I review a short video of your real mealtime and show you the patterns affecting your child’s eating—so you know what’s actually getting in the way and what to try next.
Brenda Chilstrom, OTR/L • Pediatric Occupational Therapist • Feeding Specialist
When Mealtimes Keep Falling Apart, Another Set of Eyes Can Change Everything
You don’t need a perfect video — real life is exactly what helps most.
When meals start feeling this way, something deeper is usually going on.
• Your child eats the same few foods over and over
• Dinner turns into pressure, negotiations, or tears
• You worry they aren’t getting enough nutrition
• You’ve tried encouraging, bribing, or “just one bite”
• Mealtime feels like something you have to survive every day
Many parents assume this means they need to try harder, be firmer, or find the “right strategy.”
But more often, these struggles are signals that something in your child’s sensory system, nervous system, or mealtime environment is making eating feel difficult.
When patterns become clearer, it’s much easier to know what to change.
If mealtimes feel hard, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed.
Chances are, you’ve already tried everything you know to do.
Encouraging bites.
Making special meals.
Trying to find something your child will actually eat.
You’re doing those things because you care deeply about your child.
When feeding starts to feel confusing or stressful, it’s very easy to fall into patterns of pressure simply because you’re trying to keep your child nourished and get through the meal.
That doesn’t mean you caused the struggle.
More often, it means something about eating has become difficult for your child’s body — and once we understand what your child is reacting to, the next steps start to make a lot more sense.
Many feeding evaluations happen in a clinic.
But children often eat very differently when they are:
• in a new environment
• sitting with a therapist
• outside their usual routines
At home — at your actual kitchen table — the real patterns tend to appear.
The body language.
The sensory reactions.
The subtle signals that show when your child is starting to feel overwhelmed.
When we can see a real meal, those small clues often start to come together — and the feeding challenges that once felt confusing begin to make sense.
The real clues often show up at your own kitchen table
The Mealtime Reset
The Mealtime Reset is an expert review of your real mealtime.
You send a short video of a typical meal.
I watch the interaction carefully and review it through the lens of:
• sensory processing
• nervous system regulation
• feeding relationship dynamics
• the physical setup of your eating environment
Then I share personalized feedback and guidance to help you understand the patterns affecting your child’s eating and what adjustments may help meals work better.
Often the smallest details — the ones that are hardest to notice when you’re in the thick of the meal — are what start to bring clarity to the whole picture.
How the Mealtime Reset works
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Step 1 — Record
Take a short video of a typical meal. Nothing fancy — just real life.
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Step 2 — Upload
Send your video securely through a simple submission form.
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Step 3 — Expert Review
I carefully review your video to identify the patterns affecting your child’s eating.
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Step 4 — Your Reset
You receive personalized video feedback and guidance to help you understand what’s happening at the table and what to try next.
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Often it’s the smallest shifts that change everything.
During a Mealtime Reset we’re not trying to overhaul everything about your meals.
Instead, we look for the adjustments that can begin lowering the pressure at the table and helping meals feel more manageable.
Sometimes that might mean:
🪑shifting where a parent sits
🍽️adjusting how food is presented
🕶️lowering sensory load at the table
😧recognizing early signals of overwhelm
When those patterns become easier to see, it becomes much clearer how to support your child at the table.
What one parent discovered after sharing a real feeding
A few simple adjustments made feeding much easier for both Coy and his mom.
When Emmi first shared a video of Coy’s feeding, she described a baby who could only eat when he was sleepy.
He was swallowing a lot of air, struggling to get a good seal on the bottle, and often gagging during feeds. He seemed hungry but couldn’t settle enough to eat comfortably, and the gas was causing him constant pain.
At one point she said, “He doesn’t deserve this. He’s in such pain.”
As I reviewed the video, I could see that Coy was relying heavily on his sucking reflex and was essentially dream feeding.
Once we adjusted the bottle, feeding position, and pacing, feeding began to change quickly.
By four months old, Coy was comfortably finishing his bottles and feeding with much less stress for both him and his mom.
Sometimes the hardest part of feeding challenges is simply not being able to see what’s happening in the moment.
Another set of eyes can often make those clues much easier to recognize.
The Mealtime Reset may be a good fit if…
• mealtimes in your home feel stressful or unpredictable most days
• your child eats only a small handful of foods
• you want expert insight before deciding whether therapy is needed
• you’re currently on a therapy waitlist and need guidance now
• therapy strategies haven’t fully translated into your real meals at home
• feeding has started to feel confusing and you want to understand what’s happening
Brenda Chilstrom
Hi, I'm Brenda Chilstrom, founder of That Makes Sense OT. I'm a pediatric occupational therapist with over 30 years of experience working with children and families experiencing difficulties with feeding issues. I have a desire to help families create a safe space that allows their children’s natural curiosity to emerge.
It's not just about the food!
I believe in creating connection and trust to help transform the rigidity and power struggles around the eating process into joy-filled, adventurous exploration of foods.
I choose curiosity over compliance and envision a world where all children are flourishing and becoming the curious, adventurous little beings they were born to be.
Our Promise to You:
You’ll receive actionable steps specific to your feeding struggles, and best of all, they can be implemented right away within your family’s natural routine.
With the TableTime experience, you’ll achieve more confidence and the ability to begin to create harmonious mealtimes along your feeding journey.
Just one video submission starts you on the path to connect, trust, and add peace in your home during mealtimes.
Sign up for this introductory offer for $99 today (a $300+ value).
You won’t want to miss out!
Disclaimer: This offer does not take the place of in-person feeding therapy. It’s a lifeline for you to share your struggles and get real time assistance from someone who understands and purposes to help families reconnect, find joy and adventure, and allow their children to become the curious little beings they were born to be.