Transcript
Speaker: There's no right way to do it. Oh, we're going to get into it. What up moms? My name is Candice and I am here with my best friend Whitney and a very special guest today.
Speaker: We are joined by Megan McNamee, the co-founder of the wildly popular Feeding Littles platform. um You guys have earned hundreds of thousands of followers and have helped so many families raise confident eaters. We are so, so excited to have you here. So welcome, Megan.
Speaker: Thank you. Thank you for having me. It's nice to be here. Okay, so when I was doing my research and prep for this episode, you had, i feel like, one of the most impressive bios I've ever seen. There were so many letters and so many like
Speaker: so many certificates of, I just, so we need a full rundown. like Give us the whole spiel of your ah background and qualifications, and then we'd love to hear a little bit of just who you are personally, your kids, your family, cetera.
Speaker: Sure. So um thank you. um I'm a dietitian, registered dietitian, nutritionist. um I also have my master's in public health nutrition, and I'm a certified intuitive eating counselor. I've worked in the field my whole career, even before um I was an official dietitian. I've always worked with kids and moms and in the nutrition world.
Speaker: um And now I run Feeding Littles. My business partner retired last year. So it's just me now and my team. Oh, wow. didn't know that. okay Yep. And so um thank you. Yeah. so um we help parents start solid foods, offer, you know, offer foods to pick your eaters and toddlers, which can be really challenging, kind of navigating school lunch and the whole school experience. We help as they get older with sports nutrition and all that, all the way through age 10 and beyond. So my own kids are 12 and nine. They're about to start seventh and fourth grade, which is very strange to me because I remember sitting in your shoes and being like,
Speaker: oh, I can't identify. She can't identify to what I'm going through because her kids are so much older and it's so different now. But the thing that's really interesting for my job is that I stay in the toddler baby world forever and always.
Speaker: So I have like really weird identity issues because I don't know about it. It's like a... preteen parent and I'm like, well, no, my kids are little just because that's what I do all day long. And so that's been really strange. I think the biggest like tragedy of my life is the thought that I only have six more years at home with my oldest. Like i can't even, I can't even. Yeah.
Speaker: We've talked about that before. We were like, you know how they say you only have 18 summers. I was like, I still hang out with my mom and I'm 34. So I think we're good. I think we're good. it's just the magic of them at home.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. You guys, I'm going to start crying. Like I can't. Oh no, not yet. We're only two minutes into this. I cried every time I sized up their newborn clothes. Like I'm this and I'm like, so anyway, I, um, there are two girls. I know everyone's probably listening that maybe if anyone has teenagers, they're probably like, Oh yeah, you just wait. You're not going to be crying when you, in a few years. relationship. Now i hate that whole just wait mentality because yeah there's challenges in every stage that you're in. Right.
Speaker: um Right now we're kind of in a sweet spot. And so it's been really fun to watch them grow and thrive and become the people they're they're becoming. And you I look back at when they were little and I'm like, oh, God, that felt so big in the moment. Like potty training, you know, the fact that my oldest didn't want to get dressed to go to preschool. Like that was a huge drama for a while. I literally dropped her off.
Speaker: with very few clothes on one time. because I put a out i like literally was like, please help. And they you know got out for me. like All of that felt so hard and big and like none of that is a problem anymore.
Speaker: I know. I actually love that we're getting your perspective because you've been through it and you know that there is like light at the end of the tunnel, yeah especially like with our first, because my first is and still is very picky.
Speaker: But my second, she kind of tries everything. So I'm like, all right, it's just like who they are as a person. And one day they will eventually try something. So I'm glad that we Have your thoughts and opinions to talk to everybody on here just because i know that we're all we've all gone through it or will go through it at some point.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. So um I live in Arizona. For anyone interested, my husband and I are college sweethearts. We met at a frat party when I was 19 and he was 20. Very classy. was dancing. You just throw a little spice in here. You belong here. Honestly, if you've listened to any of our, we have like a whole, we both went to University of Alabama and went to college together yeah and ah met from rushing the same sorority. And so we- ah uh cap alpha theta no i like omega nice hi ladies yes yeah so ah there's lots of um frat stories drunken stories laced into the lore of this podcast and so i i met my husband in college and so candace was like my fun story time yeah yeah i yeah I was the one who produced all the stories. And I jumped in her bed in the morning and I was like, what happened last night? What did you do? What was going up Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker: Oh, gosh. okay And telling somebody that they can't put a Lego in their mouth. like Yeah. Times have changed. Times have seriously changed. Oh, my gosh.
Speaker: Well, I'd love to hear a little bit of the background of Feeding Littles. I'm pretty sure everyone that is listening to this already follows Feeding Littles. I feel like we, I mean, the reason this podcast started was we wanted to bring all of the conversations that we were having inside of our mom group chat, like to the public and just to a wider audience. And I feel like people sending the feeding littles content and the stuff you guys have been posting on Instagram for years, like it is, was constantly sent in all of our group chats and due date groups and all of that. But I'd love to hear a little bit of the history of why you guys started kind of what sparked that. Was it your own kids?
Speaker: I'd love to hear a little. Thank you. Um, It's so weird now because it's been 10 years. we just celebrated this, which is like and like, again, I'm like, I'm very weirded out by time right now. I'm like, how is this so fast? I don't understand it anymore.
Speaker: um So um when my, I was laid off when I was 37 weeks pregnant from my job in medical device. oh my gosh. um Which was a weird place for me to be as a dietician, but um I didn't know what to do. i was like, what how am I going to get a job at 37 weeks pregnant, right?
Speaker: And then I got in a car accident on my due date.
Speaker: And then that sent me to the hospital right away. I almost had to deliver my baby, but then she was fine. And we kind of waited a little bit longer. and because insurance companies are so freaked out about moms when they get in a car accident, you know, pregnant women as they should be.
Speaker: They gave me this somewhat decent settlement, like please don't sue us kind of thing. And right allowed me to stay at home after she was born instead of having to go to back. I would have had to go back to work at six weeks, which is awful. yeah And um i I started kind of,
Speaker: getting really involved in mom groups locally and going to mom group in downtown Phoenix here. And they started saying, you know, we have classes here, but we don't have anything about nutrition. Would you like to teach a class on prenatal nutrition? And so I started teaching that.
