Jenn Eggert: Hi everyone and welcome back. Ask an autism mom live. I'm Jenn Eggert of lakikid.com and you can join me every Monday at 1:00 PM eastern to share your tips and insights, meet other parents and learn tips and tricks from us and other professionals we bring on the show. On today's show, I will be talking with Jenny Freidman who is a licensed Dietitian. I want to welcome those of you watching live on Facebook and also listening to our podcast or on Youtube to get alerts to ask questions live. Type the number "5" in the comments section below. And if you're on youtube, simply hit subscribe and click the bell so that you will be subscribed to notifications of when we go live. So welcome everyone. Good morning, Jason. Crystal, good morning.

 

Jenn Eggert: So welcome everyone. If you're just joining us, you're listening to ask an autism mom show and today we're sitting down with Jennifer Freidman who is a licensed Dietitian and we will be discussing all things nutrition. I can't wait to dig into to today's topic with you, but first I want to give a huge shout out to our sponsor or sponsors, lakikid.com where you can get quality sensory products for reasonable prices. Now I want to show you our newest product. Many of you have heard me start talking about it. It's our writable weighted lap pad. You literally use a water pen and you draw on it and it shows the color. Now we have a website dedicated for this and link it is called lakikid.com/ writable you can go there for your chance to win your own when they come out on Kickstarter soon.

 

Jenn Eggert: So good morning Dina. I know you are so excited. You've missed months worth of shows live more sad that you're sick, but we're happy you're here. I know Dina, you are the one that is really looking forward to today. Hi Elizabeth. Hi Jessica. Welcome back to happy you made it today, Heather. Good afternoon, Habitat. Welcome. So Jenny Freidman is actually a registered dietician, sorry, who works with families of children with autism to resolve feeding challenges and optimize diet. A pediatric, she is a pediatric feeding and family nutrition expert. She specializes in picky eating and creating a positive nourishing relationship with food. She publishes weekly articles on her website, Jennyfreidmanutrition.com and has been featured in several major media outlets. When she's not working. You can likely find Jenny making a mess in the kitchen. Now welcome everyone. I know a lot of you are concerned about your child's nutrition. Are they eating enough are they eating the right foods are they getting what they need from a proper diet So Jenny, my first question is why is nutrition So important

 

Jenny Freidman: Well, first of all, thanks for having me and that is , that's a big question, an important question. So proper nutrition is really important for absolutely everyone, but it's extra important for somebody and especially children who have special health needs or any kind of anything out of the ordinary going on. So we know the children on the spectrum

 

Jenny Freidman: from are more likely than their non autism here is to be at a greater risk for selective eating, nutrient deficiencies, things like belly issues and just poor nutrient intake. So that makes that nutrition that they're getting extra important. They might need more of certain things and moreover, not getting the right nutrition might be extra risky. Getting the right nutrition might mean better behavior, better attention, better growth, anything that can help a child thrive, you know, it's worth it. And nutrition is a big thing that can be reviewed that

 

Jenn Eggert: Now how can I get, like I was telling Jenny before the show, I have a child, I spent two years drinking pretty much only chocolate milk and not really eating. When I have a child like that, how can I get them to eat more food

 

Jenny Freidman: That's a great question. And that is the number one question that I get from parents. It's very common for children with autism to have severely limited diets. So there are a couple of things that you can do and every child will respond differently and you know, has different needs. So it's best to address, you know, check out your child, know what works best in, kind of go from there. Beyond that, kind of the biggest thing that you should focus on is really just making very small changes at a time. It's unlikely for a child who only drink chocolate milk for example, to be like, sure, okay, I'd love to eat some Broccoli. Why not You know, why didn't I think of this before but if you can make gradual changes are gradually introduced a new food that's, you know, that increases the likelihood of a child to eat that food.

 

Jenny Freidman: It's also great to have more exposure to food. So the first time somebody, you know, a young kid meets Broccoli, it's weird. They might not want to eat it, but after they've met it for, you know, a dozen or more times and we've gotten to play with it or smell it and gotten into encounter that fluid in a different, in different environments, in different forms, it's more likely that they will be inclined to eat it. So make small changes is the big one. Try to find foods that seem similar to foods that your child likes. So chocolate milk, maybe you try strawberry milk and eventually you lead up to eating strawberries. I'm been trying to offer multiple exposures to a new food so a child can get used to it and get to know that food. Make friends.

