Feeding Therapy

Feeding Therapy is a partnership between families and a feeding therapist to provide individualized, step by step support to make eating more enjoyable and less stressful. Infants and children who may benefit from feeding therapy may have difficulty with the following:

- Sucking, Chewing, or Swallowing
- Accepting New Foods or Textures
- Taking Adequate Nutrition to Grow and Gain Weight
- Enjoyment of Eating and Participation in Family Mealtimes

Feeding therapy is always tailored to your child’s specific needs and strengths. We use a variety of approaches which may include sensory based strategies, activities to optimize the movements of the mouth, whole body exercises to address underlying postural deficits or self regulation challenges, parent coaching and education, collaboration with other members of your child’s medical team.

Partnership. Our model is one of parent partnership and coaching. We believe that parents are the experts on their children and our role is to provide a detailed picture of the underlying issues contributing to feeding difficulties and a road map of the activities that will support pleasurable, functional feeding for life.

Providing our services in the home environment allows us to view the larger picture of your child’s mealtime experiences. Understanding the nuances of your family dynamics and values around mealtimes, and unique home environment gives us the opportunity to make targeted suggestions and modifications that may help your child come to the table and stay at the table with the least amount of stress.

We work hand in hand with parents after the initial evaluation to implement small changes and practical strategies toward achieving the goals you have identified for your little one. This can be via phone sessions or in person.

We may provide additional resources such as a sensory motor plan that includes fun games and activities to build skills that will complement feeding abilities, or make referral recommendations to other specialists to further explore the many factors that could be affecting your child’s relationship with food and eating/drinking.

Any professional who works in the area of infant or pediatric feeding should have specialized training and mentorship in the field, regardless of the discipline.

Our foundation in Occupational Therapy provides a framework for supporting the whole child, in the physical and emotional place they are in right now. This includes the following:

- Motor and Cognitive Development Through the Lifespan
- Environmental Assessment and Accessibility
- Sensory Integration
- Task Analysis

Perhaps most importantly, we understand and support the core occupations of a child, essential for learning and growing, which include play, exploration, curiosity, and responsiveness from their caregivers and peers.