Babies and children with feeding difficulties can be admitted from acute care hospitals to Franciscan Children's to be evaluated for their ability to eat by mouth. Our team will work to decrease dependence on tube feedings and in some cases, help families decide about the need for gastrostomy tube placement.

Evaluation Process

Clinical - A speech language pathologist will complete a thorough assessment of a child’s mouth and throat muscles and evaluate the child’s safety and efficiency of eating developmentally appropriate food and beverages.

Feeding Team - An occupational therapist, a speech language pathologist, and a registered dietitian will thoroughly examine medical, nutritional, feeding skill and psychosocial factors to determine the nature of a child’s feeding challenges.