42. Should You Sneak Food or Supplements?
The Nourishing Autism Podcast is BACK! It feels soooo good to be back after taking a "quick" break after becoming a mom last November!
If you have ever had the urge to sneak a food or supplement into one of your child's foods, you are not alone! Unfortunately, this approach often backfires as it can cause kids to lose trust in you and in food, which in turn can make selective eating even more difficult. We talked about the pros & cons, what to do if you're currently doing this, and my recommended approach instead.
I also hinted at an exciting launch coming soon 👀 - DM me the word WAITLIST on IG and I’ll send you the link to sign up!!
SUBSCRIBE ↓
IN THIS EPISODE
Why it’s a good idea to proceed with caution when deciding if you’re going to sneak supplements and food into a child's diet
The importance of trust in food and the caregiver in picky eating success
What the syringe method is and why you should consider it
How to download my free 10-page Getting Started Guide and join the waitlist for my upcoming launch!
LINKS
Join the waitlist for the Nourishing Autism Collective
Oral feeding syringe by Haakaa on Amazon
View my Instagram post on the Syringe Method
Follow @AutismDietitian on Instagram
TRANSCRIPT
Hi, I'm Brittyn, a Registered Dietitian and autism sibling. I have a passion for helping parents of neurodivergent kids navigate nutrition and wellness for their child, one small step at a time. Here we'll explore practical nutrition tips, learn from top autism experts, break down the newest research, and share inspirational stories that will empower you to utilize nutrition to help your child feel their best and thrive.
Listen in while picking kids up from school, sitting in a therapy waiting room, taking a quick walk or wherever you find yourself, looking for some inspiration (and a friend) to guide you along this journey. This is Nourishing Autism.
[00:00:00]
Wow. Hello, you guys. It has been exactly a year whenever I posted my last podcast episode and it said "Just taking a quick break!" Well, it has been a year. A lot has happened since then. So, hello, thanks to all of you who have joined this podcast while I've been out, who are those who are long-term listeners? I am glad to be back and contributing more frequently to this podcasts. So now you can expect more regular [00:01:00] podcast episodes from me. As I settle into a new life, which is being a mom. So the whole reason why I took a break from podcasting in the beginning was because I was 40 weeks pregnant. So ready to go into labor little did I know it was almost two weeks later that I ended up actually going into labor and believe me. I literally tried every single thing. Like you, you guess it, I tried it. And gave birth to a little boy. His name is Sam and he is almost a year old at this point. I just can hardly believe it. So. Thanks for being patient with me as I took the time to soak in becoming a mom and learning to also be an entrepreneur that is also a mom at the same time. So. Throughout the past year, my business has changed so much and I've been able to support people in new ways that are super [00:02:00] exciting. And what's even more exciting is that my business. Is completely changing here in literally like two to three weeks. I'm so excited to share more about it. You guys, but as of yet, I still have a few things left before I can announce it publicly. So believe me, the news is coming. If you're on Instagram, I'm sorry. I've been teasing you about this upcoming launch. I will say it is the biggest launch that we will be having over a year, autism dietician and. It, I'm trying to make it as perfect as I can, but I totally also recognize that perfect doesn't exist. So anyway, I can't wait to. Help you. Moving forward. I can't wait to share what I have up my sleeve. I'm going to post the link to the waitlist in the description of this podcast so that you can add your name to it and be notified when this goes live. I will say I have some [00:03:00] beta testers inside of this resource right now who are testing out. The inside and everything that will be available and it's going so well, nothing but great things. It's been 10 out of 10 vibes. So anyway, I'll stop teasing you. I just can't wait for you to see it. So definitely grab Like hop on that. Wait list. If you comment on one of my posts. You can just comment wait-lists and I'll send you the link as well. If that's easier. So I want to get started on a topic today. That I've been talking about on Instagram. And I talk about with my clients all the time, and that is. Sneaking supplements into food and sneaking food into food. And I want to talk about why you might proceed with caution. If this is you, or if this is something that you've done in the past. When it comes to food. I want your kids to have all of the trust in you. And in food. [00:04:00] And I don't want them to lose trust because the moment that we lose trust either in food or in you as the caregiver, picky eating gets a lot harder. Feeding gets a lot harder. I used to have this client. This was back in oh 2016, 6 years ago, seven years ago. However long that is. And he was only eating Pediasure and Cheeto puffs at the time. And they had tried so hard to get him to try something new, which I. Deep deep in my heart understand because it hurts when your child is such a picky eater, that they won't eat anything new. You're desperate to try anything. So they started trying to sneak things in his Pediasure. They were putting a multivitamin in there. They were putting maybe a fiber. Supplement in there. And he lost so much trust in them throughout that process. That he now had to hear the seal [00:05:00] of the PediaSure break before he would actually drink it. So if he knew that. The seal was broken, something might've already been in there and he really needed to know and have that trust. Now again, it's so hard as a parent who has a child with a really limited diet, because everything that you're doing, trying to get them to eat that food, whether it's sneaking that food in putting it on their plate, you have the best intentions. You're just trying to get them to get the nutrients that they need to feel good.
