, there are now store bought chips, but I always think it's better, especially in these first, you know, 5, 6, 8, 10 years to, to do it at home together. And, and again, there's, there's lots of different, you know, language based, social based, um, but also helping kids. Connect with their food, and if they're part of the prep, then they're more likely to try it out. Right? But you can look up her, um, different recipes she's referred to. As I said, Dr. Yum. I'll actually put it down below, uh, a link to, to one of the books that I have. Referenced and, and suggested to a number of parents over the, over the years, but creativity is really, really important. We all get stuck in ruts. I get that. We all have our favorite recipes and go-to, and you know, to have those back up, you know, on Friday night, of course, and you know, at the end of the week or when it's stressful, I get that. But the more you as the adults get familiar in the kitchen. And try a variety of things, then it'll all become second nature and it's just part of your family lifestyle. It's, it's pretty common, right? Um, so do take advantage of these early years where you are in front, because when they get bigger and more, Communicative, right? A three-year-old's verbal skills a thousand times better than an 18 month old. So you can entice an 18 month old to to try a new food that day. But a three-year-old really has much more of a robust personality and understanding of how the world works, and so they're going to know how to push your buttons. They're gonna know. You know how to navigate and manipulate the this, give and take much more sophisticatedly than that 18 month old. And so you need to have a lot of items stored up and use at any moment. But being creative, giving them choices, having a variety of. Uh, flavors and, and presentations all really help your child get comfortable with seeing change and seeing, uh, you know that food comes in every size, shape, color, form. And purpose. So for this episode, I'm gonna round it off with number 10, which is referred to as the witching hour. And some of you may have, um, become familiar with what this is and isn't, but it's pretty common. It, it's. Typical between, you know, 4:00 PM in the afternoon to bedtime, where some, some parents have just said it, it's just a nightmare. It's like a perfect storm where people are tired. You're transitioning, you're trying to go here, trying to go there. Get dinner ready, get homework ready, get baths done. All of this and everybody's exhausted. And you know, with the little, little ones with the two-year-old or three-year-old, if they've gone to a daycare or a preschool setting, then you know, they've kind of held themselves together all day, and now they're gonna hit the wall. So it's really, really important that, again, walking into this six month old, 12 month old, 18, 24 month old. Phase, right? This, this is a season in your life, it, this too will pass. But to know that this witting hour can be, uh, Explosive for everyone. For you. And so I want to encourage families to not take the easy route where we grab a bag of crackers or filler type foods, you know, chips or this or that, to be more proactive and to yes. Try to bring them into the kitchen and be a part of this food prep, right? But also to say, Hey, in our family, we have a help yourself platter and to use it where you can cut up some healthy options, right? Sliced cucumbers, sliced carrots, celery, snap. Peas, red bell peppers. You can m mix up some dips or some different dressings. Again, this is all done in batch cooking. It's prepped. You know that at two o'clock or on Tuesday at four 30, you're not gonna have time to make. A dip or a dressing for all of these things. So you need a couple of choices ready in your fridge and not necessarily store bought because there's a lot of extra chemicals in there. There's a lot of extra fillers that are not healthy and helping develop a wonderful pallet and a great relationship with foods. And we have to be more. Enlightened of the truth, and that is the more we make at home with natural flavors and natural ingredients, then the healthier all of us will be, and that then builds a healthy relationship. With each other during mealtime and cleanup time, and we all look forward to it. That, that, that it's a, a healthy part of our family that we are establishing. And it will change when you have two and three year olds, that's a different scenario, a different rhythm than when you have a 12 year old. Um, But I, I'm not quite sure where I got this idea years and years ago about, uh, quote unquote help yourself platter with, again, you could put different flavors on it, you know, some, some lemon, um, some different dips that you make ahead of time. But batch cooking is critical to learn how to, to just find peace right in every day. And I will. In the future episode have outline of how, how do you go about batch cooking and, you know, it's, it's batch shopping and cooking and prepping and, and getting the kids involved with that process and is very, very helpful as you can imagine. But, If you start when they're six months old, if you start when they're 12 months old, and then slowly but surely over time, they become part of that food prep with you, and that's the key. The more that they're involved with this process and they don't just. You know, sit on the couch and, you know, watch TV or do whatever they do. And then you, as the food prepper, um, you know, are, are, are jumping through hoops for them. No, you don't wanna set up that kind of rhythm because then they become more. Limited in their ability to appreciate the process of food that appreciate sitting down and sharing a meal and appreciate how it feels when, you know they're coming toward the end of the dinner and it's like, oh, this was very satisfying. I don't need anymore. I'm done. Let me help you clean up. And again, that is our goal when they're six and eight and 10 and you know, 25. So, you know, to help alleviate the pressures with this witching hour, this whole help yourself platter reduces the pressure off of them. They don't have to eat it, that's just an option for them. But you don't get a, a, a bag