My client, let’s call her Karen, came to me originally for help with her autoimmune disease. She was struggling with severe rheumatoid arthritis flares and we were deep into the healing process. One day when we were checking in on her progress, she mentioned her 5 year old son’s eczema – which I learned for the first time that day was so bad he was on a steady regime of high-dose steroid creams that barely kept him comfortable enough to sleep at night. She asked if I thought the work I do (and teach) would be beneficial for him as well.
My immediate response: absolutely! And then, I explained to her what would be involved.
Our tools of functional nutrition are powerful for people of all ages, including children. However, when the client is a child there are certain special considerations that we, as the practitioner, need to keep front and center, and communicate clearly with the parent at the outset.
The child is the beneficiary of the healing work, but the parent is the real client
When working with children, they are the recipient of the healing process, but the real client is the parent. It’s the parent who will facilitate and guide the process on the home front, and we need to be prepared to proactively support them with everything they need to help their child through this process. It’s hard enough to ask adults to change their diets and behaviors; requesting this of a child can be quite challenging, and the person responsible for ensuring the required changes happen is the parent.
Exacerbating this issue is the fact that oftentimes, when a child is struggling with health issues, one of the comforts they lean on is food, and sometimes the very foods they crave most are the ones that need to be removed. I’ve had many instances in my practice of working with children who only wanted starchy foods – pasta, crackers, cereals, bread products, fruit. Not surprisingly, I found significant elevations of candida on their stool tests. We know that fungal overgrowth will exacerbate sugar and starch cravings significantly. This makes for quite a challenge that the parent will be tasked with addressing on the daily.
Add to the situation the fact that the parent is likely a combination of scared, overwhelmed, worried and/or concerned about their child’s health and we’ve got a perfect storm.
For you, the practitioner, this means that you need to be prepared to go deep with the parent, providing not only your clinical recommendations, but also logistical and emotional support on how to actually implement your recommendations and make this doable for their child.
Set up infrastructure support for the whole family
Recognizing all of this, ensure you allow adequate time to help establish routines, systems, and best practices in their household. The more your recommended changes can be made across the whole family, the easier the process will be for everyone involved.
For example, if a child must eliminate gluten from their diet, the best practice is to eliminate gluten from the house entirely. This reduces in-fighting at the dinner table, removes temptation, prevents the parent from having to make multiple meal versions, and shows the child that the whole family is in it together to support them. As much as possible, set up the environment to support the process. I wrote about this concept extensively here, and this is more important than ever when working with children.
One of the prerequisites for this approach is to ensure that the entire family – in particular all caregivers – are on the same page regarding implementing the healing process. I have worked with several families where one parent is fully on-board, while the other parent doesn’t believe in a holistic approach and consistently sabotages the process by deliberately feeding the child foods that they are supposed to be avoiding. I’ve also had cases where parents have not clearly communicated with the child’s caregivers who then inadvertently feed the child off-plan simply because they didn’t fully understand the parameters of the protocol. Taking the time to ensure everyone is on the same page is essential, and you, as the practitioner, play a key role in this process.
Involve the child in the process as much as possible
As any parent knows, oftentimes a fight at mealtime is less about the food itself and more about control. Children naturally want as much authority over their own experience as possible, and done right, this process can help give them more control during a period of time where they actually have less of it.
For example, parents can involve the child in helping to figure out what they can eat, have them participate in grocery shopping and meal prepping, and give them options among the foods that are on-plan rather than simply dictating what’s for dinner. As a practitioner, you can support your clients in helping them strategize creative ways to involve their children in as many parts of the process as possible and allow them the ownership and control they want.
A real-life example of this in action: when my children are invited to a birthday party and we know the foods served will be loaded with refined sugars and gluten, both things that our kids don’t eat, we actively involve them in choosing a home-made treat they can bring to the party both as a contribution and to ensure our children have something fun and allowable to eat. They get to choose what to make and participate in making it, and are often incredibly proud when they arrive at the party with something to share that they made themselves. It shifts the focus completely away from what they “can’t have” to what they decided to make and share with the others. (Side note: it probably goes without saying but it’s always a good idea to clear this with the party host first!)
Use this as a learning process for the child to listen to their body’s cues
One of the biggest gifts we can give our children is to teach them how to tune into their own body wisdom. During a healing process like this, we want to encourage the child to pay attention to how their body feels after eating foods that are harmful vs. after eating foods that are more nourishing and healing. Our job is to teach the parents how to help increase their child’s awareness and help them determine how they feel with various foods.
An effective way to do this is to have the parent ask the child a series of 1-3 questions at the beginning of the process, and then check in on these regularly throughout the healing protocol. For example, if the child has digestive issues, simply ask “how does your tummy feel?” and “does your tummy feel different after eating this meal than it did after breakfast?” to help them start to listen to what their body is saying. This strategy works best for children who are at least 6 or 7, but it’s never a bad idea to ask the questions and help the child start thinking in this way at any age. This is a gift that will last them a lifetime – helping them to be in touch with their body in response to different inputs.
Remember: children are resilient and energetically very sensitive
Something we often need to remind ourselves and the parents we work with is that children’s bodies are very responsive, resilient, and often heal faster than adults. It’s tempting to project our fears and concerns onto the child, but this only slows the process. Children are incredibly sensitive energetically, and if they feel a parent’s concern, they will undoubtedly absorb that subconsciously. The best thing both you and a parent can do is to believe in the child’s innate ability to heal and thrive, to see the child as resilient and strong, and to impart those beliefs onto the child. If the parent is focused on how hard this process will be and is concerned that the child won’t do well, their child will sense that and respond accordingly. Energy and intention have a powerful impact.
