Help Your Picky Eater explore New Flavours and embrace a greater variety of foods
Eating is a complex process, and there can be many reasons behind your child’s food refusal. Understanding the causes of picky eating is an essential part of our approach. The Feeding Group provides family-centred treatment for picky eaters that promotes peaceful mealtimes, confident parents, and nourished kids.
Using evidence-based strategies, The Feeding Group works to meet your child where they’re at, providing strategies to expand their variety and achieve your family’s goals.
Having a picky eater in the family can mean mealtimes are overwhelming and often exhausting
Using evidence-based strategies, The Feeding Group works to meet your child where they’re at, providing strategies to expand their specific food range.
We can help with:
- Limited variety of foods
- Refusal to try new foods
- Difficult mealtime behaviours
- Rigid food preferences
- Sensory limitations
- No longer eating previously preferred foods
- Difficulty coming to or staying at the table
- Challenges eating in social situations
- Gagging or vomiting with certain foods
We’re there for every part of your feeding journey
By working together, we provide you and your child with support and resources to address their picky eating. Guiding you through the steps to expand the variety they eat.
Our services
The Feeding Group is a team of registered healthcare professionals offering a uniquely collaborative approach which allows us to work together to support your child.
The Feeding Group’s Picky Eating Program
This program includes a nutrition, oral-motor, and feeding assessment with both Registered Dietitian and Occupational Therapist or Speech-Language Pathologist. The Feeding Group works to provide practical strategies to help your child build the skills to try new foods and address nutrition concerns.
This program includes two visits and simple and effective recommendations that will allow you to address your child’s picky eating in a stepwise process.
Picky Eating Program includes:
- 75-minute Feeding Team assessment: $450
- 60-minute feedback & education session: $180
- Total: $630
Feeding Therapy
Feeding therapy introduces new foods to picky eaters using a play-based approach with one of our therapists and occurs weekly or biweekly. Children are required to have completed an assessment before booking feeding therapy sessions.
We recommend booking 5-8 sessions at a time, as this allows us the time needed to build a trusted relationship, work on specific skills and help transfer these skills to home.
45-60 minute therapy session: $135-180
Individual Consultation
If you aren’t ready to invest in the Feeding Team, we are still here to help guide you through any challenges you are experiencing with your picky eater. Speak to a professional on our team who is most aligned with your child’s feeding challenges.
60-minute consultation: $180
Need a follow-up consultation?
Click here to book your appointment with one of our team members.
What to expect
1. Schedule an Appointment
Book an appointment online or with our admin team. Prior to your appointment be sure to complete the online intake form and submit any requested photos or videos.
2. Bring Relevant Items to Your Appointment
You will be asked to bring preferred and non-preferred foods, bottles or cups, growth information, and any other relevant assessments.
Initial Appointment with two providers (RD + OT/SLP)
3. Assessment
We will ask questions about medical history, development, growth, feeding history, food and nutrition intake.
4. Feeding Observation
We will observe and engage with your child while eating and drinking. This allows for an assessment of their oral motor skills, positioning, sensory preferences, and feeding temperament.
5. Home Strategies
You will be given 1 or 2 techniques to get started with at home between appointments.
Follow-up Appointment with one provider (RD/OT/SLP)
6. Feedback & Recommendations
We will share feedback on your child’s feeding skills and other factors contributing to their picky eating. Based on your family’s goals, your child’s strengths and needs, as well as our assessment, we will provide a structured method and recommendations to address your child’s picky eating.
7. Suggested Follow-up
Recommendations for treatments will be made, which can include at-home activities, feeding therapy sessions, or other resources to support your child.
FAQ
In the first part of our follow-up, we will review the recommendations and provide feedback from our initial visit while your child plays independently. The second part of the follow-up appointment is to demonstrate some of the suggested techniques which can be done with your child or taught to the parent. If the discussion topics are sensitive or your child cannot play independently, it may be recommended that your child not attend the follow-up or joins only for the second half of the appointment.
Yes, we are happy to provide services virtually. Thanks to Covid, we got really good at this! We are able to provide the same top-level services to your child as we do in person.
At this time, we cannot consult or treat children who reside outside of British Columbia.
Start Your Journey With The Feeding Group
Understanding the root cause of picky eating is valuable to support your child best. It will help strengthen your relationship with your child at mealtimes and bring peace back to the table. Together we can help you get to a place of feeding confidence.