Speaker: And then they said, well, we're hearing about this thing, baby led weaning. It's super popular in Europe. You want to teach on that? And I said, well, I'm not going to teach about something I've never even done with my own kid before. Like I've, you know, I can teach infant nutrition, but I have no idea what this is.
Speaker: So I did huge deep dive. This was again, this was 12 years ago. There's nothing. Nobody was doing this. Um, yeah baby blood weaning was not a thing. And so I started kind of researching it, doing it with my own daughter, excuse me, i'm like coming off of a summer cold and it's like, it sneaks up on me when you don't expect it.
Speaker: I started doing it with my own daughter and, um, I loved it. And my mom was like, my parents were like, we trust that you know what you're doing with your kid, but we are not comfortable with it. So we're just not going to feed her anything. And I was like, that's not sustainable. You're going to actually feed her.
Speaker: And so right after we started solid foods, we went on a trip with together and they were there and they watched her feed herself. And they were like, this is amazing to the point where they started walking up to random strangers with babies and telling them that they needed to do baby led weaning. And they were like, what is that? And I'm like,
Speaker: and So anyway, it was something that was really exciting for us. And I started teaching classes on it locally every month. And then um I started a Facebook group and I just called it feeding littles. I don't even know why.
Speaker: i just, i was like, Oh, that's what it, that's just what it should be. And those kids all turned one and then one and a half and two. And then everyone was like, now what do we do?
Speaker: was no, I know what to, what they should be eating, but I don't really know how to, get them to eat it And so a good friend of mine was back in Colorado visiting her feeding therapist and friend, Judy.
Speaker: Judy had treated her son when he was alive and he had passed away from SMA, which was at the time a terminal condition. There were no treatments or cures for it. And she was his feeding therapist. So um Judy, she said, you need to meet this woman.
Speaker: you know And it was all because of this little angel baby named Jack that we got connected. And so and I started, I was just gonna consult with her to write a course. And she's like, why don't we do it together?
Speaker: I'm just really, i would have owed her so much money if I, oh my God, I can't even imagine if I just had pay her to consult or something. It literally took 10 months to write it. It was like, or maybe 16, it was insane. It was such a long process.
Speaker: And um we did it together. And then we were like, we you know put it out there and a huge percentage of our Facebook group bought it And we're like, this is easy. We could sell courses. And then one person bought it the next week. And then the next week, one person bought it. And we were like, we don't know what we're doing. And so we realized that we had to start getting on Instagram and promoting it and building our audience.
Speaker: And we had no strategy. We had no idea what we were doing. We just posted. And now like I look back and I'm like, woof. Like some of the content was most of the content was awful, but and we just. Everyone looks back at their old Instagrams and think, that's tragic. So relatable.
Speaker: Yeah. So we just grew and grew and grew. And then we we took my ah my in-person infant course and we turned it into an online toddler course. I'm sorry. We turned it to an online infant course. So then we had our infant course and our toddler course online.
Speaker: And then um in 2022, or no, 2021, we launched a cookbook. And in 2023, we launched a lunchbox book. I'm sorry, 2024. Now, like like I said, dates are just not working with you. Yeah, yeah. launched two books. And they've done really well, thankfully. And they've been something that I think a lot of people really want because they're realistic and they're relatable Our lunchbox book doesn't even have recipes in it.
Speaker: And people will say like, well, what about a chicken salad recipe? And we're like, well, the whole point is you could literally buy the chicken salad. Or if you want to make it from scratch, there's 5 million recipes online. You don't need us to give But what we're giving are visual inspirations for what to do for lunch. So Judy retired last year, but we still, we're still close. We still stay in touch. She takes takes my bar class every week. And,
Speaker: um Yeah, it's just, it's cool to um kind of see this like long-term project that we had no idea how it would start what it would become. Or we've gotten to do so many cool things. Like I would have never done had it not happened like this. And I feel like, you know, God, the universe was telling me a long time ago, you need to stop working at this job.
Speaker: And I didn't listen. And I but like got fired. And then like the car happened. It was like, I was being aligned in a direction that I wasn't even expecting or ready for.
Speaker: And everything kind of led me up to that point. And I just, I'm very grateful to be like living out too what I know is my like true life's path. Um, it doesn't make it, yeah, it doesn't make it interesting. It's really interesting.
Speaker: Yeah. That you weren't even in this line of work. And so were you very much into nutrition for yourself before kids or did this all happen after?
Speaker: So I'd always worked in the nutrition field, even with like when I worked at the medical device company, I was doing wellness and like education. um But because it was a tiny, teeny, tiny company, they like they ran out of money and they had to like fire most of us on January 1st. It sucked.
Speaker: And there was no recourse because we were so little. There were no like protections for us. Yeah. So I'd always worked in nutrition. I had worked for the WIC program before when I was out of college. I'd always worked in hospitals and various settings, and I'd always done private practice on the side.
Speaker: So I'd always had like 20 jobs at the same time. so you know, the whole juggling a lot of hats has kind of come naturally to me. But um yeah, sometimes when look back at it, I'm like, a lot of people don't get the blessing and benefit of doing what they know they're absolutely meant to do ever in their life.
Speaker: And they feel like they're always searching and they can't figure it out. And I, sometimes when I get frustrated or, or, you know, this is hard or like internet trolls suck or whatever, that I'm like, but I get to do really what I know I'm meant to do. And I was built for this.
Speaker: And so I kind of have to just let that part go. Yeah. And I can speak for everyone by saying, like, as someone who struggles with feeding their children, like, yeah you are a blessing to us, like, for real.
Speaker: it's So I was going to say to you that one of our most – I think it's in the top five most listened – of our past episodes. And it is our first episode about feeding baby, which was like what episode five or six.
