Eat and feed with joy
The Ellyn Satter Institute blogEat and feed with joy
Explore how to eat, how to feed, how to address picky eating, overweight, underweight and special needs. Get tips on coping with interference from well meaning family, doctors, and teachers. Learn how to reconcile what you want to eat with what you are supposed to eat!
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That’s too much ketchup!
We've had quite a few questions about how to navigate children serving themselves condiments such as ketchup, sugar, maple syrup and honey. Here are some of the questions and our answers: My daughter (5yo) loves condiments like salad dressing and ketchup. She consumes...
Making fun of a child’s distress
There is a video on Facebook that has had over 7 million views. You'd think it would be a positive, heart-warming post. Instead it depicts a young girl whose mother is telling her that they are no longer going to buy fast food meals. It shows the girl's distress as...
Are grandparents getting in the way of feeding?
Have you had problems with grandparents not accepting how you feed your children? Recently, a mother described the situation with her in-laws: My husband and I have been successfully implementing Satter’s division of responsibility in feeding (sDOR) since our now...
Ellyn talks about Eating Competence and the Division of Responsibility
Ellyn Satter was recently interviewed for The Dr. Taz show. This recorded podcast is a great opportunity to hear Ellyn Satter talk not only about food, eating, and feeding, but about emotional health and positive family relationships. Dr. Taz was surprised throughout...
Is it okay to breastfeed on demand into the second year?
Some say yes: Breastfeeding any time and at any age is nature’s way and therefore best. Others say no: When a child is between one and two years of age, we feed them on schedule, not on demand, and that includes breastfeeding. This is a developmental issue Ellyn...
Help Us Give Freedom
This holiday season, give the gift of freedom: Freedom to enjoy mealtimes with your child; to eat without fear, guilt, or anxiety; to know you can handle whatever feeding or eating challenge comes your way. This is the freedom parents and adults experience after...
Breaking News!
Newsflash! Woman breaks dieting cycle, discovers stopping point! Sally is a 28-year old, unmarried, professional woman who learned from her mom at a young age "how to diet." She was a regular attendee at Weight Watchers meetings by the time she was twelve, and dieted...
Turn the Tide from “Eating-without-Eating” to “Eating-with-Competence”
Brenda is a 45-year old mother of four whose "eating-without-eating" consisted of finishing off her children's plates of food while standing at the kitchen counter, bingeing on cookies while standing in the pantry where nobody was watching, and skipping meals then...
No fun: the ups and downs of dieting
An all too typical first meeting with a new client struggling with eating, weight and with their relationship with food goes something like this, “I have issues and I’m so hoping you can help me. I’ve been trying to lose weight on and off for as long as I can...
Positive or negative, it’s still pressure
Do you remember when you were a kid and your swimming teacher wanted you to jump into the pool from the high dive board? At every swimming lesson, the pressure just built up to jump off that board. It wasn’t even required to pass the class, but the other kids were...