Nutrition for Littles

And Easy Ways To Meet Their Needs, Even Without Meat!

A common question among parents is whether or not their children are getting enough protein. They’re worried about how much they need and all the sources they may be getting it from. Or maybe they’re nervous their child is getting too much protein!

Either way, not to worry! A simple equation and a few extra minutes will give you peace of mind in knowing your child is getting everything they need.

Finding Your Child’s Protein Needs

Protein is an essential nutrient for every human body. It’s important for many biological functions and particularly during the younger years when our children are experiencing rapid growth and development.

The general equation for establishing protein needs is to divide your child’s body weight (in pounds) by two to determine the amount of protein needed in grams. For example, if your child weighs 30 pounds, they need to eat around 15 grams of protein per day.

Now before you bust out your calculator or start tracking macros, remember this is a general rule and you don’t have to police your kid’s eating habits. Their requirements aren’t super high so you don’t need to worry, but you should be intentional. Just keep the general idea, check their labels, and offer protein at every meal and snack time.

Worried About Giving Them Too Much?

Since 15g seems like so little, maybe you’re worried you’re giving your child too much protein. It truly is extremely difficult to eat so much protein that it causes harm. Typically, your child’s body will absorb what it needs and excrete the rest!

The concern only comes in when they’re getting too much too often. Having a large amount of protein in a meal here or there is not a concern, but continuously overloading the body with protein could lead to an undue burden on the child’s organs or cause dehydration.

There are products out there that can make it easier to over-serve protein, however. I really am not a fan of protein powders and caution parents to be cognizant of adding them to meals. 

Reasons They May Need More Protein

If you have a picky eater, they likely need more protein. Picky eaters tend to be more wary of meat and prefer carbohydrate-heavy foods like bread or pasta. But it is possible to find carbs with protein, like some kinds of pasta and whole grains.

Vegetarian children, whether by your choice or theirs, likely need to increase their protein intake. Because they are not getting large amounts of easily absorbable protein from meat sources, they usually require a larger volume of food to meet the same protein levels. Vegetarian sources of protein may also be more difficult to absorb.

Non-Meat Protein Sources

Meeting your child’s protein needs really is so simple, even if they don’t like meat! My top favorite source of non-meat protein is dairy. A single cup of whole milk has 8g of protein, so two cups and you’ve met your goal (for a 30-lb child). Yogurt is also another great source of protein, but be careful to check labels, as protein and sugar content can vary drastically between brands and types!

Whole grains are another great option, though they don’t offer the same amount of protein as meat because they are a carb first and foremost. You can also supplement with legumes, lentils, and beans, all of which are a great source of fiber. Try adding nuts and seeds as well for their added fiber and healthy fats.

If you have a picky eater and you’re worried about protein intake because they simply just won’t eat, I invite you to join my Table Talk Course. There, I will help become your child’s own nutrition expert and bring joy back to mealtimes. 

Understanding your child’s individual protein needs is the first step in finding peace and easing your fears around protein. When you establish a baseline, you can identify if they need more or less. Be careful not to take a snapshot in time, rather zoom out and look at the big picture–on average, have they gotten enough protein this week or month instead of just today.

Feeding Picky kids is so hard and sometimes we can get hyper-focused, stressed out, anxious, and worried. It can start to feel really serious and scary really fast when we don’t think they’re getting enough of the right things–protein, calories, etc.

Sometimes that seriousness makes its way to the table with us like a dark cloud. To lighten the mood, here are three unique ways to get your picky eater to try something new! It will help you keep things fresh, change your perspective, and help relax your kids at the table by making it fun again.

Let Them Feed You

This will likely feel super unnatural to you, but this is often the experience our kids have when we feed them. The role reversal will make it fun and exciting for them, especially if you try foods they’re uncomfortable around–and maybe even some you’re uncomfortable with, too!

Even though we may not be picky, even adults have preferences. For example, I hate olives and mushrooms and my son loves to order them on his pizza and he thinks it’s hilarious to ask me to try them.

