If your infant isn’t latching or feeding well, or if you have an older child who is becoming a picky eater, they may benefit from feeding therapy. At Little Wonders Pediatric Therapy in Charlotte, North Carolina, Danielle McDaniel, MOT, OTR/L, and her team of occupational and speech therapists help your child develop the skills needed to eat. Call Little Wonders Pediatric Therapy to schedule an appointment today.

Feeding therapy, delivered by either a pediatric occupational or speech therapist, involves building skills and teaching techniques to help your child develop normal feeding behaviors. Feeding therapy is helpful for infants who have trouble latching onto the breast or a bottle nipple, or who have difficulty coordinating swallowing and breathing. Older children who refuse to try new foods or who exclude foods from their diet may also benefit from feeding therapy.

Your child may benefit from feeding therapy if they demonstrate any of the following behaviors:

• Has difficulty sucking
• Has difficulty coordinating swallowing and breathing
• Refuses to try new food
• Pockets food in cheeks
• Gags on food
• Spits out textures
• Vomits with feeding
• Takes a longer time to feed than expected
• Not transitioning to solid foods easily
• Drops foods from diet eaten in the past
• Easily upset with messy food play

If your child displays any of these behaviors, talk to Little Wonders Pediatric Therapy and schedule an assessment to determine if your child needs feeding therapy.

The occupational and speech therapists at Little Wonders Pediatric Therapy offer customized feeding therapy sessions to address your child’s specific needs. While every child’s needs are different, some of the skills that the therapists help children with include:

Oral skills

Developmental delays, illness, allergies, and other factors interfere with your child’s development of the skills needed to eat or drink. Your therapist helps your child learn to coordinate and control sipping, sucking, biting, chewing, and swallowing. Your therapist helps your child practice movements to increase their oral strength and range of motion.

Food orientation

Many children are picky eaters. However, if food aversions cause them to drop foods from their diet or struggle to transition to solid foods, food orientation may help. Your therapist works with your child and you to help increase the different types of food they’re willing to try and eat. Many children with food aversion have limited exposure to different foods and textures, which makes them fearful or unwilling to try new foods.

Improved eating experience

If your child has sensory issues or allergies that make mealtimes stressful, your therapist can provide treatments to improve your child’s overall eating experience. Your therapist works with you to create positive associations with foods and meals. This may include helping children develop self-feeding skills and a sense of independence and control. They help children learn to enjoy mealtimes and that trying new foods is exciting and fun.

Call Little Wonders Pediatric Therapy today to find out how your child may benefit from feeding therapy.