Picky No More

Mealtime with toddlers is not quite what we imagined family life to be like before we had children.

If meal times make you despair, or your child is going through his ‘I only eat food that’s white’ phase, help is here with TummyThyme, an Ottawa company that specializes in solutions for parents who are anxious about what and how to feed their children.

TummyThyme is run by registered dieticians Melanie Roet and Brandy McDevitt, a couple of savvy moms themselves. Their maxim is that establishing healthy eating habits early on can help a child develop good habits for life.

Their interactive workshops explore topics like how to start feeding your baby, transitioning to texture and table foods, and coping with picky eaters. Dreading the looming back-to-school lunch-making nightmare? School lunch workshops will be held in late-August and in September.

TummyThyme also runs cooking classes where you can learn about making home-made baby foods or healthy meals for the whole family—just sign up for the age and stage you’re at. For those with bigger problems or mounting food-related anxieties, TummyThyme offers one-on-one consultations to help parents cope with specific challenges, such as the ubiquitous picky eater or what to eat after pregnancy to recover more quickly.

An added benefit of the workshops is the comfort that comes from chatting with a dozen other parents whose children are all showing the same behaviours. It also doesn’t hurt to get reassurances from registered dieticians that your kids will, with some persistence and creativity on your part, likely outgrow much of the pickiness.

Sounds like family meal times could be all we imagined them to be after all. Tested by Patti R., Ottawa

Comments