01/16/2020
instagram.com/kidfriendly.meals
Did you know that all of these count as EXPOSURE? 💥
In my stories last night, I shared how C refused to eat his 🥦, and I got a TON of questions about how I deal with this. So I thought I'd reshare this post!
➡️ Even when the food gets ignored, simply seeing it takes the newness out. The next time they see it, they’ll go, “ooh! I know you!” Now, it may continue to get ignored for awhile, but if you stop offering, then you’ll miss that chance of when they do decide to give it a try⠀
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➡️Playing - touching, smelling, tearing it apart, crushing, throwing…you get the idea. So frustrating to see as parents (don’t let them sense this!) but this is actually really great stuff! Let them explore till their hearts’ content!⠀
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➡️ Tasting - kissing, licking, putting on the tongue, spitting it out…the tongue has the tastebuds so even though food doesn’t get eaten, your child still got exposure to the flavor. That’s HUGE! 🙌 Repeated flavor experiences help promote the willingness to eat a variety of foods⠀
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➡️ Eating - involves chewing and actually swallowing. Hallelujah! the food finally makes it into the belly. For those of you who are just beginning their journey, C didn't eat much of anything until about 2.5 weeks into starting. And this is quite normal and to be expected. But he was doing a lot of tasting! So don’t be too concerned and continue to provide plenty of opportunities for them to explore food!⠀
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❤️To sum, yes the end goal is for the child to actually eat the food but don’t rush the process! Food left on the plate is NOT wasted. All of these scenarios count as exposure, and you’re WINNING with every.single.one of them. Would you tag a mom who might find this helpful?⠀
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