I've followed dietitian Caitlin Kiarie for a few years now and she is so knowledgeable about child feeding practices. What's more? She shares SO. MUCH. of this knowledge completely for free on her social channels. Give her a follow (all social channels linked at the bottom of this article), or better yet, take one of her workshops and be ready to have your entire food philosophy upturned in a good way.
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I’ve been a follower of yours for a while so I’m pretty familiar with your child feeding philosophy but for those who haven’t been following along, can you give a simple breakdown?
A major influence in my approach to feeding kids is from Ellyn Satter’s “Division of Responsiblity” which suggests that the parent be responsible for deciding what to serve, where to eat, and when while the child is in control over how much they eat and whether they eat at all. In addition, I often try to guide parents to find the deeper meaning behind what might be causing their own triggers when their child isn’t meeting the parents' expectations of eating. For both the kids and the parents, it's not usually just about the food.
What is your career background and what led you to becoming a childhood feeding expert, specifically?
I became a dietitian in 2006 and have always had a strong interest in working with mothers and children, however, I started my career working in a hospital setting with a predominantly adult patient population to gain the necessary foundation to begin my practice. Becoming a mother myself, it was so clear that fellow parents were struggling with so much unnecessary anxiety when it came to feeding themselves and/or their kids and I knew I could help take that away. That is when I felt motivated to niche down to serve a population that I could personally relate to, and one that had the health of the future in its hands!
What is the most rewarding part of your business?
Every time a parent says “it worked”! It could be finally getting the courage and education to feed their baby “Baby Led Weaning" style or the picky eater parent who says their kid just ate a new food, or the “AHA moment” when a parent realizes it was their own relationship with food that needed tweaking and is finally living a diet free life! I love knowing that when my clients follow my advice, they actually get the results and together we are creating a healthier generation!
What is the most difficult kind of childhood feeding issue to deal with?
ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder) is an eating disorder that is becoming more frequent in my clientele and it’s difficult because, like all other eating disorders, it has a deep level of anxiety at its core and requires a multidisciplinary team to reach their goals.
I know you advocate for giving all foods the same “value” to kids so they develop healthy attitudes about food and I LOVE this concept but my one question about it that has plagued me for some time is this... Say I fill my child’s plate with chicken, some peas, strawberries, some pasta, and a dessert. They immediately eat all of the strawberries, pasta, dessert, some of the chicken, and then ask for more strawberries -- peas and chicken still left on plate. Do I give them more of something that has been depleted? I really don’t like saying “eat your _____ and then you can have more _____” but in situations like this it’s really hard!
Indeed it IS VERY HARD but since the child is responsible for “how much," you would in this example allow them more strawberries even though they haven’t touched their peas or chicken. As adults we have become very focused on protein needs and often worry our children aren’t getting enough but for most children they are meeting that requirement without issue so we need not push the protein sources so much at dinner. Also, keep in mind that many fruits contain the same nutrients as vegetables so a child who is eating a large variety of fruit throughout the day is not deficient nutritionally from a lack of veggie intake. If we push them to eat a certain food on their plate before they are allowed more of another type of food, we are essentially creating more desire for the food you aren’t allowing more of, AND creating less interest in the one you are pushing them to eat. In the end, they eat less of the foods you’d like them to eat.
How do you deal with food waste when kids decide they don’t want to eat most of or any of what was served? I would love to serve the exact meals to my children but I KNOW they would waste a lot of what I served and the thought of throwing away all that food is what causes me to not even try to serve them the same meals that I make for myself and my husband.
My advice is to always have similar meals for adults and children within the family, even if the food is served slightly differently. For example, separate out foods that the adults might eat combined or layered like tacos or burgers or even pasta with a separate sauce on the side. It’s recommended to keep your young children in mind when serving the food without actually catering to their preferred foods. Someone doesn’t like cheese melted, serve it cold but don’t avoid making the foods you as the parent enjoy! My personal motto is “kids can’t eat what you don’t serve them."
How do you deal with kids asking for snacks between meals if they didn’t eat any of their meal?
Most young children require snacks between meals. Ideally every 3-4 hours should be a snack or meal for kids 5 and up; younger than that they might need a snack or meal every 2-3 hours.
With back to school upon us, what are your best lunch-packing hacks?
The most important things to keep in mind are to get creative, have fun with it, think outside the box, and try out new foods at home before throwing them into the lunchbox. Offering familiar foods alongside new foods will help them to accept and potentially try the unfamiliar items. I also have a blog post that highlights the best things to avoid when packing a lunch. If you want to dive deep into some lunch packing hacks, I have a lunchbox workshop coming up on October 8th at 7:30pm in Montclair.
What’s your go-to dinner recipe once school starts back up and the days get more chaotic?
That's a hard question because I don’t really have one solid “go-to” but I will say that I absolutely love tacos and they are so easy and customizable that typically when I don’t have the time or energy to do something different, I create some kind of version of a taco! Perhaps that’s my years living in SoCal coming back to me but I adore Mexican food!
If you were to ask my kids, their favorite quick go-to would be “breakfast for dinner;" specifically eggs in a basket which they can now make themselves. #momwin
How can people learn more about your philosophy, get in touch with you, or follow along on social? Upcoming workshops?
A few upcoming workshops:
- "Intuitive Eating" workshop: a workshop for parents to reflect on their own relationship with food, at 7:30pm on September 26.
- "Back to School Lunch Packing" workshop: lunch packing hacks, at 7:30pm on October 8.
- "How to Get your Kid to Eat" workshop: my ever-popular workshop about, you guessed it, how to get your kid to eat, at 2pm on October 26.
To get in touch with me directly, I can be reached at Caitlin@momntotnutrition.com and for more tips and strategies on feeding kids, my social media is the best way to hear more.
Instagram: @momntotnutrition and Facebook
When we know better, we do better!
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