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My Little Eater – Feel confident raising healthy little eaters

My Little Eater – Feel confident raising healthy little eaters

Online courses to raise happy, healthy babies and toddlers

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    • Baby Led Feeding Video Course
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  • Blog
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  • Meet Edwena
My Little Eater – Feel confident raising healthy little eaters

Giving parents confidence to raise healthy little eaters

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Let your feeding journey begin

Download one of these info-packed cheat sheets to maximize feeding success!

Free download

Free download

How to know if your baby is ready for solids - whether BLW or starting with purees!

I want to know when my baby is ready!

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Free download

How to overcome the fear of gagging/choking in baby led weaning

I want to overcome my fear of gagging!

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Free download

Get inspiration for your picky eater with this 7 day whole food toddler meal plan

I need meal and snack ideas please!

Stop feeling unsure and start feeling confident

Our online courses walk you through the ins and outs of feeding your baby, toddler or preschooler, transforming you into your very own feeding expert who is raising a healthy, happy and adventurous eater!

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Hi, I’m Edwena!

I’m a pediatric dietitian, mom of two amazing boys and lover of all things related to baby and toddler feeding! I have seen first hand the overwhelm, the worry and the confusion that sometimes comes with feeding kids, and now I’m here to help transform those feelings into complete confidence and excitement using expert feeding strategies, evidence based nutrition advice and mom to mom connection…so you can enjoy raising a healthy eater!

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  • Just want to say how grateful I am to have found Edwena’s courses! I took the toddlers course after taking the baby led feeding course because I knew her style of teaching and knew I would get the results! The courses basically walked me through what to do at each stage and were so easy to follow along. The bite sized lessons made it work with my busy mom schedule and I loved that I could go back and revisit things anytime I wanted. I gained so much knowledge and confidence and just have to spread the word about it. Thank you for my happy eater!

    Katie Rainer, Mom of 7 month old

  • Almost finished with your Baby Led Feeding course and just wanted to say how amazing it/you are! I have actually bought several feeding courses (yes I’m that mom!) and yours has been the BEST! Very thorough and well done!! Thank you x 1000 and you will be my go to recommendations when everyone (inevitably) comments on how well baby eats!

    Amanda Klein, Mom of 5 1/5 month old

Recent Blog Posts

Main image for article "The importance of timing for preventing (and reversing) picky eating." Pictured is a family happily eating dinner together.

The importance of timing for preventing (and reversing) picky eating

Episode art for episode: "#37: Preventing picky eating vs. reversing it". Pictured is a toddler holding broccoli on a fork with a disgusted look on their face.

#37: Preventing Picky Eating vs. Reversing it

what is toddler led feeding?

What is Toddler Led Feeding?