Sometimes I will reflect the behavior he shows me at the table, in a loving way, and using similar language. Then I overcome it by saying something like “But I can be brave and just try it” or “It’s been a while so I will try it again”. I’m verbalizing what’s going on in my head that’s leading me to choose to take a bite.

He loves the look on my face because, surprise surprise, I still hate olives.

It’s important to model the behavior we want them to show when they don’t like a certain food, so I may say something like “It’s not for me. Maybe I’ll try again another day”.

It’s also a great opportunity to show them how to try something new and overcome a food they previously didn’t like. I don’t hate mushrooms the way I used to and have found ways to incorporate them into meals. 

If you’re worried you won’t say or do the right thing, don’t let fear keep you from trying. Let them feed it to you, swallow it, then move on. It’s that simple! Typically that’s enough for them to get their gears turning.

Don’t expect it to be perfect and work the very first time, it will take time!

Make Up Stories/Characters/Identities For The Food

This can really push parents out of their comfort zone by forcing us into the pretend play area of our brain–something not often utilized in adulthood–but our children love it! Make up characters, laugh about them, make up stories, and make it fun and interactive. 

Try using things they’re interested in, too. For example, when we were expecting his little sister, we would play a game with the brussel sprouts on his plate. We would name them Mom, Dad, Big Brother, and Little Sister according to size and he had a great time calling them by name as he ate them!

It was helpful that it represented our family and he was so excited to be a big brother. We played around with it, talking back and forth, keeping it fun and exciting for him. Now he has no problems with brussel sprouts!

Come Up With A Secret Ingredient

This trick will come in handy when you serve mixed dishes like oatmeal, chili, or curry. If it’s an ingredient we can say, we might start with a game of I-Spy, letting them find and identify the green, red, or yellow food.

Then have your kids taste it and try to guess the foods they’re tasting. They will start to form that connection in their brain between taste and identifying food to help decipher what they’re eating. It will help them be more confident, especially when eating mixed foods.

It helps them refine their palates, gets them interested in what they’re eating, and helps them recognize different foods and ingredients. For example, I added honey to our curry last week and after a while, my kids were able to identify it. We made it extra fun by pulling out the honey and drizzling it on top!

Get creative with your recipes! Try starting with foods you know they like and find ways to incorporate them in a new and unique way. Don’t be afraid to get a little silly and weird, but of course, make sure it’s tasty. Start with foods they like and go from there.
Of course, it’s not always as simple as trying three weird tricks. Maybe you’re feeling completely overwhelmed and beyond repair. If you want to take back control of your mealtimes and enjoy being at the table again, you can join my TableTalk Course today. I will guide you to becoming your child’s feeding expert to help bring joy back to your table.

How Your Mindset May Be Affecting Your Child’s Eating Habits

One day, back when my son was in daycare regularly, I’d come to pick him up and watch him a few minutes before going in. I saw him putting his toys away and climbing the stool to wash his hands, able to dispense his own soap and turn the water on and off. I was awestruck! He wasn’t doing them at home and I didn’t understand why. The next time he needed to wash his hands I caught myself as I fetched the stool for him. I was the one preventing him from learning how to do it on his own. I didn’t know what he was capable of because I never gave him a chance to show me.

Sometimes, when we feel like we’ve tried everything we can to help our picky eater, the truth may be that you just need to get out of your own way. You’ve got to take your foot off the brake to keep moving forward. Making these three big mindset shifts may be the key to finally helping your picky eater once and for all.

You don’t really know how hungry they are

As parents, we can read our kids better than anyone else. We are so in tune with them and learn their little cues that express their needs. It can feel that we know them so well that of course, we would know how hungry they are. But that simply isn’t possible. We may think we can read their cues or tune into their habits well enough to know how they feel, but we aren’t inside their bodies. 

You may be able to identify when they’re super hangry, but how do you react when they tell you they’re full after a single bite? Do you accept that answer or do you feel you know better like there’s no way they’re full after one bite? Do you employ pressure techniques like bribing or begging to convince them to eat more?