 

Jenn Eggert: We actually, learned the funny, a funny way with Riley through her play therapist. The lick kiss tastes.

 

Jenny Freidman: I love that. Yes. That's huge. That's great.

 

Jenn Eggert: Okay. If you want me to explain that a little bit to people maybe.

 

Jenny Freidman: Definitely. Yeah. So some kids, it's a lot, you know, have a lot of sensory issues, experience with meeting a new food. And so when you're starting to, you know, it can be sensory, but it comes to just be fear of something new and it's that getting to know. So when you're linking a fluid or even just starting to touch it on your fingers and gradually moving up the arm, that's your great way to desensitize the body and to become familiar with the food and to teach the body what to expect. So if you start with just touching it, start with just kissing. Those are, see for ways to get to know the food. If you like the food, that's a big deal. That's a big staff. It's very intimate, but you're not yet eating it, so it's not scary. And you'll work up to that. And up to, do you like it You can or you know, you'll kiss it first, lick it, you touch it, eventually you can taste it. Sometimes it's putting it in the mouth first. Sometimes it's, you know, then eventually getting to chew it and swallow it. So that's a great way to make those baby gradual steps. It's great.

 

Jenn Eggert: Now are there sneaky ways to get them to eat more healthy I know Jason Just said that his wife is actually making a blending blended soups to some nutrition. I have actually, and I am not ashamed to say I have used baby food and put it in my spaghetti sauce and stuff like that is there are they're sneaky ways to help them with that nutrition and getting healthy food.

 

Jenny Freidman: Yeah, you said it. Those are exactly what you want to do in any way that you can kind of coordinate, you know, incorporate more nutritious foods. Usually we're thinking fruits and vegetables, sometimes protein into a food that your child is currently eating. That's a great way to boost nutrition. I'm all for that. The thing that you have to be careful with though is kind of using that, using that word sneak or actually sneaking food and hiding it because what you don't want to have happen is have your child not know that and suddenly realize, oh my God, mom's been putting carrots in here. I can't believe it. You know, and then they're not going to trust anything that you tell them or that you serve them. And it could actually be two more picky eating. So I totally believe in boosting the nutrition.

 

Jenny Freidman: If you want to add in, you know, incorporate foods and make it more nutritious, I think that's great. And that's something I think that every person in every child can benefit from doing. Your ultimate goal with getting more nutrition into a child is to help them learn to eat those foods and to get, you know, get on board with it. We don't want to, you know, if you're just sneaking those foods, then there, you're never expanding the diet really in teaching a child how to eat and how to, you know, encounter new foods. And that's, that's part of it. Eating us about nutrition. But it's also about the social experience and the enjoyment. I'm so not a lot going on there, but those, those ways that you mentioned are great ways.

 

Jenn Eggert: Well,I want you to remember dinner time is a highly, highly sensory experience for your child. There are sites, there are sounds or smells. Everyone around the table, it's loud. The mom may have tried to make something new in it smells different. So it's very sensory. So we need to keep our sensory needs in mind when we're doing food because remember, if their sensory needs are met, they're more likely, Jenny and you can probably attest to this. If they are sensory needs are met, they're more likely to try things.

 

Jenny Freidman: Of course,Yes, definitely. Yes. Eating, you know, being at the table is a social and experienced a lot going on, be eating as well as a very sensitive sensory, you know, overloaded experience. So, you're totally right that the meal meal should be, you know, it as much as it can. Encouraging, you know a comfortable and calming environment. And that's why I love like the weighted lap pad and I love that, that you can color on it. That's such a great, that's such a great way to keep the child calm. O other things could be a, you know, like the heavy headphones to my wholesome sounds might want to play with the lighting or special music.A and also being kind of aware of the foods that you're serving or cooking. Maybe the child shouldn't be anywhere near the kitchen or serving foods that aren't crunchy and loud or using, you know, not metal cutlery. I actually, there we go. I have some great bamboo cutlery here that I love and they're nice and quiet. So these are fun. They make them in kid sizes. Um, and these are great. They're not too loud, you know, the way metal is. So anything that you can do to lower the sensory experience and make eating more fun and more comfortable is exactly the child will be more likely to eat and try something new.

