Just Take a Bite: Easy, Effective Answers to Food Aversions and Eating Challenges!

by Lori Ernsperger, Tania Stegen-Hanson, Temple Grandin (Foreword)

Winner of an iParenting Media Award! Is your child a picky eater, or a full-fledged resistant eater? Does he or she eat only 3-20 foods, refusing all others, eat from only one food group, or gag, tantrum, or become anxious if you introduce new foods? If so, you have a resistant eater. Learn the possible causes, when you need professional help, and how to deal with the behavior at home. Learn why “don’t play with your food” and “clean your plate”―along with many other old saws―are just plain wrong. And who said you have to eat dessert last? Get ready to have some stereotypes shattered! Helpful chapters And more!

Genres: Parenting, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Nonfiction, Health

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Guinevere · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took a peek at some of the other reviews on this book, especially as I was surprised that the overall rating was lower than I expected. I can sympathize with some of the comments on the lay-out - I would definitely recommend reading the entire book first, and then going back through and putting together a plan that fits your particular needs. It's not a workbook-type where you go through each step of the process before reading on, and it won't work well if approached that way.

Beyond that, excellent advice and strategies, with investigations into physical aspects that don't pertain to our child but raised issues that I hadn't considered and my end up being very helpful. As they point out in this book, changing food habits is a long process, so wish us luck, and my best to you and yours as well!

[Private Account · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much better than How to Get Your Kids to Eat! So many great ideas! So clear and specific!

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, the practical information contained in this book was good, and the tactics were often effective. The authors use brief case studies with symptom and suggestion lists to help demonstrate the way in which developmental, sensory, or medical problems may interfere with a child's ability to learn to eat a varied and healthful diet. Just Take a Bite has the potential to be quite valuable to those seeking strategies to help them solve their child's food issues.

The main complaint I have is that the book suffered from poor editing, which may not bother others, but which tends to distract me and make me lose focus as I read. There are numerous misspellings, typos, and incorrect homonyms (like "take a peak" instead of "take a peek") contained within. There is some lack of parallel structure, and missing or poor punctuation throughout the book; these issues lent an overall less-than-professional feel which was disappointing, given that the quality of data was good.

If you are seeking new feeding strategies, or you want to better understand the way in which different sensory or developmental problems may negatively impact your child's ability to learn to eat, then I highly recommend this book. If you tend to be easily annoyed or distracted by editing issues, it is still a worthwhile read, but understand from the outset that the book's very helpful information is couched in a sometimes-maddening style. I was so annoyed toward the beginning of the book that I almost chucked it, feeling that if the authors could not be bothered with proper writing or editing, their practical techniques were likely to suffer from a similar lack of attention and care. In the end, I was glad I kept reading the book, but I still feel it suffered greatly from the sub-par presentation, and would have been greatly improved by proper editing.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was disappointing for me. I very much enjoyed the first half, which discusses various causes of food resistant children. (Children who are more than just "picky".) There is much discussion during the first half of young children, and children who have physical, neurological, or sensory problems. However, the second half of the book- where the authors share ideas for how to help food resistant children- shared ideas that I felt would only work well for older, neruo-typical children. I could not see any of these games or activities working with my special needs toddler. There were a few good recommendations throughout the book such as eating together as a family, and removing stresses from eating.... but all were things that I feel were mostly common sense and had already been recommended by our son's occupational therapist. It was helpful in the beginning to understand some of the causes, but I wish the suggestions at the end had been more applicable to my child's circumstances.

[Jenny Hawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this book, I realize my child is not as problematic (in regards to resistant eating) as many of the children these doctors work with. However, my daughter still displays many of these behaviors, and I found this book very helpful as it gives tons of practical suggestions and strategies rather than just focusing on academic theories. It was easy to read and absorb. The only reason I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 is because I wish they had discussed age groups a little more. They often referred to behavior appropriate to age group or portions based on age group, and I wish they had established who constitutes the different age groups. My daughter is 4, which I don't think puts her in the toddler category, but when they refer to "young children", I'm not sure how many ages fall into that category since I consider 4 young as well as 9. Other than that, though, I thought this was a very helpful book even though the chapters on developmental/emotional delays don't apply to my child. It definitely made me feel better about the situation moving forward.

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was excellent. Really good. I wish I read it a decade ago. I would recommend it be part of the standard books that most parents pick up, along with Dr. Sears and What to Expect.

I was enthralled reading about all the things that go on while learning how to eat. I never even considered how our sense of balance and ability to hold ourselves upright even entered into the way we sit at a table and enjoy a meal! So much we take for granted!

I also want to give a shout out to the lovely double spacing and 12 point font. It's like they actually care about our eyeballs.

Really, enormously practical and helpful. Lots of tables and case studies. Incredibly intuitive layout. I can't say enough about this book. It's content is amazing and it's structure is a god-send. I want to send the authors a fruit basket.

[Kerry DellaCava · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book if your child has eating issues. I knew my son was more than a "picky eater". this book taught me about Resistant eaters. It was short and to the point. It gave me many pointers. It also let me know I wasn't crazy and to not force things down his throat (I had unsuccessfully tried that)

[Rachel Stephens]

This book addresses the issues that resistant eaters and their parents only know too well. There are helpful tips and ideas that work well when reinforced. I recommend this book for any parents who are struggling to understand and gain the knowledge they need to focus on and work with resistant eating.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been the saving grace with my son. So helpful and insightful. Recommend it to anyone who has a child who won't eat.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Might be okay for kids who are merely "picky", but not really helpful to parents of children with serious GI disorders. A lot of common sense stuff in here--just no help for those whose behavior issues are rooted in physical problems/pain in the GI tract.

[Bree · Rating 2 out of 5]

Increidbly clinical in the main bulk of the text. The grey boxed descriptions of individual children was the only thing that brought this to a parental level.

And overall, not much for parents of kids with GI pain issues.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book to be very unhelpful in its suggestions (at least for our situation). Nothing we hadn't heard before.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best books I've seen for picky eaters that wasn't simply tips about how to hide food or trick your child into eating.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok for an overview. Didn't really take a lot from this. Liked the information that linked different sensory systems to eating/refusal to eat, but it was not detailed.

[Electra Masterson]

Gave a great overview of possible reasons/causes for food aversions but suggestions for possible treatments were a bit lacking.

[Sandi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Same exact book as "Picky Eaters" but with a different title.