Feeding
The area of feeding includes teaching children how to eat (delayed feeding milestones, sucking, chewing, swallowing) or how to eat better (picky eaters, food aversion, limited food repertoire-less than 20 foods). Physical restrictions, such as tethered oral tissues (buccal, lip and tongue ties) will sometimes have an impact on feeding, speech and other important areas for healthy development such as breathing. Our goal is to help families get the best information out there to help their children develop and improve the skills while guiding them into the right direction.
Feeding Red Flags
- Limited mouthing of items as a baby.
- Refusing baby food (pureed food).
- Refusing table food (soft table food).
- Gagging by looking, smelling, touching or tasting food (repeatedly).
- Constantly spitting out food due to lack of coordination (chewing).
- Limited interest in food (puree and soft table foods) after 8 months old.
- Limited interest in feeding themselves.
Tethered Oral Tissue Symptoms
- Poor latch.
- Clicking sound while nursing.
- Gassiness (swallowing air-aerophagia).
- Reflux or colic.
- Gags on milk or pops off breast to get air.
- Poor weight gain.
- Lip blister.
- Milk tongue (white tongue).
Mother’s symptoms
- Flat/blanched nipple after feedings.
- Cracked/blister/bleeding of nipples.
- Mastitis.
- Discomfort while nursing.
- Constant feedings due to not getting enough milk which involves nursing more often (example: nursing every 2 hours at 9 months old).