THE SENSORY MADE SIMPLE PODCAST

Transcript

Welcome back to the Food Explorers Podcast, episode 22.

Do you force them to try it, or do you just let your child eat what they want?

This is probably one of the biggest unknown for parents, and that question that you keep coming back to in your head, and one that most people have different answers to.

Am I doing the right thing?

Should I be putting more pressure on them to take a bite?

Should I just stop and let them eat and be happy with what they're eating?

Well, my friend, I am here to put an end to that question for you today.

So those of you who have been in the Dr.

Sam community for a while, know that I am not a fan of using pressure at the table.

So I'm coming right out the door in this podcast and saying that I personally do not enjoy using pressure or force to encourage children to try new foods.

I could talk in depth about that, but I already do have a podcast on that topic, episode number two.

So I recommend going back to that episode because I also talk about the research behind it and why I personally don't like to take this approach.

Most often, it leads to mealtime battles at the table, and the table no longer becomes a safe place where your child wants to come and hang out with you.

But I should also say here, every single child and every single family is different.

So if this works for your family and your child easily eats with this, then by all means, do what works best for your family.

But my guess is, if it truly worked, you probably wouldn't be here with me today.

Likely, you're looking for another option.

What I haven't talked about as much yet is, should I just let them eat what makes them happy?

Do I totally remove that pressure, stop trying new foods, and just let them be?

Well, to be honest, I don't love that either.

Here's why.

If your child is never introduced to new foods, if it's not on their plate, if they don't see it, if they don't have the opportunities to explore it, how are they ever going to learn to eat it?

It takes the brain about 20 tastes to actually and truly know if we like a food.

To be quite honest, the research is kind of all over the place with exactly how many times, so the field has accepted about 20 as the norm.

Now, if that food is never on the plate or never introduced, they'll never even get the opportunity to try it 20 times.

Additionally, something I found that's really interesting is that many children with feeding difficulties can't identify or even recognize many foods because they've never experienced them themselves.

So if we're just waiting and waiting for them to miraculously say they want to try this new food and they don't even know what that new food is, we're probably gonna be waiting a very long time.

As humans, we biologically are programmed to avoid things that are unpleasant or challenging.

So most often, kids will just happily go on eating the same four to five foods that feel good in their body until one day, their brain gets bored of eating the same food day in and day out and they drop it entirely.

This then leaves us without another food to replace it.

Yikes.

You may have even seen this happen in the past.

So if we're not forcing them and we're not removing it entirely, what do we do?

Well, there's a middle ground and it's called exploring.

It's helping kids learn about food in a non-pressure and fun way.

We introduce foods repeatedly, way more than the normal three to five times that a parent typically introduces a food before giving up on it.

And we help kids learn about them both at and away from the table so they can become more confident and comfortable with it.

We start looking at it, interacting with, touching the food, and making our way up to kissing it, licking it, and biting it, all in fun and innovative ways.

We adopt a food exploration lifestyle and help your child create their own love of food and food exploration.

And this works.

It's exactly what I teach in the Food Explorers membership.

In fact, I have a story for you.

I recently had a new parent join the membership.

And on day one, she went back and immediately started applying some new techniques.

She focused on fun, interaction, and learning about new foods.

And her child responded to her excitement and non-pressure method with licking the new food, putting it in their mouth, spitting it out, and the next day, even chewing and swallowing an entirely different food.

By the way, spitting out food is an excellent developmental step and something we teach often for safety.

So did her child chew and swallow all the food?

No, but that's okay.

He had his first really positive interactions with a bunch of new foods and made the decisions himself to taste, lick, and swallow the ones he felt ready for.

From here, we continue to introduce it in new ways or even the same ways, and continue to build up this positive association with it.

We're playing the long game here, and the end goal is always a positive and happy relationship with food overall.

If this sounds like what you're looking for, I invite you to join us in the Food Explorers membership today.

Go to www.drsamgoldman.com/fooddashexplorers dash membership and join the fun.

I can't wait to meet you.