Feeding Disorders in Children
What are feeding disorders?
Feeding disorders refer to difficulty gathering and manipulating food or liquid for sucking, chewing, or swallowing. Individuals with a feeding disorder may experience difficulty chewing, refusal of food or liquid, excessive drooling coming out of mouth, or less than normal weight gain. Feeding disorders can affect one’s ability to maintain adequate nutritional intake while safely consuming food or liquids.
Feeding disorders affect individuals and their families, as there are related requirements for time (e.g. exercises at home, food preparation) and resources (e.g. specific foods, appropriate feeding utensils) when attempting to increase feeding skills. Meal times can become emotionally charged events for children and their parents and the parent-child dynamic can be affected. Speech pathologists work to create goals to scaffold children toward increased feeding skills while keeping the needs of the whole family in mind.
What causes feeding disorders?
Prematurity, low birth weight
Gastrointestinal difficulties
Cleft lip and/or palate
Autism
Muscle weakness of face and/or neck
Difficulty with parent-child interactions during meal times
What are the symptoms?
Failure to accept different textures
Coughing or gagging during meal times
Difficulty coordinating feeding and breathing
Difficulty controlling food or saliva in the mouth
Recurrent pneumonia or respiratory infections
Irritability while feeding
What can be done?
Health care providers may refer individuals to a speech pathologist. After conducting a thorough evaluation of a child's feeding skills, speech pathologists can develop a plan of care to help alleviate symptoms and improve overall feeding safety and effectiveness. They may also coordinate with other healthcare providers such as ENT’s, GI’s, nutritionists, and other specialists to ensure you the highest level of care. Therapy might emphasize:
Direct feeding trials designed to meet individual needs
Taste, temperature, and texture recommendations
Increasing strength and coordination of the muscles of the mouth
Improving chewing and sucking/drinking skills
Caregiver training