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Have you ever worried that there might be a right Have you ever worried that there might be a right or a wrong order to introduce foods in? โ ๐Ÿคท A common worry I hear parents talk about is that introducing fruit ๐Ÿ“ before veggies ๐Ÿฅฆ will make your baby have an affinity for sweet food as they grow.โ  โ  Guess what friendsโ€ฆ itโ€™s not trueโ—โ  โ  The time between 6-12 months of age IS the window of opportunity to shape your babyโ€™s taste buds, but it really doesnโ€™t matter the order you introduce fruits and vegetables to your baby. As graduates of my Baby Led Feeding course know, the main thing is to focus on introducing ๐™–๐™จ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฎ ๐™›๐™ก๐™–๐™ซ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™šโ€ฆ including sweet tasting foods like fruit! ๐Ÿ‡โ  โ  But Edwena...my baby prefers fruit over all other food?โ  โ  1๏ธโƒฃ First thing to remember is that babies are humans and humans innately love sweet foods, so itโ€™s normal for them to more commonly take to certain foods over others right off the bat...whether it be fruit or a sweeter vegetable. Donโ€™t let this discourage you! Remember that some foods take a few tries before baby grows to like them!โ  โ  2๏ธโƒฃ Second of all.. even if you WERE to introduce veggies before fruit for an extended period of time...your baby has already tasted sweet flavours from your breastmilk! Breastmilk (and formula) is inherently sweet..so not exposing your baby to the sweetness of fruit doesn't really do anything to prevent them from developing a love for this taste.โ  โ  If you want to learn more about how to make sure your baby is introduced to a wide variety of flavours and textures to raise a truly adventurous and healthy eater, make sure to check out my Baby Led Feeding course โžก๏ธ You can find the link in my bioโฃ๏ธโ 
Arsenic is not something we want to think about be Arsenic is not something we want to think about being in our food, and especially not the food we feed to our babies! ๐Ÿ™…โ€โ™€๏ธ Arsenic is a dangerous toxin ๐Ÿšซ that can have a negative impact on development - particularly in their brain. Traces of arsenic can be found in a lot of different foods, but rice and rice-based foods are the biggest food source. ๐Ÿš Babies are especially at risk during the transition to solid foods. Very small amounts can be transferred through breastfeeding, but once they move on to solid foods itโ€™s a whole new ball game! Since babies' bodies are so small, they eat more food per pound of body weight than adults, so they are at more of a risk of taking in higher amounts. While unfortunately thereโ€™s no way to remove the toxins from the foods completely, here are a few tips on how to reduce arsenic in your baby's diet: โœ”๏ธ Include a variety of different grains in your baby's diet like quinoa, barley, amaranth, or millet! Check out yesterday's post on how you can serve these foods to your baby safely! โœ”๏ธ If you are using rice, make sure to wash the grains first. Washing it can actually reduce the arsenic by up to 60%! Cook in extra water like you would with pasta, and drain the excess before serving. โœ”๏ธ Brown rice actually contains more arsenic compared to white rice. The arsenic builds up in the outer layer of the grain, which is the part that is removed in the processing of white rice! While there are other health benefits to brown rice (higher in fiber and other nutrients), if you're offering rice to your baby it may be better to choose white more often! โœ”๏ธ Lastly, rice cereals are the number 1 source of arsenic in most babies diets. Unfortunately that includes those beloved puffs! Try to avoid choosing rice-based products, and instead opt for infant cereals like oatmeal, mixed grain, quinoa, or wheat that are low in arsenic and just as affordable! Need some guidance on how and what solids to introduce to your baby? Make sure to check out my Baby Led Feeding course! Just click the link in my bio! ๐Ÿ‰ PS: The info in this post is not meant to scare you...but make you aware of what you can do moving forward if it feels right! ๐Ÿ˜‰
Serving small grains to your baby can be tricky wh Serving small grains to your baby can be tricky when theyโ€™re just starting solids! The small pieces can be hard for babies to pick up on their own, which may stop parents from serving them all together at this stage! Since rice and quinoa are such common foods that we eat from day to day, I want to share a couple of tips to make this process a little bit easier! โ  โ  Here are a few techniques you can try with your baby:โ  โ  1๏ธโƒฃ Try mixing the grains in with other sticky foods like mashed potatoes, hummus, or avocado๐Ÿฅ‘! This will make it easier to scoop up the food or roll into a ball for baby to grab with their fingers .โ  โ  2๏ธโƒฃ If you donโ€™t have a sticky food to mix with, try rolling sticky rice into a ball and rolling it into a coating like nutritional yeast! Not only will this make the rice easy for baby to grab, but it will also add to the nutritional value!โ  โ  3๏ธโƒฃ You can also try adding these grains into dishes like casseroles, savoury muffins, burger patties, or fritters! โ  โ  Have you introduced rice and quinoa to your baby? Share your own tips and tricks below! โœจโ 
