Feeding Clinic

If your child refuses food or has difficulty eating, it’s concerning for both you and your pediatrician. Because nutrition is vital to your child's health and development, our experts at UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center offers a pediatric Feeding Clinic where a team treats nutritional and feeding-related problems.

We work with you and your child to develop strategies to improve feeding skills and the nutritional status of the child, and promote optimal health and well-being. Infants and children have a wide range of issues that lead to difficulty eating, such as food aversions, serious medical problems and oral motor problems.

Medical Conditions We Treat

Feeding disorders we treat include:

• Congenital anomalies
• Cerebral palsy
• Gastroesophageal reflux (also known as GERD)
• Seizure disorder
• Respiratory disorders
• Oral sensory impairment

What to Expect at our Feeding Clinic

When you come for your appointments, you can expect the following to take place:

• Parent interview
• Oral motor and feeding observation and evaluation
• Nutritional and growth assessment
• Assessment of motor skills
• Review of possible environmental factors
• Individualized treatment plan
• Follow-up recommendations (may include direct intervention, consultation with other service providers and, if needed, medical tests to further evaluate swallowing function)

We work closely with pediatric gastroenterologists, pediatric surgeons and pediatric nutritionists.