And so I just want you to know, I fully understand that, although there is a better way now it's not as quick and easy as mixing a supplement or mixing the food into their preferred food, but it's something that can last a lot longer and be a lot more sustainable. What we need to do is focus on their sensory needs. Come up with a plan that aligns with that and use a very sensory friendly approach [00:06:00] kid-friendly approach to gradually introduce one food at a time. I just made it sound way easier than it is. And I know all of you who have tried feeding therapy who have worked on expanding their child's diet, you know, that it takes time and careful attention on how we're going to expand their diet. So. I want you to know, I do this for a living. I would love to support you through this and help you understand how to expand your child's diet. In fact, if you get on the wait list for this upcoming resource, I will be able to do just that. So again, Check the description of this podcast to get on the waitlist or comment waitlist on one of my Instagram posts. And you will be sent that link immediately.
Now a lot of you might be wondering. Well, if I'm not going to put my child's multivitamin or supplement into their drink or their food. What am I going to do? Like, how am I going to get them to take it? Cause they certainly can't take a pill. Well, the way that I really recommend doing it is through the syringe [00:07:00] method. And the syringe method is basically taking an oral syringe. One that you got from a bottle of Motrin or medication or whatever it might have been where you've got that oral syringe. If you don't have one, you can actually just go to CVS, walk on up to the pharmacy, say that you need some of the oral syringes for kids.
They gave me a 10 pack for free. So. Just ask. I do have one that I really prefer. If you are going to be doing this regularly and you, maybe your child has a negative association with those particular syringes, you can go online. I really like the Haakaa. H A A K A A for this view who are nursing moms. You will recognize this brand as the milk collection cups that you can use when you're breastfeeding. And they have an oral feeding syringe and the top looks like this bottle nipple. I'm going to link this in the description for [00:08:00] you. It looks like a bottle nipple. And then there's this little cup that comes in there too. So what you can do is you can pour in maybe 10 milliliters of fluid and this could be their favorite juice.
It could be water, it could be whatever you want it to be. And then you mix in the amount of that supplement and there you mix it up really well. Then you suck it up into that syringe and you take it all in one serving. So or as much of one serving as you can get it. The good thing about doing this is that it ensures that they're getting all of that. Supplement instead of having them drink are really diluted four to eight fluid ounce cup of this diluted supplement. They're probably only going to take a few sips. This way, it is over with super quickly and you know that they got the dose. Now this can take some time to build up to. And so usually what I recommend is if your child has any past trauma with one of their syringes, like a medicine syringe, You can start [00:09:00] with just water or just one of their preferred liquids and give it to them in that. If you need to take a step back from there, you can even like, while they're in the bath, hand them the syringe, let them squirt with it, squirt some water into their mouth, like have fun with it and make it feel less intimidating.
Then from there, work your way up. So work your way back into this positive experience. And you can start with a very small amount of that, that supplement in the fluid and gradually increase. Increase as you go. Again, this can help build some more trust between you and your child around food because you're making the supplement or medication, a separate experience than their food. And so we want to make sure that we're separating it away from food, especially if your child is a really picky eater. We don't want them to be worried that their favorite foods are going to taste different or yet. Ki or just not the way that they like it. Now we do expand to new foods that are different from their favorites, [00:10:00] but I don't like to sneak it on them. I also work with so many parents who have the best intentions when we're trying to like sneak in. Some fruit or veggie powder. I say, just do this with caution and if it's already working for you, you can absolutely continue to do it. I am just sharing what has, and hasn't worked for my clients and more often than not, I see sneaking something in backfiring, but like I said, it's working for you. Continue to do it. If you've done this before and it has backfired. No that you were doing it for all the right reasons. You just want your child to get the nutrients. They need to feel good. And that is one of the easiest ways to do it. Now the exception being, if you are going to mix something in their food and it is 1000% undetectable and your child, isn't going to lose trust in that food. Like they've done fine with mixing things in it before. That may be something that you can leverage when trying new things [00:11:00] that might feel really familiar. To your child to have a familiar food. And something else mixed into it, you know, your child best, but if you haven't done this before, Definitely proceed with caution. And I would start with having things separate before you integrate it together. Especially if it's a highly nutritious food like milk. For example, I wouldn't want to mix a supplement in milk or mix something else in milk. If that's where they're getting a majority of their protein and calories, we want to make sure that we keep that food safe. And that we expand outward in other areas before we touch that highly, highly preferred, nutritious food.
