Feeding Therapy
While nearly all younger children can be notorious for wanting only “kid-approved” foods, for some children, intervention may be necessary for their long-term health. Feeding therapy is designed to help children who are not able or willing to consume a sufficient calorie diet via oral feeding to promote or maintain growth. Feeding therapy is more than just teaching a child how to eat. We carefully assess the root of your child’s difficulties and help make eating both easier and more enjoyable for you and your child.
Feeding problems can fall along a continuum. Feeding problems also often include multiple components including sensory, behavioral, medical, and physical aspects. But in general, we can classify children into two groups:
•picky eaters
•problem feeders
Our TOTS certified therapists understand how tethered oral tissues, like tongue and lip ties, affect oral function from birth through maturity. They are able to evaluate newborns through adolescents to improve oral motor and feeding skills. Whether your child is struggling with breastfeeding, bottle feeding, or self feeding our therapists can help your child thrive.
The following are red flags that could be a sign you child may need professional help with their feeding:
• Inappropriate weight gain (Overweight/Underweight)
• Choking, gagging, coughing or vomiting
• Difficulty with food textures
• Food range less than 20 foods
• Child gets upset about mealtime
• Child gets upset about mealtime
For feeding therapy, we employ our fundamental principle of collaboration. While children will often work with one therapist specifically for feeding therapy, treatment plans are developed using a team approach. Feeding therapy team can include registered dietician, lactation consultant, nurses, speech therapists, occupational therapists and the physician. Our therapy teams work with your child on skills such as:
• Oral Motor: Gaining the skills to properly chew and move food within the mouth in preparation to swallow the food.
• Including lip seal for back swallow, chewing skills, tongue lateralization, and jaw strength.
• Food Continuum: Helping children progress from a fully liquid or tube fed diet to an age-appropriate diet.
• Family Meals: Helping children who are unable to participate in the family meal due to social, physical, and/or emotional factors.
Methods utilized:
• Sensory Integration
• Sequential oral sensory (S.O.S)
Your child’s early years are the best years to establish a good diet and eating habits. This is something they will take with them and practice for the rest of their lives. If your child is having trouble eating and you’re not sure how to solve this, Joy & Laughter Developmental Therapy can help! We provide a specialized feeding therapy program to help you and child with this difficulty.
More Resources
Eating and Feeding Links
Sensory Based Feeding Challenges
One of the steps to being successful with food is being willing to be in the same place as the food and enjoy the sight, smell and textures of the food. For children who have sensory based feeding difficulties sitting at the table to enjoy a meal can be a struggle. Many kids can be a “picky eater” which might be part of the development process but when the list of foods that the child eats is significantly decreased it may be more than just a phase. If your child is truly a picky eater or problem eater they will need help from a team who knows how to add more variety to their diet without forcing them to eat.
Our team helps parents understand the foundational skills that are needed for successful eating. We help empower children and their families to learn how to have a healthy relationship with food so they can have lifelong success not just success in the presence of desert or a reward.
Free parent video: https://sosapproachtofeeding.com/parent-workshop-when-children-wont-eat/
Oral Motor Feeding Challenges
Eating is a complex skill that requires the coordination of your lips, cheeks and tongue. If there is weakness, coordination difficulties, or structural differences in any of these areas it will make the typical eating process more difficult. Imagine trying to chew and break down complex foods if your tongue wasn’t able to move and help, or swallow your food while your mouth was still open. This is what it can be like for a child who struggles with the oral motor skills required to eat.
Oral motor intervention will help the child gain better control of the lips, cheeks, jaw, tongue and soft palate. This can use a variety of strategies and techniques to help improve the strength, coordination and abilities of the muscles involved with eating. Oral motor based treatments will often require regular home exercises since building muscles takes constant practice.
Swallowing Challenges
The final step in eating is swallowing the food so it can be properly digested, but for some children this is the most challenging or dangerous part. When children are having difficulties with swallowing their food you may see choking or coughing while eating. You may also see signs like the face turning red, eyes watering or facial grimaces. In severe cases the child may stop breathing. Sometimes a child who is refusing to eat is doing so since they are trying to protect themselves due to swallowing challenges.
If your child has a swallowing issue contributing to their feeding problems it is important to work with an occupational or speech language pathologist who has received specialized training in this area. A therapist who specializes in swallowing can help improve the safety of a child who is currently eating foods by mouth and they can also help a child who is being feed by tube transition back to oral feeds.
Bottle & Breastfeeding Challenges
Infants often have their own unique challenges when it comes to feeding, and oftentimes the parent-child dyad needs to be addressed for optimum success. A lactation consultant is often the first place parents look when having trouble with breastfeeding, but when the challenges persist an occupational therapist or speech language pathologist who have received additional training in infant feeding might be the best way to help your little one gain success in eating.
Medically Complex & Tube Feeding
For some children who have complex medical histories or who have been receiving feeding from a tube, finding a feeding therapist who is equipt to help with the transition to oral feeding can be difficult.We understand that when working with this group of children a team approach is even more important than ever. When working on medically complex feeding cases our team frequently communicates with other professionals such as the gastroenterologist, cardiologist, otolaryngologist, nutritionist, and the primary care doctor to ensure all members of the child’s medical team know what approaches are being used and suggested.
All members of our feeding team have received additional continuing education, mentorship and training on various topics related to feeding, eating and swallowing. We understand that feeding, eating, and swallowing can be challenging which is why we use a variety of approaches and techniques when working with children and their families. Some of our therapists have received formal training and certification in these approaches, and some have studied extensively for the sake of learning without receiving certifications.
SOS Approach to Feeding by Dr. Kay Toomey
https://sosapproachtofeeding.com
Beckman Oral Motor by Debra Beckman, SLP
https://www.beckmanoralmotor.com
Get Permission Approach by Marsha Dunn Klein, OTR
https://getpermissionapproach.com
Division of Responsibility by Ellyn Satter
https://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org
TalkTools Courses, Training, and Materials
Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy
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