Karen and I dove into the healing work with her son, and through a customized diet and targeted supplement protocol informed by the results of stool and food sensitivity testing (the tools we teach in Mastering the Art and Science of Gastrointestinal Healing), his debilitating eczema completely cleared up and he was able to go off of the steroid creams. We used all of the strategies I described here and the whole family’s health has improved accordingly. Not to mention the fact that now Karen is making one meal that works for the whole family – rather than one meal for the kids, one for herself, and a third for her husband.
Working with children can be one of the most satisfying aspects of a functional nutrition practice, and can have a lasting impact on the child’s health as well as the entire family’s approach to their diet and lifestyle. To learn more about how to integrate these tools into your practice, check out the first course in the IRH Core Curriculum: Mastering the Art and Science of Gastrointestinal Healing.
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FAQ
These frequently asked questions expand on the key clinical and implementation concepts discussed in this article to help practitioners more effectively support children and their families through a nutrition-focused healing process.
Who is the primary client when working with a child in a functional nutrition practice?
The parent is the primary client because they are responsible for implementing the healing plan at home. While the child is the beneficiary of the clinical recommendations, practitioners should provide parents with both clinical guidance and practical support to help them carry out the protocol consistently.
How can practitioners help families successfully implement dietary changes for children?
Creating supportive household systems makes dietary changes easier to maintain. Helping families establish routines, reduce unnecessary barriers, and involve the entire household can improve consistency and reduce conflict around food.
Why is it important for all caregivers to follow the same nutrition plan?
Consistency among caregivers helps prevent setbacks and confusion during the healing process. Practitioners should encourage parents to clearly communicate the child’s nutrition plan with everyone involved in the child’s care, including co-parents, grandparents, babysitters, and other caregivers.
What role does family participation play in supporting a child’s healing?
Family-wide participation helps normalize dietary changes and reduces feelings of isolation for the child. For example, removing a food such as gluten from the entire household may reduce temptation, simplify meal preparation, and demonstrate family support.
Why can dietary changes be especially challenging for children?
Children may rely on familiar foods for comfort and often have less control over health-related decisions than adults. This can make dietary changes emotionally challenging for both the child and the parent, requiring additional practitioner support.
How can practitioners help children become active participants in their healing process?
Giving children age-appropriate choices can increase engagement and cooperation. Practitioners can encourage parents to involve children in grocery shopping, meal preparation, and selecting meals or treats that fit within their nutrition plan.
Examples include:
- Choosing recipes together
- Helping prepare meals
- Selecting approved foods from several options
- Bringing homemade treats to social events when appropriate
How can practitioners teach children to recognize their body’s responses to food?
Helping children notice how they feel after eating can build lifelong body awareness. Parents can ask simple, age-appropriate questions before and throughout the healing process to encourage children to connect physical symptoms with different foods.
Examples include:
- “How does your tummy feel?”
- “Does your tummy feel different after this meal than it did earlier today?”
The article notes this approach is particularly effective for children around age six or seven and older but can be introduced earlier.
What should practitioners consider when a child has strong cravings for sugar or starches?
The article notes that some children with significant fungal overgrowth identified on stool testing also exhibit strong cravings for sugary and starchy foods. These cravings can make dietary changes more difficult, so practitioners should prepare parents for the implementation challenges they may encounter.
How can practitioners support parents emotionally during a child’s healing journey?
Parents often feel overwhelmed, worried, or uncertain while helping their child recover. In addition to providing clinical recommendations, practitioners should offer practical guidance, encouragement, and implementation strategies that make the process feel more manageable.
Why is a parent’s mindset important during a child’s healing process?
Children are highly sensitive to the attitudes and emotions of the adults around them. The article encourages practitioners to help parents focus on their child’s resilience and capacity for healing rather than projecting fear or discouragement throughout the process.
Are children capable of responding well to functional nutrition interventions?
According to the article, children are often highly resilient and may respond quickly to appropriate nutrition-focused interventions. The case example describes improvements achieved through a customized dietary approach and targeted supplementation informed by stool testing and food sensitivity testing, alongside consistent family implementation.
How can supporting one child’s healing benefit the entire family?
Implementing a child-centered healing plan often leads to healthier routines across the household. The article’s case example describes how adopting one family meal plan simplified meal preparation while supporting the health of multiple family members.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Margaret Floyd Barry, FNTP MRHP is owner and Executive Director of the Institute of Restorative Health. She’s a functional nutritionist, author, speaker, educator, and real food advocate. Through years of experience working with the most complex client cases, including reversing her own autoimmune condition, Margaret uses a powerful system for restoring health by addressing the root cause of illness.
Today, Margaret teaches fellow practitioners the same proven system she uses to get her clients life-changing results through the Institute of Restorative Health – a two-year comprehensive functional nutrition certification program for qualified health professionals. Margaret also runs Restorative Corporate Wellness, a team of Restorative Health Practitioners facilitating health transformations with corporate clients. She is the author of Eat Naked and its follow-up cookbook The Naked Foods Cookbook. She’s also the host of the Clinician’s Corner podcast, where she interviews some of the world’s top experts in the fields of functional health and nutrition.