If you'd like a plan on the syringe method, I do have some graphics on my Instagram. So you can go check out at autism dietician and check out some of my recent posts and you'll be able to see. Post titled warming up to this syringe method for supplements. And then another one that says, instead of try and [00:12:00] using an oral syringe, so you can go check that out and see if it fits, let me know how that goes for you. And you can take it slow. If you're adding things in, you can start with a small amount of the dose.
You don't have to do it all or nothing. And that's something I say to all my clients. It doesn't have to be black or white. You can do it in small increments. Over a longer period of time. We just have to follow what works for your child. And that comes down to feeding as well. Now, if you're just getting started with nutrition for autism, and you're feeling really overwhelmed in here, like what the heck do I feed my child? What supplements do I give my child? What lab work do I need to get? I have just the thing for you. So you can DM me on Instagram, the word guide, and I would love to send you my free guide to help you understand the five top things that you need to be thinking about after getting an autism diagnosis, when it comes to nutrition. Now, if you've already had a diagnosis for a long time, you can absolutely still benefit from this guide.
I would love to help you get started and understand the [00:13:00] things that you need to know about nutrition. this goes for everything from picky, eating to supplements to lab work, even some recipes, you name it.
Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of nourishing autism. I'm so sorry that it took me a whole year to get back to podcasting. It feels so good to be recording
and I can't wait to share even more topics that I have planned for you. I have some amazing guests lined up. It's really been a whole process of me collecting guests over the past, like six to eight months. And then finally clicking record to get this first podcast out to you. So. No that good things are coming exciting. Things are coming both in the podcast and in my practice, one really, really, really cool way to support you is going to be coming up in the next few weeks. And those on the wait list are going to be notified about it. First, they get an [00:14:00] exclusive discount to this new resource and early access.
So you definitely want to be on the wait list to be notified when it goes live. So you can get. Get in there first, get the bonuses, get the discount. And get early access and then it will be launched to everybody else about a week later so i can't wait to share this with you sorry i'm being so cryptic but i do need to tie up a few loose ends before i share any of the big big news. Thanks so much for being here if you enjoyed this episode I'd be so grateful if you left a five star review on apple podcasts or spotify podcast or wherever you listen to your podcast. i'll see you next time.
[00:15:00]
Thanks so much for joining me for another episode of Nourishing Autism. If you enjoyed this podcast, I'd love to invite you to join us inside of the Nourishing Autism Collective, an empowering and supportive community for moms of kids on the autism spectrum to get nutrition and picky eating support from me and my team of autism dietitians, access my autism nutrition library, explore hundreds of kid-friendly recipes, connect with other moms on a similar journey, and learn from top autism experts like occupational therapists, speech therapists, and more.
Come join us at www.nourishingautism.co. Also, if you enjoyed this podcast, I'd be so grateful if you shared it with a friend and gave it a five star review on Apple and Spotify podcasts. So I can spread the word about nutrition for autism and reach more amazing families like you. See you next time.
Transcribed by Descript
ABOUT Brittyn Coleman, MS, RDN/LD, CLT
I’m a Registered Dietitian, Autism Nutrition Expert, and the Creator of the Autism Nutrition Library.
I work with parents of children with autism to optimize their child’s diet, supplements, and lifestyle based on their unique needs. I help expand accepted foods for picky eaters, improve digestion and gut health, find the root causes of many symptoms, and ultimately help them feel their best so that they can do their best and be their best.
Not only do I relate to families on a professional level, but also on a personal level. I have been a part of the autism community for over 20 years, as my younger brother was diagnosed on the spectrum at a young age.
I look forward to working with you to uncover the root cause of your child’s symptoms and help your child be the best version of themselves!
