Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP is a mom who once had a picky eater. She’s experienced first-hand the stress that parents feel when they are worried about their child’s nutritional health. Fast forward to today, and you’ll find Melanie blending her knowledge of feeding therapy with practical parenting strategies that help the entire family eat healthier. She’s an international speaker and author of six books, including co-authoring the award-winning Raising a Healthy Happy Eater. Whether you’re raising a child who seems to be on the path to loving all kinds of healthy foods (and you want to keep it that way) or if your child is stuck in the chicken nugget rut, “Coach Mel” is here to guide you.
Melanie Potock
Pediatric Feeding Expert and Author
Expert Feeding Help
for Professionals and Parents
Melanie Potock’s keynotes, courses, books & articles focus on raising kids to be healthy, happy eaters. From babies to toddlers to teens, “Coach Mel” is here to help.
Raising a Healthy Happy Eater Isn’t Always Easy
Get Expert Advice on Feeding Babies, Toddlers & School Age Kids,
Including Extreme Picky Eaters
Upcoming Events & Courses
Babies
This book is designed to answer the most common questions about feeding babies and toddlers up to age three. It also debunks myths while offering practical tips on making mealtimes joyful and less stressful. It teaches a no-nonsense, straightforward approach to responsive feeding that’s focused on nurturing trust and communication between parent and child. Read more about Responsive Feeding here.
Toddlers & Preschoolers
In her award-winning book, Raising a Healthy Happy Eater, Melanie and her co-author, pediatrician Dr. Yum, teach parents how to guide their children on the path to adventurous eating. Parents report that toddlers are the most challenging to feed, thanks to active little bodies and fleeting attention spans. Learn how to lay positive foundations for eating at 6 months of age, navigate the “terrific twos” and avoid picky eating in the preschool years! Get the brand new, updated 2nd edition. Read more about feeding young children here.
School Age
Kids can cook right along with their parents from an early age, but it’s especially important from preschool and into the elementary school years. What’s the number one food group that parents struggle with the most? Vegetables! The secret to helping kids love any kind of food is to follow Melanie’s Three E’s: Expose, Explore, Expand. You’ll learn how to use the Three E’s and create veggie-love in Melanie’s book, Adventures in Veggieland: Help Your Kids Learn to Love Vegetables with 100 Easy Activities and Recipes. Read more about feeding school-age kids here.
More fun!
As a speech language pathologist, Melanie combined her love for language, little kids and food by writing a children’s book! You are Not an Otter: The Story of How Kids Become Adventurous Eaters is available on Kindle, in paperback, and in both English and Spanish. Don’t miss the parent tips in the back of the book! Learn about all of Mel’s books here.
Kid’s nutrition boost…but make it fun. 🌈These colorful “sprinkles” are just hemp seeds shaken with a tiny drop of food coloring in a small bag. Once they dry, kids can sprinkle them on almost anything.
🤔Why hemp seeds? They are tiny, mild in flavor, and packed with nutrients like protein, healthy fats, and minerals. That makes them a simple way to add a little nutrition boost to foods kids already enjoy.
Try sprinkling them on:
• yogurt
• toast with nut butter
• oatmeal
• smoothies
• pancakes or waffles
• even veggies!🥦
❤️Sometimes a small change in presentation turns nutrition into play. And when kids get to sprinkle their own “magic dust,” they are more likely to explore new foods.
PRO TIP: Kids who are allergic to sesame probably should not have hemp seeds due to cross reactions. Rare, but check with your allergist first.
✨ Thank you for following me for weekly feeding guidance grounded in 25+ years helping parents and therapists help kids find joy in food.
🥰Melanie
Melanie Potock picky eater help, food exploration for kids, feeding therapy tips, toddler nutrition ideas, healthy toppings for kids, pediatric feeding therapist, sensory food play, raising adventurous eaters
Picky eater? This tiny bottle might change your lunch game!
