Therapeutic Feeding

Feeding therapy helps infants and children with a wide array of feeding difficulties. This type of therapy over time can address behavioral, physiological and structural issues that a child maybe experiencing. Some of the issues may be recognized as:

Reduced or limited intake
Food refusal
Food selectivity by type and/or texture
Dysphagia (swallowing difficulty)
Oral motor deficits
Delayed feeding development
Food or swallowing phobias
Mealtime tantrums

Addressing feeding problems may be important for preventing or eliminating nutritional concerns, growth concerns including failure to thrive, unsafe swallowing which may lead to aspiration pneumonia and future poor eating habits/attitudes.

How it works:

Feeding therapy is conducted in our outpatient clinic, Sensory Link Pediatric Therapy. Staff involved in conducting the initial feeding evaluation and any subsequent therapy will depend on the evaluation and the infant or child’s current concerns. The feeding team may include one or more of the following: a speech/language pathologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, nutritionist.

Initially the feeding therapist will gather information about the infant or child’s medical, feeding and developmental history. Measurements of weight, height, weight to height ratio, frame size and fat stores may be taken. An observation of a typical feeding then takes place. The evaluator may then change some aspects of the feeding and note the outcomes in order to develop a plan to address the current concerns.