Pediatric Physicians: Screening for Feeding Disorders in Patients

Contributor: Crystal Karges, MS, RDN, IBCLC, Special Projects Coordinator at Eating Disorder Hope/Addiction Hope

For many parents and guardians of young children, feeding and meal times can be a stressful time. Between picky eating, adequate weight gain and growth, it is not uncommon for parents to feel uncertain about their child’s eating habits and/or wonder if a more problematic issue is at hand.

With a plethora of misinformation abounding on the internet, social media, and more, many parents may feel confused about raising children that have a healthy relationship with food and that come to appropriately respect and honor their bodies.

Knowing When to Seek Professional Help

Feeding disorders are eating abnormalities in young children and should not be taken lightly. These disorders go far beyond picky eating and are often concurrent with other behavioral/mental disorders and/or learning disabilities. For these reasons, comprehensive care and treatment should be sought in the case that any type of feeding disorder is suspected.

Pediatricians can be an invaluable asset when it comes to identifying and diagnosing feeding disorders and determining any concurrent disorders that may also be present. Pediatricians who specialize in feeding disorders will often have a team of professionals which whom they collaborate for care of their patients, which may also include a registered dietitian, speech language pathologist, therapist, and more.

Pediatricians may screen for feeding disorders in a child during well check annual visits and through assessment of a child’s growth pattern from year to year. If a child is not making adequate progress with their growth or is in poor health overall, a pediatrician will likely more closely assess feeding and eating habits.

Working With Your Doctor to Address a Feeding Disorder

Feeding disorders can be unsettling to deal with in a child, but with professional help led by a pediatrician, a child can make significant progress towards normalized eating habits that support overall health and wellness. If at any point, you suspect that your child may be struggling with issues related to their eating, be sure to seek out the care of your pediatrician for further assessment.

Community Discussion – Share your thoughts here!

If you are a parent or guardian of a loved one with a feeding disorder, what resources were helpful to you and your family for treatment?

About the Author: Crystal is a Masters-level Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) with a specialty focus in eating disorders, maternal/child health and wellness, and intuitive eating. Combining clinical experience with a love of social media and writing, Crystal serves as the Special Projects Coordinator for Eating Disorder Hope/Addiction Hope, where her passion to help others find recovery and healing is integrated into each part of her work.

As a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, Crystal has dedicated her career to helping others establish a healthy relationship with food and body through her work with EDH/AH and nutrition private practice.

The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of eating disorders. These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope, but an effort to offer discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.

We at Eating Disorder Hope understand that eating disorders result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.

Last Updated & Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on May 5, 2016
Published on EatingDisorderHope.com