Speaker: It was like one of the first things we talked about. Cause when we started this podcast, we had what one year olds, like we were, we were just in that like first stages of eating and, um,
Speaker: it was such a stressor for us and something that was like so overwhelming. and And that episode, if you want to go back and listen to it, it is so hilarious, but I can tell you right now it is not educational by any means. It is us just bitching for three hours, like, and just commiserating together about like how hard it is and how confused we are and how, you know, our kid likes one thing one day and then the next day doesn't want it. And,
Speaker: ah You know, they're in they realize that throwing yogurt on the floor sounds funny. So now they're doing that constantly. And like, so it's and still to this day, one of the most asked questions in our DMs is like people asking us about feeding and food and all of that. So.
Speaker: Um, your profile is some, somewhere we send people. We're always like, Oh, you know, go check out here. They have a lot of great information and a lot of great resources, but I'd love to like, if you had to give moms like a feeding pep talk of like, it's okay.
Speaker: Yes. That's like what I would like from you. and start with that I think the internet makes us feel like it is solely our responsibility to make our children healthy, adventurous, completely non-picky, wonderful, well-behaved eaters.
Speaker: And it falls on the lawn.
Speaker: and Amen. And I'm not saying that this is right. I'm just saying this is how we feel. Right. When we use this analogy often. If your child is struggling to see, you take them to the eye doctor.
Speaker: If they can't move, you take them to a physician or a physical therapist or an OT. If they can't eat, it's your fault. Like what? That doesn't make any sense.
Speaker: yeah Eating is complicated. It's multifactorial. It's more than just open your mouth, insert food. It's experiential, sensory, behavioral.
Speaker: There's so much that happens in that oral motor experience and like how your kids feel the food in their mouth and chew and swallow. And we take it on as this like personal, either source of pride or source of shame when doesn't go well.
Speaker: Most toddlers do not eat a huge wide variety of food. A lot of toddlers exist on beige foods, fruits, and dairy. And guess what? They're probably meeting their nutrient needs, except for maybe vitamin D, but I would say that for any toddler.
Speaker: most vitamin Most toddlers and kids need to be supplemented with vitamin D because most of us are not eating enough foods to get enough vitamin D. Other than that, Our kids are most likely getting the nutrition that they need through the foods, the limited amount of foods that they're eating.
Speaker: And when we insert ourselves and push and pressure and take it on our own as our own problem to make them eat, we are causing, unfortunately, more issues in the end because kids want to be autonomous. They want control. And food is one of the only things they have control over in their day. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: We wake them up at a certain time. We put them in bed at a certain time. They have to go, you know, take a nap. They have to go to school. They have to go to, you know, go to the doctor, all these things that they don't want to do And when it comes to eating, it's the one thing that they can control.
Speaker: And when we try to take that power back and take it on as our own, we will have war. And it might work for a little bit. Long-term, the more we fight and the harder mealtime becomes,
Speaker: the worse it's gonna get. Your kid will resist putting things in their mouth. They won't feel safe to explore because they don't feel autonomous. And
Speaker: I know that the shame starts to creep in here, right? Where parents are like, oh, I'm doing this. This is where I messed up and i it's all my fault. No. How would you know otherwise? Because your parents probably told you clean your plate because they're starving children in some other country.
Speaker: Literally. And it worked. 90s babies. 90s babies, right? I always was like, well, how's that my fault? Like, how's this food? Are we sending this food to them? Yeah. it So, you know, we we didn't, we but they were doing it because they didn't know any different either.
Speaker: Yeah. and nobody really has taught us how to feed our kids in a way that honors their own autonomy and still allows them get the nutrients that they need.
Speaker: You know, a lot of times too, we forget like we're 90s. You guys are a little bit younger than me, but like probably a lot younger than me. we're We did not eat that well in the 90s. Oh my God. I used to- talking about I used the cereals recently. We were like Reese's Buffs for breakfast. no, no.
Speaker: I think mine takes the cake. Like my dad used to give us Mountain Dew on the way to school. Like I drank Mountain Dew on the way to school. One way to get it going, you know, just going for the morning. I'm like, I turned out okay.
Speaker: That's awesome. But that's scary. Okay. Like that's the thing, you know, and I, every time I talk about this, people are like, well, men, we have health issues and men are not well I get it. Like we, we, we probably needed to eat better than we did in the nineties, but we are, are. And, um, I think that like the rise of like healthism and wellness 100% in our control, which it's not, but we that's the message we're given.
Speaker: I feel like that makes us think that we can control this and that we should control this. And I read something interesting recently that basically said that we're a lot of people's postpartum anxiety is being like, and and body dysmorphia and issues with their own self is being channeled into how the perfectionism with which they approach feeding their baby.
Speaker: yeah And I think, unfortunately, baby led weaning exploding online has kind of made that worse. And that's kind of what frustrates me about so much the messaging about it.
Speaker: I actually, people are like, oh you love baby led weaning? I'm like, yes, but probably not in the way you think it is. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's so pressure-based and nutrient scores. And this is you know how you should do it. And these foods are the only foods they should get. And like you should be giving liver and all these things that people don't usually eat. like It just makes people feel like they have to you know serve a certain amount of foods before one. like that There's so much pressure on moms. yeah And take it on. Dads oftentimes don't take on that pressure.
Speaker: yeah That we feel like if we don't do it 100% right, if our kid then is picky, it is our fault. Yeah. It's so comparative to just seeing everything online. And we were also saying like anything with baby, it's almost information overload. Like there's a product for everything.
Speaker: I call them crutches, like pacifiers, even though my kid took them, but it's just like, there's just so much and you want to do everything right. So. Well, are it's all conflicting then. And that's, you know, that's what's challenging. Like,
Speaker: you read something and then you read the exact opposite the next day and you don't really know who to trust or what to do. and And we were not designed to have this much information given to us. Like we learned from our peers, we learned from our peers, but even, you know, 50 years ago, you couldn't text somebody in the middle of the night.
