Mealtime challenges make family bonding stressful! That’s why we created the CMH Feeding Program. Our expert staff will treat your child’s feeding or swallowing difficulties with custom, evidence-based recommendations.

How do I know if my child would benefit from the CMH Feeding Program?

Common Symptoms

• Difficulty with bottle or breastfeeding
• Crying or arching during feeding
• Challenges transitioning to solids or new textures
• Challenges transitioning from tube to oral feeding
• Limited diet (“picky eating”)
• Poor weight gain
• Struggles with self-feeding (including slow eating or refusing to eat)
• Negative behaviors during meals
• Increased congestion, coughing, or drooling while eating or drinking
• Problems chewing, overstuffing, or holding food in the mouth

Causes of Feeding Problems

• Premature birth
• Developmental conditions like cerebral palsy, autism, or muscular dystrophy
• Cleft lip/cleft palate
• Breathing struggles
• Reflux or other stomach problems
• Trauma

How can CMH help?

Together, our Occupational and Speech Therapy departments are helping children overcome their feeding challenges. The CMH Feeding Program treats patients from infancy through age 18.

Evaluation includes:

• Observing the child eating
• Discussions with the family
• Oral-motor and sensory processing assessments

Our goal is to teach patients that mealtimes can be fun, and to introduce new foods safely and gradually. Our teaching strategies support development of the muscles in the mouth, jaw, tongue, lips and cheeks to make eating easier and address any texture sensitivities to food. Children may also experience sensory overload in certain mealtime environments causing them to avoid food. We also offer recommendations for alternative positioning or use of different tools such as bottles, cups, utensils, or plates.

Seek Treatment for Your Child

Contact your child’s physician for a referral to the CMH Feeding Program. For more information, call Speech Therapy at 218-878-7010 or Occupational Therapy at 218-878-7040.