☺️Squeeze bottles aren’t just cute - they give your kid control (and less mess) when they’re just starting to try dips. Think ranch, or a high-protein option like hummus, or gosh - even applesauce! Start small and keep it fun - Remember, let them take the lead with a little squeeze!
💬Comment BOX for a link to over 30 creative lunchbox items, like these little bottles made just for dips! #amazonaffiliate
💕because sometimes , it’s not the dip - it’s the delivery.🙌🏼
Feel free to repost using the ✨repost icon!✨
🥰Melanie
Melanie Potock / lunchboxes for kids / feeding therapy / anxious eaters / SLP feeding
😳Only 10 seats left in Oregon.
🤔If you have ever thought,
“I need more tools for my feeding clients.”
or
“I want to feel more confident helping my own child.”
This is your sign.
On April 10th in Oregon, I’m teaching my 7-hour foundational course:
Your Feeding Tool Kit
❌This is not your standard feeding course…it’s different. YOU WILL GET 55+ PRACTICAL STRATEGIES to help kids find joy in food.
❤️It is a whole-child approach grounded in feeding development, behavioral strategies, sensory foundations, and family dynamics.
We will cover:
• How feeding skills actually develop
• Behavioral and sensory components of feeding therapy
• Parent coaching strategies that reduce stress at the table
• Practical tools you can use the very next day
• How to build your own Feeding Tool Kit with confidence
Whether you are an experienced therapist ready to refine your toolbox, a new grad building your foundation, or a parent who wants to better understand your child, this course meets you where you are.
These are the final 10 seats.
Comment OREGON below and I’ll send you all the details.
✨ Thank you for following me for weekly feeding guidance grounded in 25+ years helping parents and therapists help kids find joy in food.
Cooking with kids does NOT have to be complicated.🧑🏻🍳❤️
…AND research shows that when kids help prepare food, they are more likely to:
😋Taste new foods
🥦Eat more vegetables
⭐️Show less picky eating
👌🏼Build fine motor skills
👋🏼Strengthen sensory tolerance to smells and textures
🤓Develop language and sequencing skills
🧮Practice early math through measuring and counting
💪🏼Grow confidence and independence
❤️Build a healthier long-term relationship with food
❓Want simple ways to help your picky eater at home, or if you’re a feeding therapist, in your therapy sessions?
💬Comment #help below — and don’t forget the # — and I’ll send you free resources and more to get started.
Thank you for following me for weekly feeding guidance grounded in 25+ years helping parents and therapists help kids find joy in food.
🥰Melanie
picky eater help, how to get my child to eat vegetables, toddler cooking ideas, kids in the kitchen, simple family meals, food play at home, pediatric feeding therapy, feeding intervention strategies, food chaining techniques, sensory based feeding, pediatric feeding disorder, ARFID support
School lunch policies that use dessert as a reward can unintentionally increase pressure at mealtimes.
😳We often hear, “If they eat dessert first, they won’t eat their lunch.”
But a small cookie does not override a child’s internal hunger cues. Pressure does.
When dessert must be earned, it becomes more powerful, not less. It can increase anxiety and elevate sweets to “special” status.
💔For children in feeding therapy, children who eat smaller volumes, or those with ARFID or pediatric feeding disorder, this policy can make lunchtime feel heavier than it needs to be.
👉🏼This isn’t about cookies. It’s about neutrality.
🥰We can offer sweets occasionally without turning them into something that must be earned. When we remove contingencies, we protect trust and reduce stress around food.
✨ Thank you for following me for weekly feeding guidance grounded in 25+years helping parents and therapists help kids find joy in food.
❤️Melanie
Melanie Potock
school lunch policy
dessert as a reward
food hierarchy
pressure at mealtimes
feeding therapy in schools
pediatric feeding disorder
ARFID support
childhood food anxiety
I’ve seen influencers suggest adding some truly alarming things to baby bottles.😳
Please don’t.
