If you think your child may have problems with eating, drinking, and feeding the first person to speak is your health visitor, school nurse or GP. You can find a GP on the NHS website.
General developmental information
- Start for Life is a programme which offers useful general advice on breastfeeding, weaning, food refusal due to behaviour and transitioning onto solid foods. See also Weaning - Start for Life on NHS
- The Caroline Walker Trust (cwt.org.uk) publishes information on weaning and diets for all age groups.
- See Food Facts - British Dietetic Association (BDA) for information about healthy eating.
- For allergies information see Allergy UK | National Charity
- Oral hygiene is important and you should brush your child’s teeth as soon as they start coming through. To learn more see Now You Have Teeth - YouTube
Concerns about safety when eating, drinking and swallowing
If your child or a young person (up to the age of 18) has difficulties with safety when eating and drinking, a dysphagia-trained speech and language therapist can help.
For example:
- chewing or difficulty managing textures or fluids
- showing signs of difficulty with swallowing (e.g. eye-watering, coughing when drinking, recurrent chest infections)
- requires support to reduce the impact of aspiration (when the fluid or food goes into the airway)
Parents and carers, healthcare professionals, education colleagues and social services can make the referral to the dysphagia service using the referral form Eating, drinking and swallowing referral form and emailing it to clcht.chirp@nhs.net
For further information about eating, drinking, and feeding difficulties you can watch this video: World Swallow Awareness Day
Fussy eaters
A child may be a fussy eater if they present as being unwilling to eat familiar foods, or try new foods, or they present with strong food preferences (e.g. only accepts specific brands, colours, or textures). To support your child’s needs the following services and resources are available:
The Children and Young people Occupational Therapy service (CYPOT) offers an online programme support. Go to the CYPOT website and click on the 'Access to programmes' link to find the resources.
If difficulties persist, parents and carers, healthcare professionals, education colleagues and social services can make the referral sending the CYPOT referral form. Go to the CYPOT website and click on the 'Referral information' link.
The Cheyne Clinical Psychology and Occupational Therapy team runs a Happy Eaters workshop. For further information, contact the team at CCDS.Psychology@nhs.net or call 0203 315 3196.
Further useful information can be found on this website Fussy eaters - NHS
Adapted equipment and positioning
If your child needs adapted or alternative equipment such as special plates, bowls cups, adapted cutlery or non-slip mats or needs support getting into the right physical position to eat your child may need support from an occupational therapist or a physiotherapist. Visit Self-care and physical difficulties to learn about the services available.
Paediatric dietetics
The Paediatric dietetics service can help children 0-19 who:
• are underweight, nutritionally deficient in vitamins or minerals
• have a diagnosed food allergy/intolerance
• are significantly above a healthy weight
• have a coeliac disease or are fed artificially through a tube
The service is primarily hospital-based. However, if you require support on those conditions your GP and health visitors can refer.
Eating disorders
For children and young people, up to the age of 18 with conditions such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder registered with a GP in the borough, West London CAMHS eating disorders service can help.
If you are worried about a young person’s eating difficulties and physical health you can call the service between 9 am and 5 pm Monday to Friday on 020 8354 8160 and ask to speak to the duty eating disorders clinician who will discuss your concerns with you.
Referrals should be made using the online referral form by a professional clinician. Self-referrals are also accepted but require a GP to see the young person for the physical health review. Online referral to West London CAMHS eating disorder service