Is it really that important to sit and eat ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ your baby? โ € I received this question this week and thought it coincided too well with a few issues I was helping clients troubleshoot the past few days. The problems revolved around babies not knowing what to do with solids they were provided. They sort of just looked at it or picked it up and dropped it and watched mom with a look that said โ€œWhat do you want me to do?โ€ ๐Ÿ˜‚ This was despite a couple months of offering solids! Other situations involved toddlers who would do ANYTHING but eat the food in front of them or give them a hard time about sitting at the table with them.โ € In all those situations, there was a common theme coming up... there was no parent actually sitting WITH the child to model eating! We often set the food on the tray and walk away to tend to the dishes or more cooking, or perhaps we sit in front of them and just watch them...waiting for something to happen. The thing is...eating is an experience and itโ€™s a skill that is best learned through modelling. It sounds so simple and trivial, but here is how eating WITH your child vs just FEEDING them can make a difference:โ € ๐Ÿ’™ It shows what mealtimes are supposed to be like! A family affair, a conversation, a calm and communal environment. It makes them want to be at the table and makes it a special time with you.โ € ๐Ÿ’™ It shows them the physical motions of bringing food the mouth, chewing and swallowing. It's so hard for babies to learn without someone to show them!โ € ๐Ÿ’™ It takes the pressure off of the child (when we intently watch them) and makes them a participant in the meal, not the FOCUS.โ € ๐Ÿ’™ It demonstrates that food is safe to eat and even that it tastes delicious! I've talked about neophobia in toddlerhood before, and seeing a parent safely and happily eat something means they can safely and happily eat it too ๐™‹๐™Ž. ๐™„๐™ฉ'๐™จ ๐™ค๐™  ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™˜๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™จ๐™š๐™ก๐™› ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™จ๐™ก๐™–๐™˜๐™ ! Not every meal will be possible to sit down with them. But try and make it the majority of their meals. Not hungry? No problem - grab a cup of coffee and few veggies or a just take nibbles of something - just do your best to model it as best you can ๐Ÿ‘โ €
How do you respond when your toddler asks for a sn How do you respond when your toddler asks for a snack outside of scheduled snack time? โ  โ  โžก๏ธ Do you say "sure" all the time? โ  โžก๏ธ Do you say "No"? โ  โžก๏ธ Do you say "No"...then hear a tantram ensue...and switch to "Ok fine?"โ  โ  Let me know in the comments below!โ €โ  โ  Many parents who are trying to prevent all day grazing to help their toddler build up an appetite for meals and overcome power struggles, find that it's not always as easy as it seems...sticking to a feeding schedule that is. They start with the intention of offering a snack only at set snack times, but instead get caught up in a battle of wills with their toddler, eventually giving in. โ €โ  โ  A quick tip for you who struggle with this. Framing things positively wins them over 100x more than framing things in a negative way. โ  โ  So instead of saying something like..."No, you can't have a snack now. It's not snack time"...try framing it as a YES (without actually saying yes right now :)). โ  โ  Try this:โ  "Sure! We'll have a snack at snack time in ___ minutes. Now it's time to read (or insert any other activity here)." โ  โ  Then, go ahead and offer them a choice if possible to redirect them to the activity at hand and offer them a bit of control. So perhaps "What book would you like to choose?". โ  โ  This also shows them what they CAN do now vs. just telling them what they can't do/have. It's all about the YES to win over their cooperation. โ €โ  โ  There is mantra I talk about in my Feeding Toddlers online course which I ask parents to repeat to themselves and practice as they navigate how they speak with their toddlers when saying things that may typically trigger a tantrum. And part of that mantra includes being 100% confident in how you say things. Don't let them sense unwavering in your voice. You may need to repeat yourself - especially if you're new to setting limits with them - but when they see you are confident in your decision, they will sense your leadership and take comfort in your unwavering decision.โ €โ  โ  Ready to learn my proven strategies to happily and healthily feeding your toddler? Join me inside the Feeding Toddlers online course! Now get 20% off using code TODDLER at checkout!!

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