👉🏼Here are three that need to stop:
🍯Honey
This is not just an “old school” tip. Honey can contain spores that cause infant botulism, a rare but potentially life threatening illness in babies under 12 months. Their digestive systems are not mature enough to handle it. Honey and babies under one do not mix.
🥣Rice cereal
Adding cereal to a bottle to “help them sleep” or “keep them full” is another outdated myth. It can increase choking risk, disrupt hunger and fullness cues, contribute to overfeeding, and does not reliably improve sleep. It also bypasses important oral motor skill development that happens when babies learn to eat from a spoon - and tends to be higher in arsenic than other baby cereals.
🥚Crushed eggshells
Yes, I recently saw this recommendation. Please, please do not do this. There is no proven benefit. It is a choking hazard. It can introduce harmful bacteria such as salmonella. It can cause injury to your baby’s mouth and digestive tract. This is not a safe calcium supplement.
A baby’s bottle is for breastmilk or formula unless medically directed otherwise by your pediatrician or RDN.
🙄Feeding advice on social media is not always evidence based. Your baby’s safety and development deserve better.
❤️If you want guidance rooted in pediatric feeding therapy, child development, and real clinical experience, please follow me @mymunchbug_melaniepotock
❤️I’m here to help you build a confident, healthy eater from the very beginning.
🥰Melanie
📚Author of Raising a Healthy, Happy Eater, and 5 other books to help guide you
🤔Why do I start every feeding therapy session with 10 minutes of movement, outdoor play, or exercise?
Because it changes everything.
✨Movement helps stimulate appetite. ✨Active bodies are more likely to feel true hunger cues.
✨It gets the gut moving. Physical activity supports digestion and bowel regularity, which matters for kids with picky eating, ARFID, and pediatric feeding disorder.
✨It regulates the sensory system. When a child feels organized, calm, and confident in their body, they can pay attention and try new foods with less anxiety.
Food is not just about what happens at the table. It is about the whole child.
❤️If you are a parent navigating picky eating, ARFID, or feeding challenges, or a professional supporting children in feeding therapy, follow me for practical, evidence based strategies you can use right away…with guidance grounded in 25+ years helping parents and therapists help kids find joy in food. 🥰
💛Melanie
Melanie Potock
Feeding Therapy
Picky Eaters
ARFID
PFD
Feeding Toddlers
Starting Solids
🤦🏼♀️Picky eater not eating at school?
⏰On average, kids in the USA have LESS THAN 20 minutes to walk to ENTER, EAT and EXIT the school cafeteria*. BTW, most states require at least 30 minutes for a lunch break for ADULTS at work! 😳
🤔Wondering what lunchboxes and beverage bottles I recommend for kids? Just comment BOX for the link to my TESTED & TRUE FAVORITES -🥰
👉🏼OK, let’s talk STRATEGIES…
❤️If YOUR goal as a parent is to ensure your kid gets a nutritious lunch but YOUR KID’S goal is to get a break and chat with friends…(both great goals!) then here are strategies from our book, Raising a Healthy Happy Eater:
👉🏼Use an easy-open Bento box, so no time is wasted asking for help to open individual baggies, containers, etc.
👉🏼Cut the food into what I call “grab and gab” food so that kids can pop a piece in their mouth and keep chatting. You’d be surprised how much more a kid will eat when there are small pieces of all kinds of food to pop in their mouth!
👉🏼Make sure their drink is also in an easy-to-sip straw bottle.
👉🏼Practice at home – have lunchbox dinners occasionally!
👉🏼👉🏼When you practice, include the school lunch routine. Some schools bring all the lunchboxes to the cafeteria in a wagon or bucket and then the kids search for theirs among all the others! Tie a bright ribbon on your kids’ so it’s easy to spot to save time!
HEY, ICYMI, want to see which lunch boxes and accessories, water bottles etc I love? Just COMMENT BOX and I’ll send you my Amazon (affiliate) link! All tried and tested and truly loved.
