Infant and Child Feeding Clinic

Brisbane & Springfield Infant and Child Feeding Clinic and Fussy Eating Clinic BROCHURE

About Our Infant & Child Feeding Difficulties Clinic:

Feeding Difficulties can be a real concern for parents. Feeding our children is one of the most important jobs a parent can do! The constant worry your child is getting enough nutrition to grow and to be healthy can be very stressful. Constant battles every meal time can lead to both parents and children dreading mealtimes! Children frequently miss out socially if they don’t want to eat or can’t eat. It makes going to birthday parties, picnics, restaurants or family events very stressful.

It is Important to find Therapists with real experience in the Feeding Area

Our Centre provides multi-disciplinary diagnostic assessment and therapy services because we know there are often complex issues at hand. Services are available for babies and children. You will be talking to speech pathologists with extensive feeding experience at the clinic. Dr Sandra McMahon, Speech Pathologist, PhD leads the team.

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Dr McMahon has:

Obtained noteworthy experience as the Director of Speech Pathology at a major city children’s hospital working in leading feeding clinics – neonatal units to outpatient clinics.
Experience in the assessment and treatment of newborns to school age children (breast, bottle, transition to solid, sensory concerns)
Extensive experience with many underlying issues causing feeding difficulties – Autism, fussy eating, Sensory issues, PEG and nasogastric feeding (tube feeding), medical conditions, reflux, premature births
Was a lecturer at University including in the area of feeding difficulties
Has completed & published original research in the areas of feeding development and feeding difficulties
Supervises PhD and Masters students completing research in the areas of feeding difficulties in children
Her high standing is demonstrated by the fact that she is a frequent invited speak at professional conferences in the areas of feeding difficulties (e.g., RISA conferences).

What therapists will I see?

We have Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists and Child Psychologist on site with extremely close links with Dietitians and Paediatricians and specialists (Ear, Nose and Throat specialists, Gastroenterologists, Respiratory and Pulmonary Specialists, lactation consultants). This ensures we provide a wholistic approach. The first session is frequently a joint session with the Occupational Therapist and Speech Pathologist. Alternatively a family will first see either the Speech Pathologist or Occupational Therapist and team meetings are then held to assist in treatment programming. Issues such as the presence of lip and/or tongue-tie will be assessed and managed from a team perspective.

Who Can We HELP:

We work with children from newborn to 18 years that have feeding and eating concerns. Our goal is your goal. Ensuring a child is taking in adequate nutrition for growth and learning in an unstressful environment is the aim. Some of the children we see are under weight. Some have weight appropriate for their age and some are over weight. However if eating meals is stressful for the whole family support for eating may be required. Children might look like they are a good weight but help may be needed if there are gaps in their nutrition (e.g., limited protein). What ever the problem, the key factor is to determine whether your child is consuming the quantity, range of foods and textures needed to obtain all their nutritional requirements.

We can help with:

Babies who are having difficulties achieving growth milestones
Difficulties breast and/or bottle feeding
Infants having difficulties co-ordinating their breathing and sucking and swallowing (e.g, coughing, choking, milk loss, continually pulling off & difficulties attaching)
Children failing to thrive (FTT) – dangerously too low a weight for them to maintain health and growth
Babies and children that gag and/or vomit excessively during breast/ bottle feeding and eating solid foods
Toddlers that are “stuck” on smooth /puree foods and refusing lumps in their food – poor transition to solid stages of eating
Challenging behaviours during mealtimes and causing stress for themselves and their parents
Mealtimes that are taking longer than 30 minutes or children that will only graze and not eat “meal-time” meals
Fussy Eaters – children that are picky on what they will eat and have a limited range of foods they will accept
Children with sensory difficulties and do not like the feel of food on their hands or face. They may only want white foods for example. Some will only want foods presented in “special ways” (e.,g toast cut in triangles but not squares).
Difficulties weaning from breast or bottle feeding. Some children will only breast feed making it difficult for people other than Mum to mind the baby. This can be difficult for mothers to get to appointments or to return to work
Poor chewing skills and motor movement problems
We see children with medically complex concerns that are impacting on their feeding skills – respiratory, heart issues, children with cancers
Tube weaning – naso-gastric and PEG weaning
Babies and children with medical, physical or neurological conditions affecting their feeding (eg. Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, specific genetic conditions)
Children with Autism with limited food chooses and difficult eating routines
Babies and Children with a history of Reflux or allergies

Individual or Group Services for children with feeding issues. Contact us for details about our individual and group feeding therapy.

We can provide either individual or group services. We use a range of approaches including SOS and structured approaches. This decision is made on a case by case basis in conjunction with the family.