Satter Approach To Feeding

To raise a healthy child who is a joy to feed, follow the Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding (sDOR). When parents do the what, when, and where of feeding and let their child do the whether and how much of eating, children eat what and as much as they need to be healthy and grow well.¹ Parents—absolutely—do not have to struggle with getting their child to eat the right food and avoid eating the wrong food.

Following sDOR is kind to parents as well. Parents who follow sDOR feel and do better: They have lower stress, their moods are better, and they sleep better.¹

My all-new book, Ellyn Satter’s Child of Mine: Nurturing a Confident and Joyful Eater, tells what parents and professionals need to know to be trusting with feeding.

Let me tell you how I got here.

Feeding my first child began poorly

When my first child was born, I didn’t worry about feeding. I was a dietitian working in an outpatient medical practice; I knew about these things. I was shocked when, at my rapidly growing and happily breastfeeding daughter’s one-month visit, my pediatrician announced, “It is time to start solid foods.” I accepted those crazy instructions, struggled with feeding, and started the downhill slide to weaning my daughter from breastfeeding at age four months. I deferred to that MD, but she didn’t deserve it. Through generations of parents and babies, she ignored the evidence that her advice was doing harm: babies didn’t want to eat solid food, and parents struggled to get it into them.

My judgment was better than the guidance

I thought all along that advice couldn’t be right. For my month-old daughter, snuggling and breastfeeding worked, and spoon-feeding just plain didn’t. But I went with the program, and after my daughter and I survived new motherhood, I asked questions. What are children’s capabilities with feeding, and how can parents feed to support those capabilities? When my sons were born, I fed in a way that fit their development and abilities. It was fun and easy. I waited until they were ready for solid foods, spent a few weeks on baby cereal, and then let them enjoy feeding themselves mushed-up family food. Because the new pediatricians at work were willing to learn, I launched my pediatric practice. I taught other parents a kinder, gentler, and more rewarding way to feed their children and solve childhood feeding problems.

The farewell gift that wasn’t  

A decade later and still smarting about that early bad advice, I wrote a book telling other parents what I had learned: Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense. I intended that 1983 book to be a farewell gift to dietetics and to feeding and raising young children. I was in graduate school, training to become a psychotherapist, and fully intended to leave dietetics behind. But Child of Mine took on a life of its own. The media, professionals, and parents were excited about the feeding stories, which were actually a minor part of the book. I learned as well as taught from my audience members’ remarkable feeding stories.

Back into the world of child-feeding

Rather than leaving the world of child-feeding, I turned right around and went back in, this time focusing on feeding dynamics rather than nutrition. I found research that tested my practical advice, and I held my breath while I read it! I was afraid that, like that early MD, I was causing harm. My advice held up! Children ate well when parents were trusting and not controlling with feeding.

I have been working with feeding dynamics ever since: writing, consulting, doing presentations, and mentoring. Since those early days, sDOR has become widely recognized and used, if not always accurately. Here’s what to watch for when someone parrots the term division of responsibility or uses the current catchphrase, “responsive feeding.” sDOR is responsive feeding, but division of responsibility  in uneducated hand or  “responsive feeding” aren’t necessarily sDOR. If the intent is to get children to eat certain amounts and/or types of food or grow in a certain way, it is not sDOR. Such advice does harm: Feeding will go poorly. Children eat less well, and their growth can be disrupted.

sDOR works

To develop a test of adherence to sDOR, Barbara Lohse, professor and researcher, and I wrote, tested, rewrote, and tested-tested-tested. After 10 years, sDOR 2-6y has been validated and is available for use in clinical practice and research.¹ The re

search that demonstrated that when parents follow sDOR, their children have lower nutritional risk. That is enormous! It gives clear evidence that sDOR works. My clinical experience and that of my Ellyn Satter Institute colleagues demonstrate that sDOR works for all children: big and small; eager, cautious, and blasé eaters; and children with medical, developmental, or functional issues.

Join our mission!

This last part of the story is about you. My colleagues and I hope you will use this website to discover the joy of eating—and feeding—following the Satter models.

• Expose yourself to the possibilities. Poke around on the ESI website and see what you see. Read my books. Watch the videos. Get on our mailing list.
• Join our Facebook pages for the public and for professionals. Ask questions. Share your experience. Learn and grow.
• Consider what you can do to become a child advocate. Get in touch with us and share your ideas for how you can reach out to other parents and professionals.
• Donate. ESI does lot on a shoestring. Anything you can afford helps. Your donation is so important in all ways, and it is tax-deductible.

References

Lohse B, Mitchell DC. Valid and reliable measure of adherence to Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2021;53:211–222

Click to read the story of Ellyn Satter’s approach to eating