Wildflower Kids

05/12/2022

One of my patient’s mom’s texted me this afternoon. Her son is almost 5 and has been working with me for almost a year now. He is nonverbal and we have been working incredibly hard on his speech and communication skills. Last night he told his mom, “I love you” for the first time! I know that means everything to this child and his family. What a joy that he is able to express his feelings to his amazing mama. Words can be so powerful. This is why I love my job so much!

02/15/2022

“Food is connection. Food is care. Food is celebration.”
I find that many of the parents I work with, whose children are very picky eaters, are constantly critical of themselves and how they feed their children. Yes, food is fuel for our bodies and we need to receive good nutrition from it regularly, but it’s also so much more than that. Food is a part of our culture and family traditions, it’s often a part of lasting memories. It is a positive thing for food to be enjoyed! Regardless of what you are feeding your babies/children, providing food is an act of love.

“...how about a cherry on top?” I asked Big M. As I said the word “cherry” I was instantly at my great grandmother's house as an 8-year-old. There was only 1 lunch on the menu at her house. A half a white bread sandwich with sugar-filled peanut butter, bright red sugary jelly, served in a re-used TV dinner tray. In the other compartments were canned pineapple and 3 maraschino cherries.⁠
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Wow, did I ever love my great grandma. ⁠
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She also served us unlimited parmesan goldfish crackers while we were tucked in in easy chairs in front of the TV for HOURS. ⁠
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Did I mention how much I loved my great grandma? ⁠
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Food is connection. Food is care. Food is celebration. ⁠
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During Valentine’s day I always remember how my mom used to buy me chocolate. It makes me smile now. ⁠
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Little traditions can make forever memories. Do you have a food “thing” with your child?⁠
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11/27/2021

Snacks...Most children would eat snacks all day if we let them. Snacks are an important part of a healthy diet and can create opportunities for your child to expand their list of accepted foods, however they can also lead to decreased appetite at meals if your child is constantly grazing because then they typically aren't very hungry at meal time. Hunger is a driving force that helps kids be more willing to try new or less preferred foods. Check out these great tips from "feeding littles" about how to make snack time work for you not against you. Happy Snacking!

Whose kid is a SNACK LOVER??? {I mean, aren’t we all?}
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Sometimes we have days where we mainly snack and graze. This can happen during times of stress, illness or when we just need one less battle in our lives.
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However, it can be really frustrating if we’re spending money - and energy - on making meals and our kids aren’t hungry for them because they’ve been snacking all day.
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If your kid is in a “snack all day, reject everything else” phase and you want to change it, here are some tips:
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1. Try to stick to a flexible routine instead of all-day grazing. When kids graze, they tend to not really feel hungry or full/satisfied. When they have more of a routine around food - like 3 meals and 2-3 snacks - they go a few hours between eating and have a chance to build up some gentle hunger. And when they’re hungry…they’re more motivated to eat a balanced meal with a few options on the plate.
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2. Sit down when possible for snacks and treat it like a mini meal. It doesn’t have to be in the high chair - but taking a break from playing to sit on a park bench, in the stroller {not reclined} or on the kitchen floor helps us enjoy the food a little more and feel satisfied from it before we move on with our day. Plus, it’s safer than running around with food.
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3. “Snack-y” foods are great, but sometimes they’re not satisfying for kids or adults and only keep hunger at bay for a little bit. Add some protein or fat to your kiddo’s snack to help them have more staying power:
- Peanut butter or sunflower seed butter with banana
- String cheese + crackers
- Freeze dried peas + veggie straws
- Mandarin orange + yogurt tube
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4. Remember that snacks can be mini “meals.” Sometimes kids are more likely to try fruits and veggies when served as a snack alongside other favorite foods. This might be because they sense less pressure at a snack or are in a better mood {aka not exhausted} when snacks are served.
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Note: we recommend starting snacks around 12 months, but a milk feed might replace a snack in young toddlers.
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If you need more help with meals, we have an affordable online course for you! Head to our link in bio for details on our Toddler/Kid Course.

08/31/2021

Feeding Littles has such wonderful feeding resources and information. This transition from baby eating everything to toddler refusing many of the “healthy” foods they previously ate (vegetables, fruits, protein) is very challenging but also very common. I would venture to say nearly all children go through this phase. Our most important job during this time, as parents, is to remember the division of responsibility.

“We decide what food is offered and when we will offer it and they get to decide what they do or don’t eat.”

So during this phase do your best to:

*Keep to your regular meal schedule, as best as possible.
*Keep offering a variety of foods, even if they refuse it for a while.
*Try to always offer at least one preferred food at each meal.
*And hang in there, most kids will work through these issues on their own and start eating more of the foods they were previously eating again, if you hold firm and keep offering a variety of foods and not making new/separate meals.

As always, if you’ve been in this refusal pattern for several months with no improvement, your child continues to drop foods without picking them back up, your child isn’t gaining weight or you just are concerned about any part of mealtime or your child’s feeding skills, please reach out! I can talk through your mealtime issues with you, determine if more time is needed or if an evaluation is appropriate.