of chips. That's not a healthy option. I would say don't buy the chips, but, you know, we always have some crackers or, or something, but that's not an option. You have to wait for dinner. You can have these vegetables if you want. There's no pressure. Right. Um, it's kind of an open policy and because they're going to choose something, they're putting some good, healthy flavors in their mouth is very satisfying. That helps calm their, the anxiety and stress and that, you know, hungry, angry kind of feeling that can spike kids and grownups at that 4, 5, 6 o'clock witching hour. Right. Um, and a side note, and I, and I learned this years and years ago, but. I'm thinking to myself, where the heck did we. As Americans kind of come up with the whole appetizers, right, because I've, I've done this often myself where I eat so many appetizers. I don't, I'm not interested in dinner anymore. And, and when you go to a restaurant, you know, I learned when I. Started living kind of a low carb life, you know, not to accept the bread when you sit down at the restaurant. Where did that come from? Right. And so if you look at the history of appetizers here in the US, restaurants do that because it does spike our hunger hormone, which, and then we tend to. Order more food because we're hungry, right? We eat a, a basket full of delicious bread and we're like, yeah, I'll, I'll have this and I'll have this and I'll have this because I'm more hungry waiting for my meal than I was when I first sat down because that bread sparked that hunger hormone. And, and what's interesting, if you look into some of where did appetizers or hors d'oeuvres come from? It really came, you know, thousands of years ago in the third century with Athens where it was really a buffet style, these quote unquote appetizers or hors d'oeuvres, and they were pretty substantial, but they never served a meal afterward. And I thought that was fascinating. And um, and many European countries will do that too. They'll have, they'll have hors d'oeuvres, but that's, it's it, they're dense caloried foods and so they typically don't sit down for a full meal afterwards. And so we have to put this, the whole idea that how Americans have generally over, you know, the last 50 years, 80 years. Expanded the amount of food we eat and the types of food that we eat that aren't always healthy. I think it's fascinating to look and say, how did we come up with three meals a day, three snacks, all these hors d'oeuvres or appetizers, and you, how did we get here? if 50% of our kids are identified as a picky eater and 40% of kids under 10 are overweight or obese, and 54% of our kids now in the us have a chronic disorder, and all these numbers are escalating. How did we get here and how can we turn this ship around? And I think we can, we, as the adults and the parents and the people in charge need to step back, get a bigger, broader perspective and say, how can I do it differently? How can I do it better? Or how can I learn to navigate and put boundaries up and realistic expectations without getting sucked into food battles And as I often say, all of this is such an intricate system. It's not just about getting your kid to eat more vegetables. It's not just about you know, a better digestion and better, balance of hormones. All of that is really, really, really important. But it's brain health. It's microbiome health, right? That we now think of our gut as our second brain, and some people look at it as our first brain, but it helps regulate our hormones. It looks at digestion. It looks at. Um, how well a child learns how to bite and chew and swallow, which sets them up for oral motor coordination. So then they can speak and if they can speak, then they can have higher order thinking and better language. It's all interconnected. It also literally feeds our energy and our ability to move. It helps, you know, with better sleep. And if we get better sleep then we can rest and recover and wake up tomorrow. It improves, like I said, our allergies and our digestion. So perhaps we don't get so congested and we have better nasal breathing and. All of this feeds literally, because we're talking about food, but it all is interconnected and feeds our systems in an, in a beautiful fashion. So you knew moms as you go about entering this introductory phase, and remember it's a period from six months to nine months to 12 months, their primary food and nutritional intake is still breast milk and or formula. So, Think about how you can expand flavors textures, embrace the messiness, be a good role model, respect their limits. Timing is everything. I, I covered that in last week's episode. One meal, family, no bribes. Give them choices, be creative and playful, and. Understand as you walk into every afternoon that you might hit a wall called the witching window and be prepared. Um, and batch cooking will talk about more strategies in the future. And I will continue and cover the last five of these 15 strategies to really stop picky eating before it. it explodes in your everyday life because it does become a nightmare. I just have to share families that I have dealt with the three-year-old, the six-year-old, the nine year old picky eaters, it affects every part of their development and it's so incredibly stressful. And once you get down that slippery slope, it's really hard to get up. But you can, I assure you, it just takes so much more purposeful strategic. Effort and, and so I'm hoping through these episodes to avoid that as much as possible to know that your 2, 3, 4 year old will be more selective, but they don't have to acquire that label of, oh, he's just a picky eater. He only eats, goldfish crackers and pasta, or, certain kinds of, prepared meats and. You don't wanna go there, you don't have to go there. But it does take work upfront. And if you do that now, then your 10 year old is going to thank you, I assure you. So thanks again for listening. I really, really appreciate your trust in, in. Thinking through these stages and really helping your little one thrive and grow and build communication, higher order thinking, language-based learning in, a beautiful, loving home. All right, take care. I'll see you next week.