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.
How do you feel when another feeding professional publicly criticizes your work? Well @netflix just interviewed me…and I brought the receipts. 😉
Seriously tho…It’s the end of this reel that means the most to me❤️
🥰If you’ve ever been criticized for trying to help others, This one’s for you.
💗Melanie
Melanie Potock, pediatric feeding therapy, Responsive, feeding, picky, eating, SLP, Ethics
For the past two years, I’ve heard the same sentence from feeding therapists all over the country...
“But I don’t want to shame the parents.”
Seems like it comes up every time I speak at conferences…and…
I understand exactly why.
❤️You care deeply about families.
❤️You want parents to feel seen, supported, and respected.
❤️So do I.
But here’s the question I’ve been asking myself...
What happens if we’re so afraid of causing shame that we stop sharing evidence-based recommendations that could help a child?
Parents deserve to know what current evidence tells us.
✔️ That bottles are best weaned by about 12 to 14 months.
✔️ That, whenever possible, straw cups and open cups support mature drinking skills and spouted sippy cups may hinder that.
✔️ That grazing throughout the day can affect appetite.
✔️ That family meals matter.
✔️ That responsive feeding supports long-term eating success.
Sharing those recommendations isn’t shaming.
It’s educating.
The difference isn’t whether we share the information.
The difference is HOW we share it.
Example:
❌ “You should have stopped the bottle months ago.”
While perhaps that’s true, rephasing with empathy looks like this:
💕 “We now know that gradually weaning from the bottle by 12 to 14 months supports oral development, appetite, and dental health. Let’s make a plan that feels realistic for your family.”
Same evidence.
A completely different experience for the parent.
Parents don’t need us to soften the science, but how we deliver the information matters!
As feeding therapists, our responsibility is to help children thrive while helping parents feel capable, hopeful, and supported.
We can’t let the fear of causing shame prevent us from sharing information that could help a child.
Because evidence and empathy don’t compete.
They belong together.
💜 Comment SIPPY and I’ll send you my FREE parent handout on transitioning from bottles to straw cups and open cups, along with practical tips you can share with families tomorrow.
SHARE this with a colleague… let’s chat more about it in the caption!
🥰Melanie
One of the biggest mindset shifts in feeding therapy is learning to ask:
❤️ “What’s making this hard?”
instead of
❤️ “Why won’t they just eat?”
Maybe they’re overwhelmed.
Maybe they’re unsure.
Maybe they’re still learning.
Maybe the fear is real, but the danger is not.
❤️When we respond with curiosity instead of frustration, children feel safer exploring food.
❌That doesn’t mean lowering expectations.
❤️It means supporting them while they build the skills to meet them.
📚Comment BOOKS if you’d like to learn more about raising confident, adventurous eaters – I wrote 6 books on the topic, and I’ll send you the latest links!
Thanks for following me @mymunchbug_melaniepotock for daily tips!
Melanie Potock, picky eating, feeding therapy, responsive feeding, toddler eating, sensory feeding, family meals
We naturally measure success by bites when we want our picky eater to become a healthy, happy eater!
👉🏻But feeding therapists, like me, watch for so much more.
Some of my favorite wins are when children:
✔️ Leave a new food on their plate.
✔️ Pick it up.
✔️ Smell it.
✔️ Break it apart.
✔️ Watch someone else eat it – with curiosity, not disgust.
❤️These moments tell me that the child is becoming more comfortable around the food.
And comfort is what eventually leads to confidence.
Celebrate the learning…not just the eating.
✨Tip✨No matter what stage of learning eater you have in your home, remember to MODEL CALM. The calmer you are, the more confident they become.
🥰Follow @mymunchbug_melaniepotock for daily tips on feeding your kids!
Melanie Potock, feeding milestones, picky eating, food exposure, responsive feeding, toddler meals, feeding therapy
WAIT? Don’t praise a picky eater??? That idea surprises a lot of parents.
💕 Encouragement is wonderful.
But when every bite earns applause, children can begin eating for us instead of learning to notice their own hunger, fullness, likes, dislikes, and growing confidence.
Try swapping praise for observation:
💜 “That peach was juicy.”
💜 “You chewed that carefully.”
💜 “You noticed it felt cold.”
These comments keep the focus on learning rather than performing.
