Help Parents of Children With Feeding Disorders Prepare for Holiday Gatherings

Aww … home for the holidays. Gatherings with family can create cherished memories. However, parents of children with feeding and swallowing disorders can find navigating holiday meals particularly difficult. As feeding and swallowing specialists, we speech-language pathologists can do much to serve our clients by offering tips to reduce food-related holiday stress. Parents often go on high alert when managing their child’s feeding and swallowing difficulties outside the home. In preparing to travel, they might pack suitcases full of g-tube supplies or specific foods to help make sure their child consumes enough calories. They probably also spend a lot of time thinking about how family members might perceive their child’s feeding differences—all the while, anticipating and planning responses to those well-meaning comments and the unsolicited advice that can actually sting. When SLPs help NICU caregivers interpret what their preemie is telling them during feeding, we support the parent-infant relationship. If you give my picky eater some turkey… Speech-language pathology, dietetics, psychology and physical therapy join forces to help children with eating difficulties. I often hear parents of clients with feeding and swallowing issues share the hurtful comments they hear from family members or staff and other diners in restaurants. Unknowing friends and relatives might say something like, “Why does he even need to use a feeding tube?” or “I don’t see why you ...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Health Care Private Practice Slider Speech-Language Pathology Dysphagia Early Intervention Feeding Disorders Swallowing Disorders Source Type: blogs