What to Expect During a Family Nutrition Session

Written By Naima Sullivan, MS, RD, LDN

Clinical Supervisor, Karuna Wellness Studio

At Karuna we understand that parents and other caregivers have the biggest influence over a child’s food environment and behaviors. That’s why we approach pediatric nutrition with the whole family in mind. From your first family nutrition session with us, our goal is to become your partner as you embark on the journey to better health for you and your family.

Our family nutrition sessions cover a range of topics including:

• Infant feeding
• Starting solids
• Picky eating
• Growth and developmental concerns
• Food allergies
• Weight concerns
• Eating disorders and disordered eating
• Mental health
• Nutrition for student athletes
• General health and wellness
  

Our family sessions start with a face-to-face initial nutrition assessment with your dietitian. Here’s what you can expect on that first visit:

We start our assessment before you set foot in our office

Before your first session, we’ll ask you to complete some new client paperwork. This is your opportunity to tell us about your child’s health history and share your concerns. We’ll also ask you to sign a release form so that we can contact your child’s pediatrician and review their medical record and growth charts. This information allows us to begin your child’s assessment and prepare for our time together.

We want to spend time with you and your child

The first session is all about getting to know each other. In most cases we’ll start our session with you and your child together. We’ll gather information about your child’s health history, interests and hobbies, food preferences, and physical activity. We’ll also ask about your home life and how your family approaches things like meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking. After gathering some of this basic information, we may ask to spend some time with just the parents and, depending on their age, with just the child. This one-on-one time is important because it gives both parent and child the opportunity to speak freely about things they might not want to discuss as a group.

We avoid talking about your child’s weight, body shape, or food choices in front of them

The research is pretty clear that the way we talk about our kids’ body size, body shape, and eating habits can have a significant impact on their self esteem and mental well-being. For that reason we avoid weight and diet talk when your child is present. It’s only natural that as a parent you will have concerns about your child’s weight, picky eating, or food choices. Our goal is to give you ample one-on-one time with your dietitian to discuss these concerns without the risk of causing shame, embarrassment, or anxiety for your child. If this isn’t possible, we can schedule a time for a follow up phone call to discuss those concerns in private.

We love to play!

We want to make nutrition fun for you and your child. Our Norwood office is well-stocked with toys, games, and art supplies for hands-on learning. In our virtual sessions, we may ask your child to bring some of their favorite toys or give us a virtual tour of their room or kitchen. We may use the internet to research interesting foods or recipes and many of our dietitians enjoy doing virtual cook-alongs. Not only is play a great way to break the ice, it’s also a way for us to see how you and your child interact and communicate with each other. Once we see more of your child’s communication and learning style, we can tailor our sessions to make sure they are fun and engaging.

We collaborate with you to create a plan and set realistic goals

By the end of your first session we hope that you feel your concerns have been heard and that you and your child are feeling more at ease about what’s to come. We may recommend one or more parent coaching sessions, especially for kids age 12 and younger. This is to help you develop a solid plan for food shopping, meal planning, meal and snack structure, and even how you speak to your child about food or their body. We’ll also give you tips on how you can model healthy eating and self care.

From there we might meet with your child, with or without you, for age appropriate nutrition education and exploration. For adolescents and teens we can begin more intensive one-on-one work. If needed we can provide referrals to other medical and mental health providers. Throughout the process we will stay in close contact with you to discuss your child’s progress and make adjustments to the plan.

Many parents are pleasantly surprised to see that we don’t just hand you a generic meal plan or copy and pasted tips for healthy eating. We strive to provide you with a personalized plan that emphasizes family connection, enjoyment of food, body respect, and joyful movement. We want to guide you in setting up a positive food environment and modeling a balanced lifestyle for your child.

Want to learn more about how we can support you and your family? Set up an intake call today!

References:

https://more-love.org/resources/free-dont-talk-about-my-childs-weight-cards/
https://healthcare.utah.edu/integrative-health/driving-out-diabetes/family-food-matters/healthy-home-environment/research-tips