Claire's Kids (don't) Eat Everything

What kind of parent is a trained speech pathologist working in paediatrics, with an autistic 10-year-old (and a 7-year-old—undiagnosed, I might add, and let's not even start on the third), but without any real understanding of restricted eating, sensory aversions, or how anxiety can completely shut down appetite?

Me. Five years ago.

If I had to go through all of that again now (and I really hope I don’t), I would be doing it very differently.

And that’s something I sit with often.

Because back then, I didn’t have the language for what I was seeing. I didn’t understand why meals felt so hard. Why “just try one bite” could escalate so quickly. Why a child could be hungry—and still unable to eat.

I was a speech pathologist. I worked with children every day. But feeding—real, complex, emotionally loaded feeding—was something I hadn’t yet been taught to see properly.

What I have now, I am incredibly grateful for.

Not just the clinical knowledge I’ve built over time—through specialised further training, our own feeding intervention and the development of a growing Food School program at Malvern Speech Pathology—but the perspective that only comes from being on the other side of it as a parent.

Because this isn’t just about food.

It’s about:

• anxiety

• control

• sensory overwhelm

• relationships

• and the quiet, persistent worry that sits with you when your child won’t eat

I’ve now seen the highs and the lows of feeding challenges—from both sides of the table.

And if there’s one thing I know for certain, it’s this:

Children who don’t eat aren’t being difficult. And parents aren’t necessarily doing it wrong.

We’re often just missing the right understanding.

This is part of what I want to explore in this space—what it really means when kids don’t eat.

Not the neat, idealised version of feeding we often see, but the real one. The one shaped by sensory differences, anxiety, personality, family life, and everything in between.

This series—Claire’s Kids (don’t) Eat Everything—is a place to unpack that.

To make sense of what’s going on beneath the surface. To share what I’ve learned—both professionally and personally. And to offer a different way of understanding children who don’t fit the usual expectations around food.

If you’ve heard, time and time again,“you give them too many options”or “just let them be hungry!”—or something else equally well-meaning, but completely missing the point—

while feeling like you’ve been slowly unravelling inside every time another mealtime rolls around…

you are not alone.

If this feels familiar, and you’d like to keep reading as I share more, you’re very welcome to subscribe below to receive new posts when they’re published.

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