 

Jenn Eggert: I think when they see that fun way of eating, like the bamboo fork you just showed, it's different than normal fork. Yeah, it's fun. It's special. I remember we were given chopsticks one year. Yeah. Yes. And Riley was just amazed by these chopsticks. We said, well you can use the chopsticks but you need to try one bite of vegetables. Now, those who have been watching my show for a while know that my daughter and vegetables do not mix. She shouldn't. She has actually told our dogs this liquid my soup bowl once and I'm gluten free so make vegetable soup a lot and my dog was lip licking the empty bowl and she goes, you can't eat that. Vegetables are very bad for you. Oh Man. Year old, high functioning autistic. She gave eight to 25 minute lecture to the dog on my vegetables are bad. But when we gave her those chopsticks and told her she could only have, I think it was a p one piece of corn, but she could use her chopsticks to do it. She tried, she was more willing to try because it was fun actually I think went back for about four pieces of corn because she thought it was really neat to try and figure out how to use chopsticks.

 

Jenny Freidman: Yeah, so that's another, it's a great way to get kids to try new food is think about any way that it can be fun. I'm a really big fan of playing with food outside. You know, outside of meal times, you know, mashed potato volcanoes or using, you know, potatoes is stamps and you know, making necklaces are so many different ways and when food is fun, that's working on the desensitization and working on all of those ways. You know, you're getting to know food but you're also kind of providing a low pressure opportunity where it's like, hmm, maybe I'll try this. This is like a really, you know, this is a fun experience. So anything that you can do,

 

Jenn Eggert: Well actually the first time we tried, the lick kiss like kiss, taste test was she hated sticky boots go. Her therapist had brought big marshmallows, media marshmallows and toothpicks and we will man and we use that to put markers and she drove from her face and she actually kissed the snowman because it was so funny to her. Right, exactly. Yeah. That's perfect. That's a great example. Now what about smoothies I hear a lot of people saying smoothies are the way to go. You can sneak in or hide Kale. You can hide spinach. The more common green leafy foods that so many people know are important in your diet. How are smoothies Like are they good options to try?

 

Jenny Freidman: Yeah, so I think a few yes. If your child, if smoothies are thing that your child will eat, go for it because that is such a great way where you can incorporate, like you said, Greens, Protein, fiber, color, new flavors and so in that way they were really excellent and it's again that kind of like sneaking food thing where you do want to be a little bit open. But if your child is willing to eat a food, you know a smoothie that's got some hidden Greens in there or maybe a green monster smoothie or and something fun like you said, the more fun we make it. I think that's awesome. Again, the goal is to be able to eventually hopefully be able to eat those foods on their own. So smoothie can be a great way to introduce some of those new flavors you're adding maybe blueberries in.

 

Jenny Freidman: And that's a good way to start to, you know, learn to like the flavor of blueberry agree thing too about smoothies is you can kind of adjust the ratios as you go. You add something new just a very little bit, but over time you can increase the amount so your child becomes more accustomed to that flavor and eventually it might be eating something totally new. Again, like the chocolate milk example, that could be something you could incorporate with this smoothies. Just slowly reducing the amount of chocolate flavor in there, or adding, you know, something else in with it. So smoothies can be definitely a great tool. But you mentioned soups earlier as well. Any of those kinds of period, pureed foods can be a great way to incorporate something new or even use that as a vehicle to introduce something new. Maybe there's, you know, a little piece of corn in that school.

 

Jenny Freidman: You know, smoothies, smoothie, it would be a little bit weird, but in that soup or you know, a new fruit in a smoothie and you introduce that at the same time to kind of mask the flavor and help make it a little bit more comfortable. Definitely a role for smoothies. Now how do I introduce new textures I mean we know a lot of our kids are very sensory based textual child. Yeah. Yeah. It's a fun challenge. You know, it's kind of a lot of the theme to sound like a broken record, but you're talking about the touch kiss lick. That's a great way to get to know some new textures. Um, again, with those gradual changes, if you are, if your child by something smooth and creamy like a soup or a yogurt, slowly add texture in there. Start very small and after your child accepts a new edition, you know, a couple of times without a protest, without gagging, without, something like that, then you slowly increase the amount of texture. So it's just gradual changes, but also those experiences where you can, you know, touch and get to know the new texture is really helpful.