Speaker: You couldn't Google that one weird thing and get 50,000 really scary. warourists Yeah. So like, I just, I feel like it's, so my, my message really is we have to chill out around food. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: I'm so glad you said that. I feel like I came to that realization at some point. I think, you know, Candace, we were like putting a lot of pressure on ourselves and doing the comparative thing where like people are plating these beautiful toddler meals. And I was like, my child would never eat that. And then at one point I just was like, I'm just going to let him eat what he wants for now.
Speaker: And then it changed. And now that he's almost four, he's still picky, but a little more outgoing and he's doing it on his own. so yeah. I finally just was like, let it go. Yeah, exactly. And that's the thing that it kind of, I think it surprises people. They're like, well, do you let your kids eat sugar? i'm like, yeah, because sugar is delicious.
Speaker: And if I didn't, guess what they would do? i mean, we're around families that are extraordinarily strict about food, not in my close circle. and i see it. Like they've these kids have been to my house.
Speaker: They binge. Yeah. They binge. So true. All they're eating. We go on you know, sports trips and they're filling up. whipped cream, cups full of whipped cream, like for breakfast, because it feels so off limits.
Speaker: And, and it's one of those things. I read a quote recently. don't remember where it's from, but it was like, I would rather my child eat more than I would the ideal amount of sugar and have a really messed up relationship with it.
Speaker: Like it's not, of course, like we want our kids to eat well and to love all their vegetables and to not eat too tons of sugar and all these things. But yeah, We also have to protect the fact that eating is emotional and psychological. And if we, again, if we control it too much or we we make things too off limits or we try to have a tight grip around it, we're actually going to make it worse.
Speaker: Yeah. Like how do we want our kids to feel about it when they sit down at the dinner table? I guess I'll ask you guys that. Like how do you want your kids in 10 years to feel about dinner? Yeah.
Speaker: it If you were to ask me, like I want it to feel – like the first word that comes to my mind is like comfortable and like a place that feels like they can share. And like, I, I think about what dinners were like for me growing up, which I grew up with parents who were like, clearly, i mean, I had Mountain Dew on the way to school. They were not strict about food and they definitely like we had vegetables and they offered, but we sat down for family dinner.
Speaker: I would say five nights out of seven. Like we, And it was a place that I felt like I could come to to, like, share my day and ask questions and laugh. And, like, I wasn't really thinking about what I'm eating or not eating. Right. and um And now I don't think I've ever really, like, deeply thought about that until right this moment. But that's such a special, like, thing that I was given as a child is, like, the comfortability around, like, being at that dinner table. Like, I i didn't really have parents that, like –
Speaker: I mean, yes. I mean, sometimes they would be like, oh finish your food. But I was never like they were never the type that was like, you can't get up until your plate is clean type people. that's like what I want for my I have two girls also, too, which is also i think something I think about a lot is being a woman and all of the body image and like, you know, already like existing culture of what it's like to be a woman and food and body image as being a woman, like how do I like build them this foundation that is just like food is food.
Speaker: We need it to, we need it to live. We need it to survive. So I just want them to feel comfortable. Yeah. Yeah. Totally agree. I was going to say easy to the point where I'm not making,
Speaker: 10 different meals for each kid because of their dietary preferences. Like I want it to be a spot where we're all just come and sit and everyone's just happy to be there. yeah And no one's like, I, but I wanted this tonight or I wanted that. Like, yes, your, your opinions appreciated, but like, let's just be happy and have a dinner together type situation.
Speaker: Right. And I think, That's, you know, so most people never stop to think about this, but when you actually allow yourself a few minutes to envision what you want it to be like, because I'm actually living that out right now. I am living out what it is to have older kids and, you know, 12 and nine.
Speaker: What is dinner like in our home? And I get that everyone's personalities are different and girls are a little different than boys and I get that. But like, it's a sacred time for us. We know that we don't have screens on. we Unless sometimes we watch a movie. Yeah, we watch a movie and eat pizza sometimes too. But for the most part, we're together. We turn on you know something on Alexa. We have, um you know, everyone helps.
Speaker: Not everyone loves everything that's eaten, but they know't they don't say anything. If they'll ask, you know, do you like that? or Are you into that right now? And they'll say, not for me. It's not, you know, not my thing right now. But there's ah options in case it's not their thing. You know, you kind get to know your kids well enough to know ah as they get older, they like, okay, this isn't really theirs, but I make sure I have some fruit, some rice, whatever on the plate that they like.
Speaker: Um, and it's, it's, it's a positive experience. Like we talk, we, we play games where we, we go around and, you know, say our highs and our lows and that kind of thing. And it's a great thing for them to look forward to. They look forward to coming to the table because they know they will be comfortable.
Speaker: They will be at ease. They will be welcomed. It's not a stare down It's not a battle. I'm not, it's not me versus them. It's us celebrating our day together. And they like one time we're all really sitting together and talking. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. And that's, that's what you're working for or toward when you're, They have the millionth time. And you're asking them to come back and sit again.
Speaker: Or they won't sit on anywhere except your lap and eat on your plate. Oh, gosh. I'm in that right now. It's so annoying. It's so annoying. But if you can keep... Like the future in mind, what are you working toward?
Speaker: What are you working toward? You want it to be something that everyone looks forward to coming to. You want it to be a positive experience. It doesn't need to be perfect. It doesn't need to be this. It can be a McDonald's, like whatever.
Speaker: It just, we just want it to be a positive experience and you will get there one day. It's just, yeah it's just rough at the beginning. Yeah. So talk us through that a little bit. If that's the end goal, this is our end goal of like, we want it to feel easy. We want them to be comfortable.
Speaker: What does that look like now in this toddler phase? Sure. So that looks like trying to eat together whenever you can. We've already kind of alluded to it. It doesn't need to be like a five course meal or like even at a table. Like sometimes it could be at your counter. Sometimes it's on the floor because everyone's freaking out and you're like, we're doing carpet picnic today. i don't know. you know Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: but Eat together, even for a few minutes, even if the kids go to bed super early and you're not hungry yet, like just sit with them even as they eat and maybe have a little snack yourself. The more you can eat together, the more your kids will model your behavior.
Speaker: And so that's like key, number one thing. And people get guilty over this. Like we don't do this 100%. It doesn't need to be 100%. who Whenever you can, try to eat together. um This is one thing, like one thing that at restaurants, you know, they oftentimes bring the kids meals early.