Once we recognize that we can’t feel their level of hunger, we give that power back to them. From there, we can help educate them on understanding the cues their bodies are giving them, and over time they will begin to trust it more and more; like when they’ve eaten too much or too little, had too much sugar, etc.

The earlier we can communicate to them how to express their needs and understand their body’s cues, the better.

Acknowledge your expectations

When you meet your child at the table, do you walk into it with an expectation of how much they should eat, what foods they consume, or how long it should take them? Setting too high expectations will only set you both up for failure. 

When there is a gap between our expectations and our child’s “performance” at the table, we think we have to work them up to the expectation, often using pressure techniques to get them there. While it may work in the moment, over time it will lose its effectiveness and you’ll dig yourself into a deeper hole.

Shift your mindset to start recognizing the expectations you have and lowering them to a more realistic level. We’ll never be able to release all our expectations, but if you can realize when they’re too high and adjust, it can help let them feel more prepared for meal times. Instead of coming to the table with a feeling of predestined failure and being overwhelmed, they can approach it calmly and confidently.

Let go of how you were raised

Our experiences as children come up frequently as parents and our actions at the table are no different. Reflect on how you were raised and whether you are bringing those experiences to the table with your own children. In our Table Talk group, I often hear, “Well I was raised having to finish my plate” or “There are starving kids in Africa” or they were reprimanded, punished, or rewarded. 

Having kids brings up a lot of stuff as parents and when something happens, that problem feels immediate. When we aren’t sure how to address it, we often pull from our personal experiences as children instead of taking the time to navigate the possible solutions and choose the right one for that moment. Or maybe you had such a traumatic childhood experience that you have swung to the complete opposite side. Either way, you are making a decision for your child based on your personal experience.

Think about the challenge you’re facing and find different options and tools to keep in your tool belt so you can find a solution that aligns with the type of parent you want to be and the type of person you want to raise.

We grow independent eaters by being intentional with our words and actions and being consistent. Remember that you and your child are completely different people and what worked (or didn’t work) with you likely won’t work with them. 

Finding the right tools for the problem at hand can be difficult. My Table Talk Course is a self-paced picky eating course that will give you a toolbelt full of strategies to employ during your picky eating journey. We focus on mindset and high-level ideas as well as the nitty-gritty details of dealing with certain situations so that when they come up, you have a plethora of options to find the one that works for you.

When you can shift your mindset and learn to trust your child, let go of your expectations, and release your childhood experiences, you are setting your child up to be more successful at the table.

So many moms and dads reach out to me asking how they can get their kiddos to eat meat. Most people, especially Americans, have a meat-based diet and are concerned when their children don’t eat as much meat as they expect them to.

First and foremost, remember your little one doesn’t have to eat meat to eat healthy. There are many other protein sources we can add to their diet that aren’t meat-based. They can meet their protein needs, develop normally, and thrive without a meat-based diet.

However, I want to share some tips and tricks to get your child more familiar with meat so that they may eventually come to accept it as a normal part of their diet.

The Type Of Meat Matters

Adults tend to lean toward lower-fat proteins like chicken and turkey–both breasts and ground. But when we serve these cuts to our kids, they tend to be a little too dry for their palate and will be more difficult to chew and swallow, activating their gag reflex. Even up to five years old, children are learning how to chew properly and navigate food around their mouths.

Instead of lean meats, opt for sources with more moisture and higher fat content. Typically you will be safe choosing dark meat over light meat–something like the dark meat of a chicken, a roast cut, or pork.

Helpful Preparation Techniques

A whole chicken breast is going to be more difficult for a child to navigate than shredded chicken. Picky eaters usually have an easier time accepting meat when it is shredded, ground, or in a meatball shape.

Try adding sauces on the side or incorporating that sauce into your cooking. Keep it flavorful and interesting! Breading is usually well-accepted by picky eaters. Test things out and see what works for you. Then figure out how to make the meat you want them to have in a form you know they’ll accept.

Start Small

Kids need a lot less protein than you may think. A large chicken breast has 30-50 grams of protein and kids just don’t need that much in a single meal! When we keep that in mind, we can start serving meat in smaller amounts and adjust our expectations.