 

Jenn Eggert: Now, what is normal and not normal when we're talking about diet and nutrition?

 

Jenny Freidman: Well, kind of the short answer is that there is no normal. but there are definitely signs where you can see that maybe development isn't normal or isn't progressing the way it should be or as quickly as it should be. So we read or discussing beforehand that if you have a child who's pocketing or who seems to have trouble chewing food and swallowing the food or can only seem to tolerate certain textures, or maybe they're really gagging or vomiting, that's when you want to go see a doctor. I'm an occupational therapist. Get a swallow or a speech evaluation. That's really important. Those would be signs of something that's not normal in terms of picky eating.You you know, over 50% of parents claimed to have a picky eater or you know, they probably do but picky eater, but it's a pretty high number of people who seem to think that they have the picky child, the numbers higher with autism.

 

Jenny Freidman:It can be up to over 80% or so, but parents typically want to call this picky, but there's actually a different term that is usually more appropriate . And that is problem feeding. And if your child is consuming like under 20 foods, really it limits foods by food group or food texture has difficulty, you know, dealing with new foods won't tolerate a new food on a plate, maybe isn't eating the family meal or prefers to eat alone.Frequently drops foods from their diet without ever reintroducing them. So somebody who loves chocolate milk and then one day decides never, you know, I'm done, never reintroduced with chocolate milk. Those are signs of something a little more extreme and put a child at risk for those deficiencies or inadequate nutrition, maybe poor growth report digestion. So that's really when you know, that's, that's atypical and that's when you might want to encounter, or reach out to somebody for some help and a second opinion.

 

Jenn Eggert: Now, just to let you know, pocketing, if Jenny, if you want to give a two second explanation on what pocketing is, many probably don't know that.

 

Jenny Freidman: Yeah, of course. So I mean pocketing would really just be instead of, you know, you take the food in and you chew it and you swallow it, you're kind of keeping the food like a chipmunk, you know, in a little corner of your mouth. And holding on to that is that, that's what you experienced

 

Jenn Eggert: Yes. Riley is marketing. We did the swallow study and we found out she was pocketing it and then it would be too much eventually and it would trickle and choke her.

 

Jenny Freidman: Yes. And that's exactly a situation where you need to seek out outside help of somebody who can work with, maybe it's oral motor skills or if you're at a texture and that's important to get help on.

 

Jenn Eggert: Now I know, Jenny you're very passionate about nutrition. About healthy eating. Do you offer private coaching?

 

Jenny Freidman: I do, yes. So my primary work is to work one on one with families.And so I do, I offer a coaching package where we can go through a lot of these issues and we'll see what is, what your primary concerns and goals are. And we'll work on behavioral strategies to introduce new foods, create a special diet plans. You're sure that your child is getting all of the nutrients that he or she or she needs to grow and to thrive.And yeah, those are the big ones. So it definitely, um, posted my information, my website up above. But you can find me at Jenny Friedman nutrition and that's where we can continue that conversation.

 

Jenn Eggert: Now we have a lot of questions for you today. At any rate, this seems to be one of our most popular topics and I'm so excited that I got to talk with you about it because I'm just a mom. You have so much more experience and it is so different now.

 

Jenny Freidman:Not just a mom, but I'll take it.

 

Jenn Eggert: Now, we have crystals. Says, she's so excited because her son is picky. He literally eats mainly pizza and chicken nuggets. So crystal, like Jenny said, try starting slowly with that introduction of new foods. I find that I have to put a new food on her plate at least four to 10 times before she'll actually even consider looking at it.

 

Jenny Freidman: Definitely. And the chicken nuggets is, you know, that's typical autism. That's definitely like, you know, I've heard seen that as one of the universal science of autism. And a good way to start with the chicken nuggets could be just to introduce different brands or maybe if there's a depth that your son really likes, you can use that depth to introduce new foods as well.

 

Jenn Eggert: Now we have Angela, Angela and I are very good friends and her son is PediaSure and hot dogs. Yeah, we actually, he was on three PediaSure. A day and we finally got him cut down because I'm like, wait a minute, he's drinking so much PediaSure. He's, I think he's four or five, that one, she has many children, but he was drinking so much PediaSure and that's what people need to understand that if your child does take PediaSure to offset it, if they have too much, they're going to be full. So we're not going to want to eat it until I had to back off of the PediaSure. To get him to actually try and eat normal food.

