Feeding Therapy
6+Month-Old
Why OT for Feeding Therapy?
Occupational therapists take a holistic approach to feeding and consider all aspects of the mealtime that may be impeding success: environmental, physical, and/or sensory. For some little ones, environmental factors may be hindering success. This could include parental/cultural expectations and/or a lack of mealtime routine. Physical skills can affect their ability to self feed with their hands or affect the postural control needed to safely and effectively chew and swallow their food. Additionally, a child may be over responsive to sensory experiences resulting in gagging, food refusals, and dysregulation or under responsive to sensory experiences resulting in pocketing food and over stuffing.
Parents will be taught exercises to continue to develop oral motor skills, how to identify appropriate foods, how to select developmentally appropriate feeding tools, and red flags to look out for as their child continues to advance.
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-Baby refuses baby food
-Baby refuses table food
-Baby gags frequently during mealtimes
-Baby does not show interest in baby or table foods by 8 months of age
-Baby won’t self feed with fingers or utensils
-Baby doesn’t mouth toys or objects
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-Child’s responses and tolerance for multi sensory input
-Child’s oral-motor skills
-Child’s Postural stability and development
-Consideration of environmental factors
-Consideration of medical factors
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-Development of oral motor coordination and strength to successfully progress through food hierarchy/stages
-Education on food selection based off current oral motor and sensory processing skills
-introduction to developmentally appropriate feeding tools including open cup, straws, and utensils
-ongoing assessment of skills and adjustment of treatment plans to best support the individuality of each family