Does my child need Feeding Therapy?

Written By Amanda Vickery

What is feeding therapy and how do I know if my child could benefit from it?  These are common questions that are often asked, so let’s explore this more!

Feeding Therapy, in its simplest terms, is when a trained therapist helps teach a child how to eat or eat better.  Feeding Therapy is one of the best ways to get help for a child’s difficulties with eating as it involves a thorough evaluation that considers the individual child’s medical history, needs, strengths, difficulties, family situation, cultural beliefs and lifestyle, and individual goals are set accordingly.  Feeding Goals could be something like: Johnny will happily sit at the table for 15 minutes during family mealtimes, or Penny will drink from a cup independently 75% of the time, or Annie will feel less pressure to eat foods she is not ready to and will tolerate a raw carrot on her plate when served with her preferred foods.

Feeding Therapy is usually run by an Occupational Therapist, Speech Pathologist or a Dietitian.  Sometimes one of these disciplines can help a child to meet their goals alone and other times, each of these disciplines may need to be involved in the process as each of us have expertise in different areas.  If you want to work on Feeding Goals with your child, it is important to consider whether your therapist has extra training in the area of feeding.  If your therapist does not feel confident in feeding, seeking a specific Feeding Therapist may be a good idea to work on your child’s Feeding Goals, while your regular therapist continues to work on other Goals with your child.

Following an initial evaluation, Feeding Therapy could involve:

  • just a few sessions with the parent / caregiver (no child) to brainstorm and talk through some strategies that may help;

  • individual sessions with the child (parent/caregiver also involved) either face to face or via telehealth;

  • video evaluation of the child’s mealtimes at home, or caregiver-child mealtimes in the therapy setting;

  • group feeding therapy blocks 

Refer to The Feeding OT services for different options that we can provide. 

If you would like to learn how feeding therapy can help your child, fill in our referral form and we will be in touch soon to chat further and arrange an initial appointment if appropriate.

 

If any part of the eating or mealtime process feels difficult, feeding therapy could help!

Some signs that feeding therapy could be appropriate for your child include:      

  • Excessive picky eating

  • Refusal to try new foods

  • Mealtimes are a constant battle

  • You always feel like you are forcing your child to eat

  • Will only eat when distracted or watching a screen

  • Excessive gagging at mealtimes

  • Coughing, choking or vomiting at mealtimes

  • You can not eat certain foods around your child without them getting upset or running away

  • Limited repertoire of foods

  • Will not feed themselves with their fingers and/or spoon/fork

  • Poor weight gain / failure to thrive

  • Physical challenges that make mealtimes difficult

  • Difficult transitioning to solids

  • Has not transitioned out of the natural 15-18 month picky eating phase

  • Becomes very upset if food is presented to them different to usual

Amanda Vickery