Jenn Eggert: I understand Crystal that there are meltdowns when introducing new foods. I always do something kind of different. I read it in a book when I was a kid and I thought it was kind of interesting. The mom would present the dinner to the debt and she would put on the table a small dish of the new food and say, I'm sorry, this is only for Daddy. And Dad would eat it. And that's how she presented it. And the kids were all going, wait a minute, wait a minute. Daddy gets this new special food. So there was excitement that would build up. So if you try something like that, introduce it and be like, oh no, that's for mum only don't say because you won't like it. Because then they'll put that in their head of build excitement on the new foods and then eventually give it to them and let them try it. A and yes, Crystal, I find as Riley grows, she does change her nutritional needs in what she's willing to try. Three years ago, if you would've told my daughter that she had to eat something that had won more than one food in it, like mixed foods, even something as silly as hamburger help her or her pasta had to have just butter. If you told her she was going to need something mixed, she would flip out on you. Now she loves casseroles. Mac and cheese casserole was how we started it because she loved cheese.

 

Jenny Freidman: Yeah. Yeah. Well that's exactly what you should do. You know, find some things that they like and use that. Introduce new foods.

 

Jenn Eggert: Well actually it was an idea I got from my sister. We did the Mac and cheese and then one day my sister is like throw some meat in there.So I had chopped the meat through it and the cast and it worked. Yeah. That's great. Jason says it, his wife makes blended soup with various vegetables to help with new tradition. Like I said, I will admit a huge planted vegetables whenever I can because Riley will give us a huge lecture on how vegetables will hurt her.

 

Jenn Eggert: Patricia, that's a really challenging issue. Her issue is what do you do when they change what they won't eat every three months. Jenny, do you have any advice on that

 

Jenny Freidman: Yeah, definitely.So Patricia keep offering that food. I know that's really frustrating as a parent and I can remember that happening growing up too, that my mom would buy all this food and you know, cause she knew what she was like, everybody wanted to eat it and then everybody changed and you feel like you're wasting it and like what, you know, you just can't stay on top of it. So we know that frustrating. The thing is just keep offering it and maybe change up how you're offering it. If you're offering, you know, the same piece of pizza every single day, it's kind of a conditioning the child to only like that kind of piece pizza and only get used to that. Even just changing up the shape that you're offering it. I'm putting it on a different plea. Adding a, you know, a different sauce or a different kind of cheese on top. That's a good way to kind of keep the flavor, you know, to keep the kid on their toes and so they're not getting so dependent and used to something and that they're suddenly going to drop it if they do drop it. Just keep offering it even just in very little bits.Because you know, if you don't give them the opportunity, if they don't get the opportunity to try something or to have it on their plate, they're never going to think to eat it again on their own.

 

Jenn Eggert: Now, we have Chrissy who says that her little guy is 4 and only chicken nuggets or chicken and pizza, but he does like baby food. Jenny, would you allow the child to keep eating baby food because of the nutritional content or would you push?

Jenny Freidman: I would do both. I would push and allow. So, you definitely always want to include an offer your child food that he or she will eat. That's very important. but you can use the baby food is we talked about before to incorporate some new flavors and some new foods. Why don't you slowly started changing the texture or you have the period carrot baby food. What if there's a little bit of real carrot pieces and they're, you know, full pieces.So definitely use that food and make small changes to that food. Are you to incorporate new flavors, new textures or use that food is a vehicle for introducing something new.So there was suddenly a on top of, you know, a bite of the baby food.And just, you know, continue to make those small changes but keep it up. Yeah, that's fine.

 

Jenn Eggert: Now, Jessica, I'm right there with you trying new foods by using different dipping sauce for us. We had that ranch with everything. Definitely, but it opens them up. It gives them that chance to try something. Exactly. It's a great way. That's kind of that that'd be useful. And that's within the range of, you know, we talked about normal and not normal using a dap or addressing that's within the range of normal eating behavior and that's something that most people do. And so if it seems like you need a lot of ranch dressing at first, that's okay. And use that so that they're getting to know that blew it and getting comfortable eating it. As they build up their preference and their palette for that new fluid, you can slowly decrease the amount of depth that they need to eat it with. Chrissy says that her son's smells all his food. Chrissy, we smell everything too. It seems to be a sensory thing. But once you spelled it and feels comfortable with it, she's okay.