Speaker: yeah I don't love that for my kids because I remember then they would get up and you know they want to leave and want to run around and stuff. So I would always bring them like a little snack in case they were ravenous and then say, can you make sure to bring the food all at the same time? Because I wanted that experience of us eating together.
Speaker: Um, that might not work for them, but you know, there's just, I agree. And there also, I have found in this lap sitting phase, if their food comes first, I am more likely to have a baby sitting on my lap while I'm trying to eat my meal because they're already done with theirs.
Speaker: but So yeah, it's nice that everyone can have their meal at the same yeah So eat together as much as you can. Try to minimize distractions at the table. Even your phone can be a really big distractor.
Speaker: and I'm not in any way like anti-screen. Screens are part of our lives. Like, heck, I'm taking pictures and videos sometimes at our dinner table. And then I put it away because it's really easy for kids to start to kind of associate like screen with mealtime. Now, there's there will be people listening to this that go like, my kid only eats on a screen.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. And if that's if that's where you're at and you cannot like do anything about it right now, you're not going to do anything about it right now. That's fine. If you want to do something about it, we have like a free screen weaning thing on our site that you can go find.
Speaker: um But it it can it can be like a gradual, it might take some time. yeah But when you when you were get to the point where you're everyone's used to, like the screens go off, there's no distractions, then try to treat it as a time of connection.
Speaker: It's get more verbal. This is when you can start identifying things on the plate. We would, as my kids started letter identifying, then we would have them spell out letters, green beans, or their different, you know, food on their plate.
Speaker: um And try, i guess this is tip number three, try to be, think like a kid. So if your dinner is very stuffy and boring and you know, fancy at home, it's going to be hard for your child to want to stay there very long.
Speaker: ah know that manners matter, but you can still teach manners over time and and and still emphasize like that it is important for kids to get messy with their food, that it is okay for kids to play with their food. Like this is all stuff that you can do in your home. It doesn't need it to be something that you do at grandma's house or at a restaurant because when kids interact with food and they have fun at the table,
Speaker: They're actually way more likely to eat. And it puts you in a much better so like mental space because you are acting like a kid too. So I know that that you know your kid starts to play with their like strawberry and they're like, rah rah, rah, rah. And it's so easy to be like, stop playing with their food.
Speaker: But actually, fun yeah, with their food is what's actually going to get them to eat it. That's how they get to eating it because they have to touch and interact, touch and interact with food to want to put it in their mouth.
Speaker: Food play is the basis of so much feeding there. So much of feeding therapy. Yeah. Literally what they is feeding therapy to help get them there. It's so funny that you say that because literally last night we had a tea party dinner, which I was, that was not the plan.
Speaker: sounds fun though, but really fun. ah Yeah. And we, Alice woke up from her nap and she just like was so cranky yesterday. I don't know. She was just having an off day and I could already tell the dinner was going to be of tough time. Like it was going to be tough.
Speaker: And she had talked about this tea party all day that she wanted to have. I had made brownies the day before and I said said that we could have whatever. Anyways, I was like, fine, we're just gonna have a full tea party dinner. And instead of like plating their stuff, I made this like tray for the tea party with all of our dinner items, including the brownie. And I just took the pressure off. i was like, we're going have a tea party and we're going to eat this tray of food. And I, I said to my husband, I was like, I swear they ate better tonight than they did.
Speaker: better Because a few things, if i if you want me to just like break it really fast for you, yeah novelty first and foremost, that was novel. Kids are drawn to novelty, anything new. That's why they want to eat off the toothpick at Costco, but they don't actually want you to buy four pounds of it when you get it home, right?
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. um so true Also, you you you've changed the environment and sometimes- especially in the summer and we're like getting hot and sick of all of this, we just need a little mix up, like eating in the back of the car, you know, with the, like the hatch up kind of thing, eating at a picnic table, eating on the ground, eating in the patio, whatever that really helps kind of refresh.
Speaker: our energy around, around the meal. And then also you were probably more playful and more. I was for sure. And kind of like, well, this is fun. And you're like, you know, pretending tea party too. respond to All of these things and they actually eat better when we incorporate them in some capacity, sometimes into meals.
Speaker: And it's so weird. people People are like, Oh, it's like, You know, they they they worry that if they do this, their kids aren't going to learn how to be polite eaters. You can still teach manners while having fun at the table.
Speaker: Honestly, i think that's even easier at a tea party because I'm always like, please, we had a tea. And it's like part of the skit, you know? Yeah. How do we lay our napkin on our lap? and yeah Literally. Honestly.
Speaker: but I will tell you, like, a tea party would still work for my kids now. If I said something, I'm like, let's do it I still will whip out. um I do it all the time. And sometimes they'll be like, mom, were you not really sure if we were going to eat this? And so you tried a little bit of novelty on us. Then I'm like.
Speaker: They're so smart. Me? But they'll still be like, yeah, it worked. You know, like they're, it's fun to see like the fruits of your labor once they're older. Yeah. Yeah. You just eagle don't get that for many years. Yeah. And hopefully you're getting glimpses of it. Like that's something. Yeah.
Speaker: You have to hold on to the good stuff even when you're in the midst of hard stuff. Okay. I have a question for you. So one of the things my grandmother did to me when I was younger was she had this like big jar of, um, like half dollars, which I don't even think exists anymore, but yeah back in the day, you know, those half dollar coins.
Speaker: And every time we tried a new food, I got to, you get a half dollar. so she's essentially paying me to try new foods but I swear it worked like I always tried new food and like I most of time I liked them whatever and my little my three-year-old has been kind of into coins recently my husband's like becoming a coin collector that's a story for a whole nother day but like He's like into the coins and it's gotten her into the coins.
Speaker: Is offering coins to my child for trying new foods bad? Okay. I feel like every time people ask me a question, I'm like, I have more questions or it's like there's no answer.
Speaker: In general, we don't usually recommend bribery for okay eating. Well, and really what we more recommend is not using food as the bribery. Okay.
