Center for Pediatric Feeding Disorders
St. Mary’s Center for Pediatric Feeding Disorders offers the only interdisciplinary feeding program in New York State to help diagnose and treat feeding disorders. The program uses a team approach to identify the problem and address the issue, including pediatric gastroenterologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, behavioral psychologists, nutritionists, social workers and pediatric nurse practitioners.
Experts estimate that nearly 25% of all children will develop a feeding disorder. The prevalence climbs to 80% in children with special healthcare needs and developmental delays. Feeding disorders occur when a child has difficulty consistently consuming nutrition by mouth to promote physical and cognitive growth. They should not be confused with picky eaters or eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia.
Children enrolled in the intensive feeding program can be treated as inpatients or day patients. The program offers comprehensive evaluations, medical management, development of individualized treatment plans aligned with parents’ goals, therapeutic meals, and nutritional supplementation. The team focuses on the whole child – both clinical and behavioral aspects of the child’s feeding disorder are addressed.
Designed with a family-centered behavioral approach, our intensive program identifies new strategies to assist children who present with eating difficulties such as mealtime tantrums, food refusal, nutritional deficiencies, failure to thrive, dependence on liquids, poor chewing, poor suck and swallow, and extreme weight loss.
A referral source or parent may refer a child by calling 718-281-8541 for a phone interview.
Clinic
This is a multi disciplinary evaluation to decide whether or not the child is appropriate for our services. The child and parents come to ST. Mary’s for a 2 hour evaluation. The evaluation team consists of a pediatric GI, Nurse Practitioner, Feeding Therapist, Nutritionist and Behavioral Psychologist. The team investigates the child’s medical and feeding history. They discuss with the family the child’s previous feeding therapy and then observe a feeding session. The team then makes a decision on whether or not the child is appropriate for our program, which level of treatment they need (Day Program, Inpatient or Out Patient) and then the family is given recommendations from each of the team members. A written report containing all The Team’s findings and recommendations is then sent to the parents approximately 2 weeks later.
Outpatient
This level of service is for the child whose feeding disorder is mild or for a family after they have been discharged from The Day Program and need less intensive treatment. Children who need less intensive treatment are services through the out patient program. It can be children who have mild feeding disorders or children who have completed the Day Treatment Program and need continued therapy but at a less intensive level. Outpatients can be serviced in their homes or at St. Mary’s depending on therapist availability and the terms of their payor. Out patient services are much less intensive than The Day Program and children usually receive 2-3 sessions per week for 45-60 minutes depending on need. As with The Day Program the parents play an integral role in the feeding therapy. The parents are expected to be present and involved during each session. Family training is built in to each feeding session.
Inpatient
This level of service is for the child who is medically fragile or unstable. Children who need 24 hour monitoring are placed in our inpatient program. This level of service is for the children who have intensive medical needs.
A referral source or parent may refer a child by calling 718-281-8541 for a phone interview.
If it is determined that a referral for feeding evaluation is warranted, the family is mailed an intake packet to provide the Feeding Team with additional information about medical history, feeding behaviors and food intake. All relevant medical reports should be forwarded with the Intake packet. Upon review of the completed packet, a clinic evaluation will be scheduled. The purpose of the evaluation is to provide an opportunity for our team of specialists to assess the nature and severity of the feeding difficulties and to either provide recommendations to the child’s current service providers and/or make a recommendation for our intensive Day Patient Program.