“My baby ate everything until a certain age, and then suddenly they wanted nothing to do with all those foods.” Do you relate? Tag a friend who might be in this super fun stage 🙄
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Even though it’s frustrating when your child suddenly doesn’t eat the foods they used to love, it’s actually considered super normal. Beige, starchy foods are predictable and safe. Plus, they taste good! 🥯🥐🥨🍞Most people enjoy them. Their consistency, crunch and taste are what toddlers keep coming back to, in a world where certain foods can really surprise them.
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As parents, we start to worry. We want them to eat, of course - so we start offering only the foods we know they’ll eat. But…toddlers are notoriously unpredictable. Their “favorite” foods can change daily.
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Sure, they hated the broccoli yesterday, but today it’s a “tree” covered in “snow” (parmesan cheese). Today…broccoli is A-OK 👌
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If we don’t continue to give them a chance to like these foods without pressuring them to eat them, it can be harder for them to expand their palate eventually.
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So…don’t forget to keep serving what you’re serving the whole family. Make sure there’s one preferred, familiar food on the plate that your toddler can fill up on if they don’t like the other options, and if they want more, keep serving more if it’s available. Once kids start eating, they’re more likely to keep eating…so them eating just SOMETHING on the plate is a win.
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Stay patient. This takes time and consistency. The goal is for them to slowly start to eat a wider variety of food as they get more comfortable with it.
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Need help? Head to our online Toddler Course for tips from Judy and Megan, pediatric feeding professionals. If your child’s diet is extremely limited and it seems to be getting worse, talk to your provider about a referral to a pediatric feeding therapist.

06/30/2021

Need a quick and easy way to help your child practice their speech articulation skills? Choose 5-10 target words, that include the sound you want them to practice, and write the words on the bathroom mirror. Every time they brush their teeth, wash their hands, take a bath, etc. they can practice saying the words correctly. My daughter is working on saying /r/ correctly and she really enjoys reading the words to herself. She’s not yet reading most words, so I add pictures to help her identify them. You can change the words out every few days or as soon as they get good at saying them correctly.

06/16/2021

Here is a great way to incorporate some speech and language activities into your week, without adding an extra "job" to your to-do list.

1. Play a jumping/splashing game with your child. Pick 5-10 words that have their target sound in them. Have them say one word correctly 3-5 times before they get to jump or splash.
2. Have your child help gather all of the swimming gear they need to get to the pool and/or help put it away. You can use this to target the location/prepositions of the objects, following directions, identifying or naming the objects you need, or identifying/labeling the function of each object.
3. On your way to the pool or once you get there, discuss the environment. How does it feel outside, how does the water feel, discuss concepts such as wet and dry, hot and cold, talk about what action words (verbs) you can participate in at the pool, notice all the colors, textures, temperatures, shapes, you can see and feel.

06/04/2021

Such great advice! I don’t know about you but I definitely need these tools to help keep the peace in our home, especially on days like today. Some days with our kiddos are really tough, changing things up and/or taking a break can help so much!

Sometimes those rough days can have a snowball effect. Something annoys us, we get frustrated/lose our patience, we feel bad, another things happens, and the cycle contiues.⁣⁣

One thing I like to help the individuals I work with do is to "start over". When a day feels like it's getting away from us, we can choose to do something small to try and reset. Whether it's changing the energy with our kids, apologizing for losing our temper or just finding our own "zen" so that we can tackle the remainder of the day and find some moments of happiness, it's always worth a shot.⁣⁣

Whether you just finished breakfast or you're about to go to bed we always have an opportunity to try to start fresh and repair. It might not always work, but just trying is pretty important in and of itself.⁣⁣
How do you try and "start over" when it's been a rough day as a mom?

✨Link in bio to learn more about my offerings for parents and helping professionals.

05/28/2021

If you have a picky eater at home, I highly recommend following Kids Eat in Color. She offers wonderful ideas and advice for families to help increase nutrition of those picky little ones and make meal time a little bit less stressful!

Can kids eat too much fruit? If your child won't eat veggies, make sure and fill in some of the nutritional gaps with fruit (not fruit juice) while they are learning to like veggies. Just because fruit is sweet doesn't mean that it is the same as an added-sugar dessert. Fruit is loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. When I serve fruit, I let my kids eat their fill (unless I run out 😉). ⁠⁠
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Fruit juice is NOT a whole fruit. I recommend serving water and milk as normal beverages and serving juice only occasionally and trying to delay juice until after the age of 2. If you choose to serve juice regularly, keep it to 4 oz of fruit juice or less per day. ⁠⁠
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🥦✨Need help getting your kids to eat veggies? You can get my FREE NEW child feeding guide/picky eater guide in my bio .eat.in.color.✨🥦⁠⁠
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05/21/2021

Water beads are a great activity for kids of all ages. They are very engaging and provide so many speech/language learning and modeling opportunities. Some targets may include:
-following directions
-sorting and identifying or labeling colors
-adjectives
-prepositions
-targeting expanding language by discussing what you are doing and pairing verbs/nouns together to model phrases or building routines around longer sentences
-putting toys in the bin, that include a target sound, so you can practice proper speech articulation.

Check out this link for some different ways to engage with with water beads. https://artfulparent.com/what-to-do-with-water-beads/

05/18/2021

04/23/2021

A Flashlight Scavenger Hunt 🔦 is a really fun way to target language and speech. You can focus on articulation sounds, by hunting for things that start or end with your “target” sound. You can focus on expressive language, by hunting for things and naming them. (To do this, provide pictures of what your child is hunting for and they can name it as they find it). You can focus on receptive language by naming an object, category, or location and having them find those things or find things in those places.

04/19/2021

I am thrilled to announce that I have the opportunity to partner with We Rock The Spectrum Dallas to offer a preschool speech and social skills group!!! If you are interested in joining the group there are still some open spots!