5 Ways to Make More Peace During Mealtimes

Mealtimes are often highly stressful, chaotic, and another task to complete in the lives of our busy families. Mealtimes include a lot of sounds, smells, sights, and varying perception of each of these sensory experiences. This can be overwhelming for our children that have strong responses to foods and textures. What can parents do?

Below are some strategies that can be applied to daily mealtimes starting today!

• Provide a realistic responsibility/job for the child that is related to mealtimes. Give your child a “job” that start with less food interaction to more.

  • Napkin creator/designer

  • Napkin/place setter

  • Menu maker

  • Food placer

  • Food mixer

  • Garnish placer

  • Garnish maker

  • Be creative!

• Utilize food rehearsals outside of mealtimes.

  • Rehearsals are opportunities for the child to learn and understand the properties of the textures/foods.

  • Rehearsals can include watching others eat that food, exploring that food with the sensory components that is comfortable for the child at that time, feeding others (family members, toys, siblings, etc.), being involved in making the food, etc.

• Be sure that mealtimes are an opportunity for ALL to “fuel up”. Meals are a time for all individuals to consume nutrients in a safe and comfortable way.

  • Rehearsals can be done outside of meals.

• “Parents set the menu, the child sets the pace”

  • With nutrition, development, and preferences of the family, parents can create the menu for each of the meals.

  • However, it is up to the child to interact and/or consume the food at the pace that feels right at that time. Parents can continue to provide rehearsals (examples) of exploring/eating or can continue to provide an offer of textures/food.

• Please seek out professional assistance for ongoing support. Therapists at Pediatric Interactions have been trained in Anxious Eaters, Anxious mealtimes presented by Marsha Dunn Klein (OTR/L, MED, FAOTA).

By: Gail J. Dudesek, M.S. CCC- SLP/L