💕Melanie
MELANIE POTOCK / CAFETERIA CHAOS / SCHOOL LUNCH / PICKY EATERS
*Source: School Nutrition 2022 State Mandate Report
It is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week 💙 and I want to shine a light on something many families and professionals have never heard of…or maybe they don’t know that extreme anxious eating has a name: ARFID
Imagine your child carrying an invisible bucket. A little anxiety in that bucket helps keep us safe. But some children carry a much heavier load. And for many of them, those anxious feelings get assigned to food. 🪣
That is ARFID, or Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.
❌It is not defiance.
❌It is not bad parenting.
❌And it is not “just picky eating.”
If you are a parent or professional who wants to understand ARFID and how to help kids feel safe with food again,
💬comment ARFID and I will point you in the right direction. 💛
🥰Melanie
MELANIE POTOCK
Feeding therapy
ARFID education
Pediatric feeding disorder
Childhood anxiety
Picky eating vs ARFID
Responsive feeding
Family mealtimes
Eating disorder awareness
🚚Last night, a FOOD TRUCK account commented directly to me that feeding disorders are just “excuses.”
(😮💨Deep breath everyone)…I understand that from the outside, picky eating can look strictly behavioral. But the science tells us something different.
🩺Pediatric Feeding Disorder is a medically recognized diagnosis defined by interdisciplinary consensus and published in peer-reviewed medical literature. It impacts approximately 1 in 4 typically developing children, and significantly more children with medical or developmental differences.
🩺ARFID is also a recognized eating disorder in the DSM-5. It is not about willpower. It is not about indulgent parenting. And it is not an excuse.
✨In 25+ years as a pediatric feeding specialist, I have seen firsthand how physiology, sensory processing, motor skills, anxiety, and medical history shape how a child eats. Behavior is often the last thing we see, but rarely the first thing that started it.
🙏🏻So I hope that when a child is standing in front of your food truck, sir, and struggling to order or try something new, they are met with patience. I hope they are met with understanding. Because for some children, food is not simple. And kindness in those moments matters more than we realize.
✨❤️✨Raising awareness during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week while also recognizing PFD & ARFID…because it is about compassion, education, and helping families access appropriate support.
Education reduces shame. And shame has never helped a child eat better.
✨ Thank you for following me for weekly feeding guidance grounded in 25+ years helping parents and therapists help kids find joy in food.
🚶♀️ heading out for that walk to calm down…😮💨
❤️Melanie
Melanie Potock / ARFID awareness / pediatric feeding disorders / pediatric feeding therapy / mental health
In feeding therapy, two questions come up again and again:
❓How long is this going to take?
❓What are you going to do in therapy?
Both are valid.
But before I answer, I ask one question:
“What are your goals for your child?”
Then I draw a mountain.⛰️
✨We write THEIR goals at the top: Calmer meals. More variety. Less anxiety. Once we’re clear on the summit, the rest makes sense.
🤔How long? That depends on the path.
🤔What will we do? The customized steps this child needs to climb, with minimal fear yet challenging enough to build confidence.💗
✨Some paths are steady.
✨Some need switchbacks.
✨Sometimes we pause.
✨Sometimes we strengthen earlier skills.
✨Feeding therapy isn’t a race.
It’s a journey we walk together.
❤️Thank you for following me for weekly feeding guidance grounded in 25+ years helping parents and therapists help kids find joy in food.
🥰Melanie
Melanie Potock
feeding struggles
picky eater help
child not eating
mealtime anxiety
how to help a picky eater
feeding therapy for kids
family meals with toddlers
raising adventurous eaters
food anxiety in children
parenting
Those phrases might be making picky eating harder to deal with…and possibly worse.💛 Having a hesitant eater is so anxiety-provoking for parents, and it was for me too.