 

Jenn Eggert: Krissy. I'm the same way. Riley will eat fruit, she eats fruit. But I think it's cause it's sweet, we're vegetables are more.

 

Jenny Freidman: Vegetables bitter and they might have a weirder texture. Definitely. So fruit is offers really the same nutrients in vegetables. So I would definitely encourage fruit, like for some reason gets a really bad reputation and everybody's worried about the sugar or whatever. Fruit is great if your child eats it and has another wife lemonade diet. I would encourage fruit, again, fruit maybe in those smoothies or something. Mixed fruit and vegetable as a way to introduce those new flavors.

 

Jenn Eggert: Thank you. That actually made me feel better because you won't touch vegetables, but you'll bring her to the grocery store on. You'll say, what kind of fruit do you want And she'll go nuts picking. I want apples. I want tours. I want bananas. I want oranges. Okay.

 

Jenny Freidman: Yeah. As many colors, you know, more color the batter and no matter what fruit or vegetable, the same color has had the same nutrients.

 

Jenn Eggert: Angela. I love Angela. She's like, you were showing your bamboo utensils. She uses con construction utensils. Oh, that's fine. Yes, that is great. I've also seen recently, I'm not 100% sure about how I feel about them. We've considered using them for Riley, but they're called winner dinner plate.

 

Jenn Eggert: It's Jenny. Do you know what they are?

 

Jenny Freidman:I'm, I miss it. I'm thinking it's the trail that leads you kind of start to, you know, you start here and you eat your way through. You get the end.

 

Jenn Eggert: Yes. And it at the end it's like a little maze and at the end of the maze there's a covered box. Hide something in there that's their reward. we, I'm not sure how I feel about that because Riley will find a way to manipulate that.

 

Jenny Freidman:Yeah. So know your child. You said that earlier. That's important.

 

Jenn Eggert: Yeah. So really see they're great for some kids. I know some kids excelled doing that now. They don't need the prize at the end.

 

Jenny Freidman: Exactly. Positive reinforcement is really excellent. So also something you can use all the time. Your child try something new. You say, Riley, I love that you tried that Broccoli.

 

Jenny Freidman: That was great. You did a great job eating that. You did a great job. I'm not throwing your food on the floor, you know, whatever it is, reinforce that positive behavior that you want to see. Anything else, please ignore it. And those incentives for accomplishing good behavior like the, you know, the winner at the end of the, of the plate, that's fine. You know, and they make a lot of other really fun plates too.I did print, it's not colors you can't see, but this is one of the plates are really like for separating the food so it's not touching. There are a ton out there. A lot of other plates too that can use some reinforcement strategies. Um, I have some length on my website on the resources page where you can find some good utensils and plates and lunchboxes and things like that.

 

Jenn Eggert: Now Angela has a long statement, let me read through this. We went through a stage where my year old wasn't thriving and was actually losing weight. He's not a picky eater at all, so we just let them eat whenever he wanted to. And now we have the opposite issue. He is gaining weight at a high rate and is looking to reach childhood obesity. He's healthy snacks and drinks, plenty of water. Any suggestions to reset his eating times to a healthier regularity without causing meltdowns

 

Jenny Freidman: Well, I don't know that I can help you on the meltdown part because that is a frequent reaction to change and to eating a particular, but kids do really thrive on an eating schedule where you can have three meals and one to three snacks a day and you keep that pretty consistent a mass when eating happens. So there's no, you know, drinking milk, having a sippy cup, having PediaSure between meals. Meals are the times for eating. You might get a meltdown when you introduce this, so you might want to go slowly, you know, your kid, maybe they really work well with, um, a visual schedule or a visual, you know, a calendar that can help ease my man, let them know what's happening. But I do recommend having a schedule and that just helps to regulate the appetite, you know, help to help the child to be hungry for meals instead of just grazing. Kind of in that state of not hungry, not fall all day long.

