Feeding Therapy & Nutrition Support
What is Feeding Therapy?
Feeding therapy can be beneficial for children who have difficulty with any aspect of feeding, including swallowing difficulties, oral motor weakness, and extreme picky eating. Often children with a history of reflux or stomach issues develop challenges with eating that can be improved with feeding therapy. If your child demonstrates any of the following behaviors, they may benefit from feeding therapy:
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Choking, gagging, or coughing during eating or drinking
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Extremely picky eater; eats fewer than 20 foods
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Avoids food of certain textures or flavors
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Gags or even throws up when presented with some foods
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Only eats when distracted by a tablet or television
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Refuses to eat new foods and may throw a tantrum when encouraged to try
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Becomes upset if food is not exactly the way they are accustomed to (certain brand, color)
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Does not eat the same meal as the rest of the family because diet is so limited
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Poor weight gain or weight loss
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Difficulty transitioning to baby food purees by 10 months, accepting table foods by 12 months, or transitioning from bottle to cup by 16 months
How We Help
Interventions focus on helping your child to accept a wide variety of healthy foods safely and participate effectively in family mealtime routines. We may work on developing oral motor skills and coordination for safe chewing and swallowing or provide education on tools to encourage improved self-feeding. Our therapists used a fun, play-based approach to help children expand their food choices and enable families to ENJOY mealtimes!
Supporting Your Child's Growth with Nutrition
Nutrition is an important part of health and wellness at all life stages, especially during childhood! Adequate nutrition is essential for growth, and forming healthy eating habits as a child can set a foundation for life-long health benefits. However, many factors can affect or interfere with a child’s ability or willingness to eat a balanced diet. By assessing a child’s unique nutritional needs, our Registered Dietitian provides diet guidance to the child and their caregivers to help meet the child’s health and growth goals.
Nutrition Therapy can help improve nutrition status for children with:
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Picky Eating
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Feeding Difficulties & Food Aversions (in conjunction with addition therapies)
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Food Intolerance & Food Allergies
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Gastrointestional Disorders (including reflux, abnormal bowel habits, malabsorptive conditions)
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Diabetes
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Weight Management Needs
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Feeding Tubes
FREE VIDEO PRESENTATION:
Strategies to Address Picky Eating
We know it can be complicated when you have a picky eater, but it doesn't have to be! We created this video presentation to help you understand how to help your picky eaters! Just fill out the form and we'll email you the presentation.