Our Mission
We reduce health and social inequalities for those affected by paediatric feeding disorder through advocacy, awareness raising, education, research and direct support.
Across the world, on average, about 25% of children will struggle with feeding at some point during the first 10 years of life. Studies show that about 10% of children will go on to experience significant challenges with feeding. This figure rises for children with medical, developmental or learning differences. For these children every bite of food can be painful, scary or impossible, potentially impeding nutrition, development, growth and overall wellbeing.
Through fundraising, we aim to:
Provide the opportunity to access specialist
therapy for children and young people with PFD, that provides them with the skills and confidence to enjoy a life-long, healthy relationship with food.Empower families to be advocates for their children, through education and training.
Raise awareness of PFD, through the publication of research and real-life stories.
Reduce the barriers to accessing evidence based services.
What is Paediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD)?
PFD is a complex developmental condition that can have long term physical and mental health consequences.
It is characterised by the skills and difficulties related to feeding and eating, including problems with sucking, swallowing, chewing, or self-feeding.
The diagnosis takes into account the functional impact of these difficulties for the child (their overall development, growth, and participation in daily activities) and the family (the social and environmental consequences).
When a child has PFD it can mean that eating can be both extremely difficult and at times painful. A frequent symptom of PFD is a severely limited diet.
Children with PFD have significant challenges in four different areas that impact their eating.
Gastro symptoms associated with eating/drinking (vomiting, constipation), food allergies, crying, arching, coughing, sweating, colour changes when eating and/or drinking, physical discomfort when eating/drinking, recurring upper respiratory tract infections, chronic fatigue, swallowing difficulties, iron deficiency, reflux and abdominal pain.
MEDICAL
Difficulty with mealtime participation across all social contexts (home, nursery/school, restaurants, parties etc), behaviours of distress at mealtimes, need for distraction or rewards for eating, feeding difficulties significantly impacting on family routines and activities.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
Difficulty self-feeding, delayed co-ordination, poor oral motor skills, difficulty with posture, difficulty chewing food, gagging on food, only able to manage a limited range of textures, need for special strategies, positioning or equipment, excessively long (> 30 minutes) or short meals (<5 minutes), difficulty managing the sensory properties of mealtimes (tastes, smells, sounds, feel, sight of food).
SKILL
Difficulty eating or drinking enough to grow and stay hydrated, nutritional deficiencies, need for nutritional supplements, limited dietary diversity.
NUTRITIONAL
Our Challenge
PFD is a poorly understood developmental condition that emerges in early childhood, where children have difficulty learning to eat.
It can be compared to other developmental conditions such as:
Dyspraxia
Difficulty with learning to move and co-ordinate the body.
Dyslexia
Difficulty with learning to read and write.
Speech & Language Disorders
Difficulty with learning to talk.
