What are some signs that my child may need feeding therapy?

What skills are taught in feeding therapy?

How can feeding therapy benefit my child?

What are the signs that my child may need feeding therapy?

Mealtimes should be a positive experience for young children. Unfortunately, for some children, mealtimes can be stressful and challenging. Feeding therapy can alleviate this stress by helping children with sucking, chewing and swallowing, and self-feeding. A child may need feeding therapy if they are having difficulty with the following:

  • Demonstrates difficulty with bottle or breastfeeding.
  • Is fussy or irritable with feeding.
  • Seems congested during or after feedings.
  • Displays frequent coughing, gagging, choking, or vomiting during or immediately after eating.
  • Failure to thrive or slow weight gain
  • Excessively long feedings/mealtimes
  • Avoids or is sensitive to certain food textures, food temperatures and/or flavors.
  • “Picky eating”
  • Stuffs mouth with food or swallows food without chewing
  • Transitioning from gastric tube (G tube) feedings or modified diet to oral feedings.
  • Displays negative mealtime behaviors (For example, infant cries, arches, pulls away from food; child refuses to eat, tantrums at mealtimes, or “shuts-down” and does not engage in mealtime).

How can feeding therapy benefit my child?

Feeding therapy can help your child to achieve a safe, pleasurable, and nutritious eating and drinking experience. Our speech therapists and/or occupational therapists will work closely with you to determine the source of your child’s difficulties, and then develop specific therapies and strategies parents can use during mealtimes.

In order to provide children with what they need at home, therapists teach your child’s caregivers:

Feeding strategies and general advice for eating at home.

Tactics for addressing negative mealtime behaviors.

How to encourage your child to eat new foods introduced during therapy at home.

To keep a food log of what your child eats and how he or she acts at mealtime and reacts to foods

How to control and coordinate chewing, sipping, sucking, and swallowing, as well as increase their oral strength and range of motion.

Self-feeding Independence:

To develop feeding independence by teaching skills like drinking from a cup, eating with a spoon or fork or drinking from a straw.

To create positive eating and drinking:

Therapists work with you and your child to create positive associations with food and enhance the mealtime experience.

To increase the amount and types of foods your child is willing to eat.

Children with sensory aversion or those who have had limited exposure to a variety of foods may be taught skills that help reduce their sensitivities to foods and their textures.This will allow your child to better enjoy meals and eat a more balanced, healthy diet.