• About
    • Disclosure and Disclaimer Policy
  • Blog
  • Shop Ebooks
  • Recommended Products

Pediatric Feeding News

Dedicated to up to date pediatric feeding and dysphagia information

Welcome!

Hi, I'm Krisi Brackett, MS SLP/CCC this blog is dedicated to current information on pediatric feeding and swallowing issues. Email me at feedingnewsletter@gmail.com with questions.

Read More About Me Here...
  • Feeding Flock
    Research
  • For Parents
    & Caregivers
  • View The
    Resources
  • Pediatric Feeding
    & Dysphagia Newsletter
    • Volume 1
    • Volume 2
    • Volume 3
    • Volume 4
    • Volume 5
    • Volume 6
    • Volume 7
    • Volume 8
    • Volume 9
    • Volume 10
  • Workshops &
    Presentations
  • Ask Me A
    Question
  • Links
    We Like

Broccoli Boot Camp

March 12, 2019 by Krisi Brackett Leave a Comment

Broccoli Boot Camp

Post by Laura Seiverling

A Ball State University special education professor has co-authored a comprehensive guide for parents who want their picky children to diversify their diets.

Broccoli Boot Camp:  Basic Training for Parents of Selective Eaters presents commonsense methods to successfully expand children’s diet and preferences for healthy foods. 

The materials were developed by Laura Seiverling, a special education professor in Ball State’s Teachers College, in partnership with Keith Williams, a pediatrics professor at the Penn State College of Medicine.

Why is selective eating a problem?

Research has shown that it’s not that children reject what their parents serve, but instead, parents tend to serve the foods that they know their children will eat.  And, research has shown that preparing “special meals,” or meals that are separate from the family meals, are associated with limited diets in children.  

In particular, children tend to show most resistance to eating fruits and vegetables.  The key to developing a preference for any new food is repeated taste exposure.  In general, a food must be tasted between 10-15 times in order for someone to develop a preference to that food.  Most parents often give up after three or fewer exposures if their children did not appear to like the particular food.    

Why did you write Broccoli Boot Camp?

A recent study showed 1 in 5 children never eat vegetables (except for potato products like fries and chips). We know selective eating is a significant problem and one parents often want to address. We also know that while there are plenty of general suggestions out there on addressing food selectivity, picky eating, or selective eating, there are few resources for families and/or caregivers which provide interventions that are comprehensive, structured, and systematic. That is why we wrote Broccoli Boot Camp. This book was originally designed as a parent resource for patients seen in our clinical practices. We have made it more widely available so families can help their children learn to eat a range of healthy foods in the home setting hopefully without the need of additional clinical intervention. 

A few easy steps for parents to get their children to try new foods! 

  • Repeated taste exposure is key.  All of the interventions in Broccoli Boot Camp are designed to increase the likelihood that children will repeatedly taste new foods.  
  • Introducing small bites of new foods is a good way to start.  Initially bite sizes can be as small as a grain of rice.  Only after a child starts tasting small tastes without difficulty, gradually increase bite sizes (e.g., grain of rice pea-size biteshalf spoonful)
  • Positive reinforcement can be a helpful tool.  Many selective eaters are not intrinsically motivated to eat new foods.  The use of positive reinforcement such as verbal praise or brief access to preferred activities for tasting new foods, will often provide the motivation needed for a child to initially taste new foods.  After a child tastes a new food on multiple occasions, he or she will likely develop a preference for that food and begin to eat it as part of his or her regular diet.  
  • What parents say and do during mealtimes matters.  Focus on reinforcing the behaviors you want to see improve during mealtimes and avoid getting into “mealtime battles” with your child at the dinner table.  If your child exhibits behaviors such as screaming and crying during mealtimes, you do not need to respond in kind.     

More information can be found at www.broccolibootcamp.com 

Ordering information can be found here:  

https://www.woodbinehouse.com/product/broccoli-boot-camp-basic-training-for-parents-of-selective-eaters/

A 6-hour “on-demand” webinar about the interventions in Broccoli Boot Camp given by Dr. Williams and Dr. Seiverling is available until the end of March.  Information about this workshop and purchasing information can be found here:  

https://www.abacnj.com/product/bbc6hour/

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Feeding Treatment Tagged With: Broccoli Boot Camp, picky eating, Picky Eating book

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Cart

Products

  • When Your Child Can't Or Won't Eat
    Rated 1.00 out of 5
    $10.00

Recent Posts

  • Happy New Year 2023!
  • Baby-Led Bottle Feeding – Free Ebook Promotion for 4 Days
  • UNC Feeding Team presents:  Avoiding Mealtime Stress in Pediatric Feeding Disorders:  Interdisciplinary Approaches to Address Food Selectivity, Oral Aversion and Food Refusal
  • A Formula Shortage How Policy, Societal Pressure Impact Babies & Parents
  • Feeding Research: Looking for Parents of 6-12 month olds

Recent Comments

  • Elaine Egbert on Aversive Feeding Behavior: Getting full mouth opening for the spoon and why it’s worth the trouble
  • Krisi Brackett on Feeding Flock – Feeding Assessment Tools
  • prabha on Feeding Flock – Feeding Assessment Tools
  • Abigail Wilson on Happy New Year 2023!
  • Krisi Brackett on Feeding Flock – Feeding Assessment Tools

search

Categories

Archives

My Account | Shop | Shopping Cart
Copyright ©2023, Pediatric Feeding News. All Rights Reserved. Custom design by Pixel Me Designs
 

Loading Comments...