Pediatric Feeding Disorders (PFD): What is it and how can I help?
May is PFD awareness month. In this article we will address Pediatric Feeding Disorders and some tips and resources that may be helpful to parents with a struggling eater.
What is PFD?
Pediatric Feeding Disorder is defined as impaired oral intake that is not age-appropriate, and is associated with medical, nutritional, feeding skill, and/or psychosocial dysfunction. It is estimated to affect more than 1 in 37 children under the age of 5 in the United States. MORE COMMON THAN AUTISM. Children or Infants with PFD can see food as scary, pain inducing, or even impossible to learn about. PFD can affect the child/infant’s development, growth and nutrition, and their overall well-being.
How can I help as a parent?
The first step is to educate yourself on what PFD is and discover if your child has PFD; Feeding Matters created a questionnaire to help determine if your child may have PFD (https://questionnaire.feedingmatters.org/questionnaire). After educating yourself and discovering they have PFD, make a plan to address the concerns. The concerns could fall into 1 or more of the following categories: medical, nutrition, feeding skill, or psychosocial (https://www.feedingmatters.org/what-is-pfd/). Feeding therapists at Ability Innovations can help with feeding skills and the psychosocial aspects of feeding but also can help refer to other resources as needed.
Things to do at home:
Spend time with your child to learn about new foods or previously refused foods. Give them space to learn, support them with their decisions and learning, and give them opportunities to continue learning about new foods. If a child is provided time, space, support, and opportunity they will build trust in their relationships with caregivers and trust in food.
Resources for Parents Navigating Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD)
Social Media/Websites
Feeding Littles - Provides information on starting solids, helping with picky eating, and information on baby led weaning (BLW). https://feedinglittles.com/
Feeding Matters - Provides information to help advocate/spread awareness of PFD as well as helping provide resources for kids with PFD. https://www.feedingmatters.org/
Food Smart Kids - Provides parents/caregivers and professionals with information about starting solids and tips to help families love mealtimes and thrive. https://www.foodsmartkids.com/
Get Permission Institute - Provides information on responsive feeding therapy and tips to creating a relationship-based approach to support families of children with feeding challenges https://getpermissioninstitute.com/the-approach/
Growing Intuitive Eaters - Provides tips to help children build a healthy relationship with food. She offers free courses for parents. https://growingintuitiveeaters.com/
Pediatric Feeding Community - Designed to help parents and professionals connect with other resources for PFD. http://pedfeed.org/
Solid Starts - A team of pediatric feeding experts who discuss how to introduce food to babies, prevent or reverse picky eating behaviors, and help you with ideas to expose your children to different foods. https://solidstarts.com/