Speaker: want to associate like you got a treat for being good. Got it. Okay. You don't get to eat something for being bad. um But I think with certain dispositions and kids that don't have like feeding issues.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, you, if you liked most of the things you ate and it was a positive experience for you. yeah That could have been a great thing for you. Right. Okay. Yeah. With really picky kid that could cause a lot of pressure.
Speaker: and like now they're choking down foods that they really don't want to eat. And it's like making it this kind of really negative experience for them. So yeah that's kind of where that line is, right? We love self-motivated to try new foods. But or finding if you found that that was like something that really worked for you, I don't know. It's so hard for me to recommend bribery. but like now i also I feel like parents know their kids better than I do. like i and and I don't know your situation as well. so We only did it once, to be fair. So we did do it once. And I offered her a coin to try a peach, which she would not touch.
Speaker: for some reason and she ate it and she liked it and then now we eat peaches so that's like my only positive I again I've only done it once and I haven't done it since and it but this whole like she wasn't like gagging on the pea you know what i'm saying like there's yeah different ways that that could go and if it was a positive thing and fun thing for you if she brings it up again then maybe try again, right?
Speaker: Yeah. It kind of is up to you. But another way you could do that without like necessarily bribing is by having a taste testing and like having different – or fruits So there's so many concepts out that we teach that you could incorporate here.
Speaker: You could have a really familiar like dip, like a yogurt dip. if I don't know if your kids like yogurt, peanut butter but as a dip. Then you could put all of these different fruits like on toothpick and be like, do you want to try, you know, we're going to try these. We're going to try these.
Speaker: See what we think about them. Is it crunchy? Is it soft? Is it sour? Is it sweet? And that's, You don't want to make them eat it, but if they're to be more likely to try it, especially if it's a teeny piece and they're you know it's um it's there's a little bit of social pressure there. I mean we don't want to bribe or we want to force them.
Speaker: If they're siblings and everyone's kind of trying it, they might be more likely to do it themselves, especially if they know they don't have to keep eating it or they could spit it out if they really hate it. And the bridge there is the the yogurt.
Speaker: It's a familiar flavor. That's genius. I think Marga would love that. And then it's like, and I know it sounds like set up a taste test sounds extremely formal. You could literally just be like in your kitchen on a cutting board and be like, I'm cutting up peaches, nectarines, and cantaloupes.
Speaker: right now want to make a fruit salad. Who wants to try these beforehand? Who wants to cut it with a little kid knife? Who wants to like stab it with a toothpick or get it with some kid tongs and dip it in the little dip?
Speaker: This might work on me. I don't know. and i don Some huge feedback that we get all the time is that people always say like, you should use this.
Speaker: Like I husband before. No, literally. He's way more than he ever has before. And it's really funny. But it works for all of us. Like I, I'm not a big fruit person. I love vegetables. I'm like way more like a savory sour girl.
Speaker: ah hu I've been like, Megan, what are you doing? Like, you really need to eat fruit that you're like missing an entire food group here. What are we doing? And this year I've started to slowly incorporate like little tastes of things and like yeah with peanut butter yogurt, you know, that's what I love. Like, and don't, what did you know? I'm eating more fruit now.
Speaker: And I'm like using the same techniques on myself. That's so funny. yeah I joke about that every year. I have a new vegetable I try every year. I'm also slightly picky, which I always like. Yeah. kind of say that's my son's issue. I'm like, it's probably me. Like I didn't push enough because I know how I felt when I was little.
Speaker: So anyway, I've been, I always joke that I try a new vegetable every year and I like it. And I'm like, I'm such an idiot. Like, why didn't I just eat all this stuff growing up?
Speaker: No. Well, but you know what? Here's the thing. You came to it. Okay. I need to be in defense of what you just said. Mm-hmm. You didn't push too much on him because you know what it felt like, but you probably would have turned him away from it if you pushed too hard.
Speaker: If he was like you and he realized like, I i don't want to eat this. want eat this. And he felt that pressure and he made himself eat it. And it was a really negative experience. Mm-hmm. He might not have ever touched it again. Yeah.
Speaker: And you also said, Whitney, just to like hype you up a little bit, in the beginning of this, you were like, he's doing – He is. He is working through this all on his own and he's doing it. So – I think you're going to help them.
Speaker: That's also something I would say to everyone listening to this is like, I feel like every time we talk about feeding and we talk to someone who like knows feeding or it's like, give yourself some grace.
Speaker: Like it's just, we're all doing our best. And like, I guarantee we're, we are doing things probably better than our parents did. Like, I mean, and that's, that's not nothing, you know?
Speaker: No. And I mean, I just remember if like, they would just be like, here's just a bologna sandwich. Here's a bologna sandwich. Oh, yeah. my God. I ate so much bologna growing up. There was no... My dad still likes it.
Speaker: and So does my mom. It's like a delicacy for him. I still like it. Yeah. I mean, I only ate apples and like, we didn't even get exposed to that many fruits growing up. Like, our kids have a whole, like, it eat the rainbow thing going on with fruit. And like, we didn't eat apples and bananas maybe oranges.
Speaker: Like, that wasn't even... an option. I don't know. i you know, it's funny because now you say, Whitney, that you um you try a new vegetable every year and you actually like them. Guess what?
Speaker: Now you have many, many more years of eating that vegetable versus trying it once when you're a kid being forced to eat it and not eating it ever again. like we all have those foods that we were made to eat that we won't touch.
Speaker: Like I'd rather you wait until you're in your thirty s and, you know, and love it versus, Never eat it ever again. You're so right. Yeah. You're like my hype girl. Thank you. Yeah.
Speaker: It really ties so closely to – so I was, like, trained in intuitive eating, and it it really, like – it ties so closely – um our our feelings of like how we feed our kids and how we feel about our bodies and how we feel about our worth as it's tied to our size and then what we eat. It's like so intricately linked.