There will always be moments to celebrate, but feeding is ultimately about helping children build a healthy relationship with food - not simply collecting bites.
Follow @mymunchbug_melaniepotock for daily tips on how to raise healthy happy eaters!
Melanie Potock, feeding therapy, responsive feeding, picky eater, toddler meals, food pressure, positive mealtimes
Sometimes asking our kids our “food” questions accidentally creates pressure.
Instead of asking your child to judge a food...
❤️ Become their food narrator.
Try saying things like:
• “That carrot is crunchy.”
• “This yogurt is cold.”
• “Your strawberry is juicy.”
• “You found the seeds!”
These simple observations invite curiosity without demanding an opinion.
Not every meal needs a verdict.
Sometimes children simply need permission to explore.
💕 Follow @mymunchbug_melaniepotock for daily tips!
Melanie Potock, picky eater, responsive feeding, toddler food refusal, feeding therapist, pressure-free meals, food exploration
After more than 25 years specializing in feeding therapy, I’ve learned something important: The food is only part of the story.
I also notice:
💜 The pace of the meal.
💜 The conversations happening around the table.
💜 Whether the child has opportunities to explore.
💜 How everyone responds when something doesn’t go as planned.
These moments help me understand what’s supporting a child and what might unintentionally be making meals harder.
Feeding is never just about nutrition.
It’s about development, connection, confidence, and relationships.
That’s why every family deserves both evidence-based strategies and empathy.
Comment BOOKS if you’d like to learn more about creating calmer, happier family meals.
🥰Melanie
Melanie Potock , feeding therapist, picky eater, responsive feeding, family meals, feeding evaluation, toddler eating
💜 Today is ARFID Awareness Day.
If you’ve ever been told...
🤦🏼♀️They’re just picky.
🤦🏼♀️They’ll eat when they’re hungry.
🤦🏼♀️Don’t worry—they’ll grow out of it.
...this post is for you.
ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) is far more complex than “picky eating.” It often involves a combination of feeding challenges, anxiety, sensory differences, medical history, and developmental factors. That’s why every child deserves an individualized evaluation and the right support. In may ways, it is similar to Pediatric Feeding Disorder.
👉🏻Here are three facts that surprise many parents and even some professionals:
💜 Children can have BOTH ARFID and Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD). These diagnoses often overlap, which is why an interdisciplinary team is so important.
💜 The signs of ARFID can begin very early. While many children aren’t diagnosed until they’re older, persistent, severe feeding difficulties in toddlers should never be dismissed or ignored, as they may indicate PFD or a future risk of ARFID.
💜 About half of children with ARFID also have a co-occurring anxiety disorder. Understanding how anxiety and feeding development work together is essential for helping children make meaningful progress.
✨After more than 25 years of feeding therapy and helping 10,000+ children and their families, one thing has become crystal clear:❤️ ARFID is complicated. But there is hope.
With the right knowledge, support, and an experienced team, children with ARFID can make incredible progress.
👇 Comment ARFID to learn about my FINAL LIVE virtual ARFID Masterclass of 2026—it’s almost sold out! I’ll also send you a link to my on-demand ARFID, ASD & Anxiety course, so you can choose the learning option that’s right for you. (If your child/client does not have ASD, I still highly recommend anyone take that course!)
❓Let me know if you have questions!
🥰Melanie
Melanie Potock, ARFID, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, pediatric feeding disorder, pediatric feeding therapy, picky eating, extreme picky eating, feeding disorder, pediatric anxiety, sensory feeding, feeding development, feeding therapist, child nutrition
One of the biggest shifts I teach parents with picky eaters is this:
❤️Please stop measuring success by whether your child ate the food today.
Instead, ask yourself:
✔️Did they tolerate it on the table?
✔️ Did they touch it?
✔️ Did they smell it?
✔️ Did they interact with it without stress?
✔️If it WAS stressful, how easily did they recover and move on?
Those tiny moments are how adventurous eaters come to be.
When we focus only on bites, we miss all the progress happening before the first bite ever occurs.
Remember...
Feeding is a developmental process.
Just like learning to walk or talk, learning to enjoy new foods happens one small step at a time.
💕 Which step is hardest for your child right now?
💬Comment BOOKS if you’d like to peek inside my latest 4 books on raising adventurous eaters, including the award-winning Raising a Healthy Happy Eater. (Be sure your following me to get that DM!)