For example, when you make spaghetti, instead of adding one pound of ground beef per jar of sauce, use only a quarter or a half pound. Over time, add more and more meat each time you cook it, or cook the meat separately so you can decide how much each member of the family gets.

This is an introductory version of fading–slowly adding the food you want them to eat into a food they’ve already accepted–a concept we cover in depth in my Table Talk Course.

Keep It Fun

Keeping things fun and interesting at the table will help open your child up to trying new things. I’ve seen so much success in offering meat in a meatball form! 

They can use their hands, poke it with a food pick, lick it, take it apart, use tongs or utensils, or call it a lollipop! Make it out of different meats or buy them premade and pair them with various sauces. Make them in differing shapes and sizes, allowing them to pick which ones they want to eat that day.
When we find new, fun, and exciting ways to serve our kids food, they’re more likely to accept it. And while these tips work for many, they may not work for all. Maybe you feel like you’re in too deep and you’re tired of the struggles that come at dinner time. If you’re ready to take back control and become your child’s feeding expert, join my Table Talk Community. You’ll learn strategies and methods that will kick picky eating to the curb for good.

And Why It May Be Doing More Harm Than Good

If you have a picky eater at home, you’ve likely tried everything under the sun to get them to eat their dinner. Or maybe you’re trying to prevent your child from ever becoming a picky eater! We can’t control everything our kids do and we likely aren’t the cause of picky eating habits. 

However, picky opportunities pop up and you may feel like you need to come to the rescue. By doing so, you might actually be making things much worse.

Pressure Techniques

You may resort to pleading with them to just try one bite. You might guilt them by telling them how hard you worked to provide them that meal. Maybe you’re bribing them with their favorite show or dessert if they sample their broccoli. Or perhaps you’re threatening them with loss of privileges for a plate unfinished.

Actions like begging, guilting, bribing, and threatening are all pressure techniques. They will often work in the short term, but research shows that using these techniques actually makes picky eating habits worse and last longer. I get it, mama. You’re exhausted and frustrated, your relationship is suffering, and you dread going to the table. What started as a harmless tactic has now hijacked your dinner table.

If you feel like pressure techniques are the only thing that works on your child, but you’re looking for something fresh, something new, I invite you to join my Table Talk course. You will become your child’s eating expert, armed with tactics to help guide them through their picky eating phase once and for all.

Praise As Pressure

As parents, we know the importance of praising our children. They need it, deserve it, and thrive on it! As children, their hearts shine when they think they’ve made us proud. It’s a beautiful relationship that serves both parents and children.

While praise is a valuable tool for parents, it can also be a pressure technique at the table. When our picky eater takes a bite of new food and we praise them for it, we are attaching pride to the action of eating that food. And while we got the action we were hoping for (i.e. trying a bite of broccoli), there may be something deeper happening under the surface.

Underneath that surface action, they’re connecting your pride to the action of eating a portion of food they may not be comfortable with. It is at that point that it has become a pressure for them. Children crave their parents’ affirmation and love and pride and praise. So they will continue to eat that food, just waiting for the dopamine hit that will come from your verbal affirmation.

Eventually, though, we will get used to them eating their broccoli every night and stop praising them. Here we will start to see pushback from them and they’ll revert back to not eating broccoli or find a new food to refuse, in the hopes that trying it will once again bring on your praise.

As parents, we don’t want our love to be tied to the actions of our children. Our love is unconditional! Of course, we know we don’t love them more when they eat broccoli than when they don’t, but that may not be what they’re experiencing.

When To Use Praise

While I don’t recommend praise for eating certain foods, there are actions at the table that deserve it! You might praise them for sitting nicely at the table and for the entire meal time, using their utensils, or allowing a new food to be on their plate. These actions aren’t tied to food and do not hold the same pressure power.
Praise may be the sneakiest contributing factor to picky eating, as it seems harmless. Don’t worry if you’ve been praising your picky eater for trying new foods! I promise you haven’t ruined them. Just by reading this or listening to my podcast episode, you’re making progress and taking one step at a time in the right direction.