Speaker: And I think we've been told that like, We have to care about, not only care about this, but also like have it figured out a hundred percent. And it's just, that's just not really how it works. hold This lie that like, if we just try hard enough, then this, you know, we'll have it, we'll have, it'll be perfect. And it's just really not how it works. And so I just, there's a I just want people to eat. I want people to eat and enjoy eating and like feel good in their bodies. Like that is really, it's sad that as a dietitian, like now I'm like defending eating and like, it's okay. Like there's not too much sugar in carrots. You can have carrots, you know? like i just
Speaker: It's just wild where our culture has brought us. Like we've put health and eating well on such a pedestal. That is somebody that's literally dedicated my entire life to it. I'm trying to defend almost like chilling out about it a little bit. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Totally. Yeah. I appreciate that. Well, yeah. I want to transition to your Feeding Little's Lunches book because as someone who has to pack a lunch every single day for my child, like I cannot tell you what this book meant to me when I received it. Like – I feel like there is such a big mental load when it comes to school lunches. and just you know My little one's only three. She's in like a half-day program, so she's not even in school yet.
Speaker: But I have to pack a lunch for her every day. I pick her up 1230. and I would send myself into a spiral every other week over what I was going to pack for her. I sending the same things? Is the teacher jugging ah judging me that I'm sending the same things all the time?
Speaker: Like, it's just like a constant, like mental loop of panic and stress. And when I saw this, I was so excited.
Speaker: There are so many reasons I'm excited. A, there's just so many amazing options and they're it's not like overly complicated. It's stuff that I A, already serve or maybe I have all the ingredients for, but I never really like imagine those things like being put together.
Speaker: And then the other part that made me so excited is just how visual it is. Like there is a picture on every single page of the lunch that you would pack. And I have sat with my child with this book and let her pick out things that she would like to eat. And that in itself has been so game changing for lunches.
Speaker: So I just have to like sing your praises here about this book. If you do not have this book and you are someone who has to pack lunches or not even if you have to pack a lunch every day, we all live in a world where the weekends, like we're packing it to go lunch. Like this stuff, this book is so, so helpful.
Speaker: Thank you. That's so sweet. You know, um the idea came from when we came up with our, when we launched our first book, we did a pre-order incentive and which means like pre-order the book and you get something for free before it you know comes out. And um we we gave out, we I was like, everyone's really into lunches. I always show lunches on stories.
Speaker: Let's just do like 25 lunches and description. And it was iPhone camera, like so simple, nothing. And It was the most downloaded pre-order incentive in our publisher's history.
Speaker: Wow. Wow. And they were like, and I was like, whoa, whoa. And I was like, after that, that book, I was like, I'm never doing a book again. This is really hard. i don't want to do this ever again. And then a few months later I was like, but there is this thing that I think people really want.
Speaker: And it's kind of permission to to do something easy All while incorporating new ideas people would never have thought about without recipes. And people keep calling, you know, for so long, people called it cookbook a cookbook.
Speaker: It came out last last year. And so I've now seen kind of how people have received it. And we kept saying it's not a cookbook because cookbooks are recipes. And nobody wants to make recipes for lunch when they're packing for their kids.
Speaker: I mean, maybe some people do, but they usually burn out like two weeks in. So the cool thing about this book for us has been to see how people are using it and how it's really helping picky eaters because they're visual and they can see, oh, I actually want that. I want to try that.
Speaker: um it's It has allergy modifications for every single lunch. It's allowing like my little cousin, my second cousin is four, and And every week she goes through this book with her mom and dad and she picks out, she just like, beep beep peep and you don't have to, you know, put all the same components together in a lunch.
Speaker: One thing from one or whatever. There's lists in here. We actually have a QR code that goes to all those. I don't know if you guys know that, always know that but the QR code in here goes to like um so many things, including lists that you could just have on your phone of like fruits. Oh my gosh. Amazing.
Speaker: Protein. So you could literally just bring that to the store with you. There's also in the QR code, these downloadables that um you can print and they're like, there's like nine different designs. So there's like a space one, a dinosaur, I don't know, all these different things. And then it's like my, you know, my favorite proteins, I want to try it. My fruits, I want to try my vegetables.
Speaker: because that's really how the book is set up. Every single lunch follows our lunch formula, which is a protein, a carbohydrate, a fruit, a vegetable, and then a dip, dessert, or chip, something like that.
Speaker: And it allows parents a framework in their brain to offer variety without overtly complicating things. Like you don't really need to offer an entree style food. doesn't have to be a sandwich.
Speaker: It can be some whole grain crackers, you know, cheese and... you leftover chicken and cucumbers, strawberry, and some chocolate chips.
Speaker: Like that counts as a lunch. That's nutritionally balanced. There's enough calories. There's enough, you know, energy and and also visuals. When your kid opens it up, there's enough variety.
Speaker: um And We're really, ah we are overcomplicating it. And I blame social media for that. I really do. Yeah. yeah I was going to say there, there definitely has been, there's like an uptick in like pack my, pack my kids lunch with me. And it's like these super elaborate like videos. And I, my first thought as a full-time working mom is who the F has the time. I'm sorry. That's my thought. yeah And so that's why I love this book so much because I was flipping through it and it's so simple, but yet like just sparks some new ideas. Like it just, it's like not fussy in the best way while still like making things different and fun.
Speaker: so yeah, there's I don't know. Shapes. We don't have like one one where we use a cookie cutter because we're like, okay, okay. I know we said no shape. Like you can, using a cookie cutter can make your kid eat a sandwich or whatever a little bit more. And it's probably not going to take you any more time.
Speaker: But like we don't spell things out in letters. We don't wrap things up in, there's no like garnishes and like, yeah It actually drove our photography team crazy because they wanted to like garnish like they would for a cookbook. you know And they're like, no, we're not making anything look fancy. It still needs to look appetizing and delicious, but we're not making it fancy because nobody does that.
Speaker: They don't. yeah And they don't. And and kids, I mean- What I don't want is for people to get this book and then feel so overwhelmed that they just go back to what they were doing before. Like I want it to feel like they can gradually tiptoe into like, okay, let's try this.
