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FEEDING THERAPY FOR CHILDREN
Limited Diet • Stressful Mealtimes • Gagging • Food Toleration • Breast to Bottle Transition
When to Get a
Feeding Evaluation
A feeding evaluation may be the next best step for your child if one or more of the following are true:
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Mealtimes are stressful and exhausting for the family.
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Your child eats a very limited diet, eating less than 30 foods and often refusing certain foods or preferring specific brands.
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Your child often gags, vomits, spits food out, or coughs during meals.
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Your child has difficulty tolerating foods on their plate or the smell of many different foods.
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You experience pain while nursing or your baby has difficulty with bottle feeding.
Selective Eating & Mealtime Struggles
Feeling overwhelmed by your child's picky eating habits and the stress of cooking different meals?We're here to help make mealtimes smoother for your family. We will use your normal daily routines to explore mealtimes and introduce new foods using a systematic hierarchy. Our therapists will also provide you with carryover exercises so you can practice new mealtime strategies confidently with your child at home.
Swallowing &
Oral Motor Skills
Is your child having trouble moving from breast or bottle feeding to eating solid foods? We use a responsive feeding method and offer parent coaching to help develop essential skills for feeding and swallowing. With the help of food and various tools, we tackle oral motor issues like jaw weakness, lip strength, or tongue lateralization that might affect your child's feeding. Say farewell to gagging, coughing, choking, vomiting, food refusals, and worries about weight gain!
What to Expect During
a Feeding Evaluation
At Spark Pediatric Therapy, feeding evaluations may include:
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A parent or caregiver interview
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Myofunctional exam and assessment of tethered oral tissues (tongue tie, lip tie, buccal tie)
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Feeding and swallowing trials
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An inventory of foods that your child eats
You will receive a written evaluation report and a treatment plan once the evaluation process is complete. When necessary, we may also provide a referral to one of the allied health professionals that we trust to support feeding therapy outcomes.
