Pediatric Feeding and Nutrition
Help for pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders
Different conditions can make it hard for your child to eat, drink, or swallow. Feeding and swallowing disorders can occur in newborns to teens.
Our pediatric specialists offer a range of services to manage feeding and swallowing problems in children. We’re one of only a few programs across the country that brings together experts from multiple specialties to support your child’s unique needs. We partner with your family to provide comprehensive, effective care that ensures your child gets the nutrients they need to grow and thrive.
Part of Mass General Brigham for Children
Causes of swallowing and feeding disorders in children
Many conditions can affect your child’s ability to feed or swallow, such as:
- Asthma or breathing problems
- Behavioral disorders, including autism
- Brain injury
- Cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other conditions
- Chronic respiratory issues
- Cleft lip or cleft palate
- Developmental delays and genetic syndromes
- Extreme food selectivity and food refusal
- Facial, dental, oral, or throat anomalies
- Food anxieties or aversions
- Heart disease
- Mouth or throat weakness, or poor muscle control
- Preterm birth or low birth weight
- Reflux or digestive disorders
- Sensory issues with food textures, smell, or taste
Dedicated care for your child and family
During your visit, the entire team meets with you and your child together to evaluate feeding skills and develop a family-centered treatment plan. We perform thorough clinical assessments to diagnose feeding and swallowing disorders in children.
At your appointment, we will:
- Ask detailed questions about your child's health, development, and eating habits
- Observe and assess your child eating
- Assess your child’s diet and growth patterns
- Perform appropriate medical evaluations
- Create a personalized, family-centered treatment plan
Your child may get a:
- Feeding evaluation with a speech-language pathologist or occupational therapist who checks for age-appropriate progression to solid foods, gagging on textures, immature feeding skills, and other issues.
- Videofluoroscopic (modified barium) swallow study to take images as your child swallows foods and drinks mixed with small, safe amounts of barium.
Before each appointment, we will ask you to complete a health and eating questionnaire and a food log to help us better understand your child’s needs.
Our Center for Feeding & Nutrition is among a select few in the nation specializing in helping children with nutritional challenges due to feeding troubles.
Your child’s care team includes pediatric digestive disorder specialists (gastroenterologists), as well as speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and dietitians who specialize in feeding disorders.
We assess your child’s feeding skills to customize a family-centered treatment plan. We also offer one-on-one feeding therapy, when needed, based on your child's progress and goals. We offer in-person and virtual visits.
We care for infants, children, and adolescents with a wide range of feeding challenges, including:
- Food refusal
- Dependence on enteral tubes (NG, G-tube, G-J tube, J-tube) or IV nutrition
- Restricted eating patterns or ARFID
- Difficulty with certain textures
- Oral aversion
- Poor weight gain
- Food allergies
- GI dysmotility
- Short gut syndrome
- Premature infants
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Down syndrome
- Cerebral palsy
- Children with genetic, anatomical, or neurological disorders
Contact Pediatric Feeding and Nutrition
Mass General Brigham for Children
Center for Feeding and Nutrition — scheduling: 781-466-8967
Center for Feeding and Nutrition — clinical questions: 617-726-8705
Pediatric Speech, Language, and Swallowing Disorders: 617-726-2763