 

Jenn Eggert: Folks, we have so many questions when we are running out of time. I'm going to try and get a couple more in here if Jenny doesn't mind but remember you can join our parent's support group@lakikid.com/group and maybe Jenny will join then after ,

 

Jenny Freidman: I'll be there

 

Jenn Eggert: The show today. We'll have Jenny joined the group and you can ask more questions than there. And remember she always has her own website. If you have specific questions, go to her website and work with her there. She is amazing. Rebecca, your issue,I think it would be better handled one on one because you are clean eating diet, that's dairy and gluten free, which is very specific. So if you wouldn't mind Rebecca, let's post that in group because I understand dairy and gluten free is hard. I am gluten free as is my team. It is not easy. So easy. Let's put that on limited diet and it's one extra thing. So, but it's worth it for some people it's definitely worth it.

 

Jenn Eggert: Angela, I know you were one lost three pounds because of being picky when Riley was first we realized something was wrong. She actually lost close to eight pounds in a month and nobody listened to me until finally the doctor saw her weight and said there's something wrong.

 

Jenny Freidman: Yeah, a kid shouldn't be losing weight except when they're new, new newborn. That the exception, you always want to try out to be staying on their growth curve and growing

 

Jenn Eggert: April. I'm so excited that you got the new idea of the touch, taste and lick. It is a wonderful, wonderful way of introducing Now, Dina, I know your questions. You have a couple because you're having some problems. I know Dina, you're active in groups, so if you could post your questions in groups. Dina. Dina is the one that I was referring to earlier, having some pretty complex problems, low vitamin D level sodium, magnesium levels. They're great, but cholesterol, really bad. Ritz crackers, nuggets, top Ramen and salt and vinegar chips. Okay. So if we could help her. Chris, like Jenny said, vegetables are great for nutrition but don't knock up fruit if he'll only eat peas, keep introducing but don't force it.

 

Jenn Eggert:Therapy is great for working on new foods because the therapist actually has the time to sit there and work for that 30 minutes or one hour a week. Spinach pancakes for Saint Patrick's day and it's fun. Very interesting.

 

Jenny Freidman: It can be anytime. That's a good Halloween one too. You get like a, you know, Frankenstein, pancakes, anything, anything to make the food fun or exciting

 

Jenn Eggert: and that's just it. Guys. Make it fun. Make it funny. And Jenny, I bet you'll agree. I find my kids are more likely to try it if I have them in the kitchen.

 

Jenny Freidman: Yes. Oh, I'm all about that. Yes. So those hands on experiences. Like I said, it could be playing with food, but I am all for cooking with your kids, bringing them to the grocery store or the farmer's market. Even visiting like a farm or a having a garden at home, even in just some small pots, any way that they are more involved and get to make some decisions and learn more and experience more, they're going to be more likely to eat. Definitely.

 

Jenn Eggert: Thank you everyone for coming today. This has been a great show. Jessica. We're very happy that you found the show. Extremely helpful. If the show has helped you, please share it, tag friends in it that you think it'll help. Remember let's help other parents. You can show the video in your timeline now. You can tag your friends. If I asked you to join group and comment and group or if you're in, if I know you're in group and I asked you to comment, please make those comments in groups after the show. I will be there today. Perfect. Jenny will be there. I will make sure I get her added immediately. And I want you to remember, if you go to our landing page, lakikid.com/ask, you can leave questions to ask us live on an upcoming show. And you can check out our writable lap pad page lakikid.com/writable.

 

Jenn Eggert:I'm pretty sure that's it. Miguel will correct me if I'm wrong. but I know Miguel, we'll put the comments in or the links in the comments like he always does.Check out our weighted lap pad page. Folks, if you don't know there is a giveaway hidden somewhere on that page.find it if it asks for the term, the saying, use the saying is "my lakikid" . Now remember we're also on iTunes, stitcher and Google play for those new, her wanting to listen to the replay.Join our group, watch checkout Jenny's website. Join us. We cannot wait to discuss more with you later today. Thank you all for watching. Just let me make sure I got everything I've got to say. Today was a big one. Thank you all for coming. Join our group. You can join me every Monday at 1:00 PM eastern for more tips and tricks and to share your insights. And as we've learned lately, we have had more professionals on our show, so you can learn from people who actually do this and are devoted to certain topics. I have a lot of great interviews coming up and I can't wait to share them with you. So thank you for coming and remember, until next time, every child brings good luck.