Speaker: mean, my kids will look through it and be like, why haven't made us this lately, huh? I'm like, well, you know, you're at the age where you can actually make it yourself. Yeah, you're like, yeah. You can make it.
Speaker: But it's, it's, it works for little kids. Like we have toddler modifications all the way through. i mean we have adults, like people in college, people that are like living, you know, the single life in their twenties that are using this to pack their own lunches. Cause they would have never thought to do some of these things.
Speaker: No, i'm I'm not kidding. if There have been multiple things in this book that I have packed for myself. Those pancake sandwiches that you do, like that's become a staple in my house of doing those little pancake Sammies with jelly in the middle.
Speaker: Or I'll put a ban i'll like mash banana in the middle. I mean, I've mixed it up. I'm like, how genius. Like it's just. Yeah. The big race in the kids' school right now, it's so funny. so One of my friends was like, yeah, everyone's really into the ravioli or the tortellini, like served cold with like a dipping sauce. Where did they get that? And I was like, hello, where do you get that?
Speaker: Because, you know, that's one of the things we show in here, like things that you don't think is so cold. can be really good cold, like leftover pizza. I literally will just cut it. Oh, it's like little bite sized triangles.
Speaker: And people don't even think like, yes, you can send that to school. Now I want to make huge caveat that people oftentimes do not realize when they're looking at this. These are also served cold with ice packs.
Speaker: So these are every single, almost every lunch in here is perishable. And anytime you serve any cut fruit or vegetable, any meat, cheese for the most part, um eggs. like Pretty much every food needs to be refrigerated that you would send to your kids' lunch.
Speaker: We do have lists of like non-perishable foods and what you could send to a field trip and stuff where there's no refrigeration or ice pack. But people always say like, oh, well, you know, I – You know, I didn't want my kid to eat. I didn't want it cold, so I just sent it like room temperature.
Speaker: It's not. supposed It's supposed to be cold. that Everything in here either is supposed to be served cold or you warm it. If you have the capacity to warm it up, you can do that. But we we want to ensure that we are safe with, you know, food safety. I know that we were served warm bologna sandwiches growing up, but...
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. That's for our, you know, our gut. I need, it do you have any, this is like such a niche question, but do you have any links to like ice packs you recommend? So I actually really like that. This is not niche. I think everyone has an issue. um I actually really like the packet bags.
Speaker: Those are the things that have the ice packs built into them. That is my favorite. It's really easy to lose those ice packs. And they so it keeps everything really, really cold. Like I'm not – have no affiliation, financial affiliation. Yeah, yeah. I wish I did because I think it's so brilliant.
Speaker: But they're just – they're smart. It's smart. You throw the whole thing in the freezer. Okay, and cool. Yeah, I like that. I need one of those for the new school year for sure. Yes, they're great.
Speaker: Well, I just can't say enough good things about it. And as we are approaching, i don't like i don't know what time – of year. I mean, I know what time of year, but I don't know when Arizona starts school, but I'm in Florida and like Alice's first day school is in a month and on August 11th. So we're approaching back to school time. And and i highly recommend getting this book, um, for back to school time and just to have on hand.
Speaker: It's been such a game changer for me who is so overwhelmed with like packing lunches and, I just want to say thank you so much for joining us today. like This has been so, so helpful.
Speaker: I feel like, would you ever be willing to come back on for like a Q&A if people were to submit specific questions? I feel like we could keep going forever. I know. i'm like there's It's funny because I'm like looking at my list of questions and I'm like, I have 20 more I didn't get to. Well, that's the problem. Whenever I do any like live talks, I'm like,
Speaker: Do we have four hours or five? Yeah, like yeah yeah, literally. go forever. everyone you know Everyone eats and everyone has issues with this. But is it okay if I just offer a few more tips about lunch? Of course.
Speaker: Of course. One of the things that i think is really helpful that people don't realize is you can pack lunch the night before. Yeah. People think like it's going to be gross or whatever because we're remembering like, you know, again, those old school lunchboxes and things that smelled and stuff like when we were little.
Speaker: But then modern lunchboxes are like they're all separated, which, you know, people think, oh, I'm not supposed to separate my kids' food that much. Well, yeah, when you serve food at home, you want to allow some of the food to touch each other.
Speaker: at school, we don't want their strawberries rolling around with their – you know, salami, right? So it's really great that these containers allow for that separation because it keeps all the food fresh and keeps it tasting good.
Speaker: And that means you can pack it the night before. And we've done tons and tons of testing with this and like like the flavor and stuff. Yes. Sometimes like the bread will get soggy if it's a really like high moisture, you know, sandwich. But you can even put like more, if you actually put a condiment on the inside of the bread, it helps, you it sounds counterintuitive. It actually really helps.
Speaker: So I just want to throw that out there because a lot of people think, Oh my gosh, I am so overwhelmed in the morning. i can't add one more thing. And now you're telling me to like, now I'm doing, you know, like sandwiches or pasta. Like, you know, the whole thing of this was to like pack it while you're already making dinner, pack it right away after like when the kitchen is already a mess.
Speaker: yeah yeah That's when you pack lunch. So you're not adding extra labor to your plate. If you were cutting up cucumbers or carrots or something for dinner, put them in the lunchbox. If you're already making pasta, put it in the lunchbox. Like it doesn't need to be this complicated thing where you're making it like so much harder.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. yeah Amazing. All right. Well, where can people find you? Where can people follow you? Give us all the, where we should go to get any resources or anything like that.
Speaker: Sure. So we're just feeding littles.com or on Instagram, mostly Instagram at feeding littles. And the book is sold at major retailers everywhere, small and large. So just where, you know, if you go to feeding littles.com, you will find them.
Speaker: Amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining us. This was so amazing. We will definitely be in touch about a part two if you're open to it. I think it'd be so fun to do kind of like an audience q and a type thing.
Speaker: um But yeah, thank you so much for joining us, Megan. Thank you. Thank you so much for being a part of our mom group chat. New episodes drop every Tuesday. And don't forget, the group chat is blowing up on our Instagram page. So make sure you're following along over there.
Speaker: All right, gotta to go. My toddler just put something in her mouth.