🥰Melanie
Melanie Potock, picky eating, feeding therapy, responsive feeding, food exposure, toddler meals, sensory eating, food learning
🌭 Before you head to your neighborhood BBQ, there’s one safety tip I hope every parent, grandparent, and caregiver sees.
⚠️Hot dogs are a summer favorite, but they’re also the #1 food choking hazard associated with choking deaths in children under age 4. YEP, 4!
The good news? A simple change can make them much safer.
❤️ For toddlers 12 months and older, ALWAYS cut hot dogs into long, quartered sticks. Skip the coin-shaped slices. Those round pieces are the perfect size to completely block a young child’s airway.
And while you’re celebrating this holiday weekend:
✔️ Have children sit while they eat.
✔️ Encourage small bites and chewing before talking or laughing.
✔️ Keep an eye on little ones, especially when everyone is excited, running around, and eager to get back to playing.
✔️ Remember that for children under 18 months, large pieces of soft bread can also be a choking hazard. If you’re serving a bun, cut it into long strips. Better yet, lightly toast half of the bun on the grill first. Toasted bread is less likely to become gummy in a young child’s mouth, making it easier to chew and manage.
⚠️One more important reminder: Choking is often silent. A child who is choking may not be able to cry out or call for help, which is why close supervision during meals and snacks is so important.
👉🏻After 25+ years in feeding therapy, I can tell you that small safety habits like these truly matter. Screenshot slide 8 for a list of other foods that can be choking hazards at the BBQ!
👉🏻Please save this post for later and share it with anyone hosting a cookout or bringing little ones to a BBQ this weekend. It could help keep a child safe.
❤️Melanie
Melanie Potock • hot dog safety • toddler choking prevention • Fourth of July safety • toddler feeding • choking hazards • child safety • feeding therapy
Picky eating • Sensory play • Food play ideas for toddlers
One of the biggest myths about picky eating is that every interaction with food has to involve eating it.
❤️Sometimes the best progress happens when there is no expectation to taste at all.
If your child has sensory differences or is a picky eater, try creating opportunities to simply play with food.
Here are 3 inexpensive ideas:
🚜 1. Jell-O + toy vehicles
Make a box of @jello and hide clean construction trucks, dinosaurs, or farm animals inside. Scoop it, squish it, dig through it, and wash the toys afterward.
🫛 2. Dry foods...then progress to cooked pasta.
Start with dried beans (for older children who no longer mouth objects), oats, rice, or pasta in a sensory bin with measuring cups, spoons, and small toys. Ready for the next step? Buy inexpensive pasta in bulk, cook it, toss it with a little olive oil to prevent sticking, and refrigerate it. Cool, slippery pasta makes a wonderful sensory experience for little hands!
🥣 3. “Painting” with food
Use plain yogurt, applesauce, or pudding on a tray or cookie sheet. Paint with fingers, toy cars, silicone brushes, or spatulas. Add a drop of food coloring if your child enjoys bright colors. Add a bowl of “bubble water” and clean water for relief if the sensation is just too overwhelming.
💜 “But isn’t this wasting food?”
It’s a question I hear all the time.
Think of it this way: we don’t consider finger paint, Play-Doh, crayons, or craft supplies “wasted” when they’re helping children learn. Food can be a learning tool, too. A box of Jell-O or a bag of inexpensive pasta can provide hours of sensory exploration that helps some children become more comfortable around food. For many picky eaters and children with sensory differences, that’s an investment in feeding development, not a waste.
The goal is to occasionally create a low-pressure opportunity for learning, curiosity, and confidence.
💜 Sometimes the shortest path to eating a food... is learning that it’s safe to touch it first.
🥰Melanie
Melanie Potock / picky eater, sensory play, messy play, food play, toddler activities, feeding therapy, sensor
Honored to teach the team at St. Luke’s and thrilled they are opening registrations to the professional community of feeding therapists!
I’d love to come to your clinic/hospital to teach in 2027! DM me to book!
For the St. Luke’s event, don’t miss Courtney’s email address on the final slide. ❤️
🥰Melanie
melaniepotock / pediatric feeding disorder / ARFID / tube weaning / extreme picky eating / OT / SLP
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
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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
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