❤️Listen… I get it. As the mom of a once-picky-eater. And I truly believe you’re only as happy as your least happy child. And I want to be happy, and I want them to be happy and I JUST WANT TO HAVE A PEACEFUL FAMILY DINNER.😫
When our child struggles with food, our anxiety shows up. Everything feels uncertain….so we try to prompt them to eat. And kids feel it. 💔Now that I have 25+ years as a pediatric feeding therapist, here’s what I know for sure:
Try to avoid:
☑️Hard and fast rules that don’t match hunger cues…
☑️Asking for bites “for” someone else…
☑️Putting dessert on a pedestal as a reward…
All of that can quietly increase pressure at the table. You don’t want that.💗
✨Picky eating isn’t improved when we say things to try to get kids to eat, prompted by our own anxiety when we are so, so worried. Picky eating improves with structure, trust, and consistency.
💬If you want to understand how to raise a healthy, happy eater, comment #BOOKS to peek inside all of my books and find the approach that fits your family best.
✨ Thanks for following me for weekly feeding guidance grounded in 25+ years helping parents and therapists help kids find joy in food.
🥰Melanie
MELANIE POTOCK / ARFID / pediatric feeding disorder / toddler trouble / toddler mom
Pediatric Feeding Expert and Author
Melanie's Advice Shared In...
Courses for Parents & Professionals
Melanie offers both on-demand courses and live-streaming Masterclasses. CEUs are optional for both OTs and SLPs, yet audience members include parents, RDs, pediatricians & other health care professionals.
Need help with a picky eater, or just want to prevent kids from falling into the chicken-nugget rut? As a parent, SLP or OT, what do you need to know about child nutrition? What about the anxious eater – Could this be more than just picky eating? Melanie’s on-demand course subscriptions provide the answers!
Want more in-depth instruction in a small group, virtual setting? Register for one of Melanie’s Masterclass!
Explore course options here.
Parenting Advice
Melanie’s advice has been shared in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Parents Magazine and more. Over 150 articles for both parents and professionals are found here or contact Melanie for a personal one-hour coaching session via video chat.
Masterclass participants get a 25% discount on coaching.
Learn more about professional and parent coaching here.
Keynote Speaking
An international speaker, award-winning author and pediatric feeding specialist, audiences find Melanie’s advice to be practical and possible, even in the most challenging cases. That’s because Melanie is in the trenches, working closely with the most extreme picky eaters and supporting families and health professionals around the world. Melanie has been invited to speak at over 100 different events, including the American Speech Language Hearing Association’s National Conference and the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo.
Audiences say it best: If you are looking for a professional speaker who can “provide practical solutions” for parents, caregivers and therapists and your company needs a “highly knowledgeable, organized presenter” with “energy and enthusiasm” who can deliver a “dynamic course”, then your best choice is Melanie Potock. Contact Melanie here.
Product Consulting
Need expert input on your new parenting product? Melanie has provided expert advice for Orgain, Inc., Holland Health Care, Inc., Healthy Height, Inc., NumNum, LLC and numerous health care and parent product companies.
Looking for an expert to educate your team on how children learn to become adventurous eaters, baby-self feeding or the importance of purees? Feeding is developmental, just like learning to crawl, walk, run. At least 1 in 4 typically developing children have trouble learning to eat! Raising a healthy, happy eater requires the right tools and the right advice. Melanie provides company education and collaboration via webinars, social media and creating educational videos for your audience.
Contact Melanie here.
Blog
feeding advice for parents and professionals
50 Easy Ways to Get Your Kid to Eat New Foods
By Salma Abdelnour Gilman It may seem like an impossible dream right now, but your kid has the potential to love all kinds...Read More
A Special Needs Guide for Learning to Eat with Your SEVEN Senses – Part One
Most of us think of five senses and the human body: Sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. But, when it comes...Read More
3 Ways to Explain Baby-Led Feeding to Your Extended Family
By Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP Whether it’s a holiday dinner, a virtual family brunch or an outdoor family picnic, well-meaning relatives may...Read More
Planting for Kids
By The Lettuce Grow Team Melanie Potock has a knack for taking eaters of all ages from picky to passionate. Here are a...Read More
