Extreme Fussy Eating? Signs Your Child May Benefit from Feeding Therapy

What Is Feeding Therapy? Signs Your Child May Benefit

Many children go through stages of picky eating.
But sometimes feeding difficulties become more severe and start affecting nutrition, growth, family stress, or a child’s ability to participate in normal meals.

This is where feeding therapy may help.

What is feeding therapy?

Feeding therapy helps children who are struggling with eating, drinking, food variety, textures, or mealtime participation.

Depending on the child’s needs, feeding therapy may involve:

Building food variety
Supporting nutritional intake
Managing sensory difficulties
Texture progression
Reducing mealtime stress
Improving confidence around food

Feeding therapy often involves collaboration between dietitians, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, parents and carers.

Signs a child may benefit from feeding therapy

Some common signs include:

Eating fewer than 20 foods
Refusing entire food groups
Difficulty with textures
Gagging or vomiting around food
Strong anxiety around meals
Mealtimes are taking a very long time
Poor weight gain or growth
Reliance on supplements or tube feeding

Children with autism, ADHD, sensory processing differences or developmental conditions may also experience feeding difficulties.

What feeding therapy sessions may look like

Every child is different.

Sessions may involve:

Parent education
Food play and exposure
Meal structure support
Nutrition assessment
Strategies for increasing intake
Gradual food progression

The goal is not to force eating.
The focus is usually on reducing pressure while improving comfort, confidence and nutritional intake over time.

Supporting nutrition alongside feeding therapy

Sometimes children with feeding difficulties are not meeting their nutritional needs.

A dietitian can assess:

Growth
Energy intake
Protein intake
Iron and nutrient intake
Supplement needs
Oral nutrition support drinks if required

This can help support growth while feeding skills continue to develop.

NDIS and feeding therapy

Families accessing the NDIS may be able to access feeding therapy support through an NDIS dietitian depending on their goals and funding.

Our team provides home visits and telehealth support for children with feeding difficulties across a range of developmental and disability-related needs.