Food Chaining: The Proven 6-Step Plan to Stop Picky Eating, Solve Feeding Problems, and Expand Your Child's Diet

For two and half years of age, my son's poor nutritional intake was augmented nearly exclusively via a liquid diet. He just would not eat real food and his poor weight gain was diagnosed as "failure to thrive." As the parent of an exceedingly picky eater, I was delighted to have a book that was able to help us support our son with taking more solid foods and move towards a more diverse diet. The authors explain in a very accessible language why some children become picky eaters. More importantly, they provide sound advise through the process call food chaining on how to create a plan that can move a child from eating only bacon strips to having a cheeseburger. The book has helped our family transition from always having stressful meal situations to more enjoyable and supportive meal times. A year later, my son's weight is above the 15th percentile and all of his nutrition comes from real food.

This is a wonderful resource for any family dealing with feeding difficulties. My 18-month old daughter has a history of gastrointestinal reflux disease, multiple food protein allergies, sensory integration disorder and gastroparesis (delayed gastric emptying). In addition to these medical issues, she has been diagnosed with a pediatric feeding disorder due to her strong aversion to anything that is not dry and crunchy. We have had her in feeding therapy since she was 10 months old, but started looking for other information when her therapy recently started hitting a plateau. This book has been a wonderful resource for me as a parent, and helped our relatives to understand my daughter's condition through its clear explanations of the underlying causes of feeding disorders. The food chaining section has helped me to think more creatively about the foods I offer my daughter and the order in which I present those foods. The concept of taking a set of accepted foods and slowly expanding the child's food horizons is very useful for any parent dealing with a child with extreme food selectivity. I thank the feeding team that authored this book for their insightful work and only wish that they lived in my city so that I could work with them directly!

Hi All. I rated our work for the effort that went into it. Ha. It would not let me not rate it. This is Cheri Fraker, one of the team of authors of the book. I have been asked to comment by several parents about some of the reviews. Thank you everyone who commented for sharing your thoughts. As part of the medical feeding team of authors who wrote the book and the parent of a child with cyclic vomiting syndrome, I feel the need to tell you that every day in my practice I find typical kids with underlying medical issues such as swallowing problems, esophagitis, eosinophilic esophagitis and milk protein allergy. I find attentive, concerned parents searching for answers, just as I did, before Dr. Fishbein saved my son after six years of searching for answers. I know the desperation parents feel as I have been there. The chapters are written by 4 different authors (peds GI, dietitian, OT, speech therapy, etc) telling you from their perspective what they look for and how to evaluate both infants and children before moving to food chaining. Those 5 steps help you feel confident about moving on to expanding foods. We never said anything was easy and we never said you jump from chicken nuggets to vegetables, please don't set yourself up for disappointment, but we have achieved moving kids who ate 2 foods to 150, in time, teaching children about food and health and nutrition and working as a team. We would never tell a family who had a child who ate healthy foods to go to junk food or food of lower nutritional value. We just use the foods a child eats to expand to a healthier diet.

So I've decided that I should also put my two cents worth in regarding the book and other comments here. This is Alicia, and yes, my son Ewan is mentioned in the book under the Special Needs section. First off, is this book for everyone? Maybe not, no book, no theory, no treatment plan out there is for absolutely everybody. But give it a shot if you've got a child that is a picky eater or problem eater, it's 12 bucks that could change your life. Secondly, keep your mind open. If your mind is already closed to new ideas and new ways of doing things it's hard to help anyone, including your child. Third, the whole 'encourages a child to eat junk food' notion is off base. The problem stems from the fact that these children have ALREADY self limited their foods to the, let's say, not the healthiest foods on the market. That's why many of the chains focus on moving from McNuggets and 'junk' food that someone else mentioned. My son was one of these children that the only 'meat' he would accept was a chicken McNugget--hence our chain started from there and grew. He now eats a variety of meats but in all honesty, he's not a real big meat lover, he eats some but not all meats...it's just not his 'thing'. As for the moving from junk food to broccoli and healthy foods idea--you bet your behind my son did that. He is living proof that food chaining took him from pop-tarts, McNuggets, popcorn, and chips to eating foods like raw spinach leaves, broccoli, salsa, green peppers, cabbage, lettuce, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, apples, oranges, pineapple...well you get the point, a very healthy diet. I'd match my son's diet now up against the healthiest of stone age diets out there! How in the name of all that is holy did that happen? Well, first this team actually looked at my son with open eyes and found an underlying medical problem called Eosinophilic Esophagitis that had been making eating a painful experience for him. So please don't scoff when you say, oh this is only for kids that are obviously really sick...some underlying problems are very hidden and can be a factor in why child is limiting their food intake. My son was one of those children that looked healthy and no one would have guessed that was going on. Now let me also say that when you order this book you do not also get a complimentary magic wand in the mail. There is NO magic wand that transforms your child from a picky or problem eater into this kid like "Mikey" from the commercials that will eat anything. A good thing to keep in mind is that we ALL have foods we DON'T like! Food chaining, or any treatment plan for tackling these type of eating / feeding issues, takes time. It takes time, patience, understanding, and knowledge of how we eat and how we discover new foods and new tastes. Food chaining can be fun and exciting if you let it, if you open your mind to food, tastes, eating, and new experiences. So I encourage those of you struggling with feeding

I must first say that I am the mother of a little boy that has struggled with eating since the age of 1 (he's now 3 1/2). I must also say that the feeding team that wrote this book helped us when no one else would or could. We owe them so much...thank you! If your child struggles with mealtime...this is the only book you need! It's fabulous! It's easy to read and written for parents to understand. I love the short stories in the book because they help the parent realize that they are not the only ones struggling with this issue. There are also great "Did You Know" sections every couple of pages that give great advice and tips. Also, the authors have provided a glossary in the book to outline the terms/conditions that you may not be familiar with. Lastly, they have given so many example diagrams of food chaining, a process developed by author Cheri Fraker, that tells the parent exactly where to start and where to go next with the foods that your child will eat. Dealing with eating difficulties is challenging and it's easy to get off track...I'm so glad that I purchased this book because it's a great guide to have on hand and to keep you focused on what to do and what not to do, whether you are just starting out with food chaining or whether you're an "ol' pro!" Kudos to you all! Fantastic book!