Feeding Disorders

Cleveland’s Pediatric Feeding Disorders Evaluation and Treatment Center

It’s mealtime, but your child only accepts certain foods, takes a long time to eat, pushes food back out, and gags when trying new foods.

If this sounds like a typical meal in your home, you are probably feeling frustrated, helpless, and anxious.

Fortunately, you’ve already made a big step toward recovery for your child and peaceful mealtimes for your entire family.

Welcome to Cleveland Feeding and Swallowing Center.

Overcoming Feeding Disorders to Meet Your Child’s Nutritional Needs

As many as 25% of children experience some type of feeding difficulty during infancy or early childhood. The incidence can be as high as 33% for children with developmental difficulties.

If your child is unable to satisfy all nutrition and hydration needs by mouth, they may have a feeding disorder.

Pediatric feeding disorders are conditions in which an infant or child is unable to eat, refuses to eat, or has difficulty eating. Untreated feeding disorders can lead to

  • Weight loss
  • Malnutrition
  • Lethargy
  • Impaired intellectual and social-emotional development
  • Growth delays

Feeding disorders include problems with sucking, gathering food, eating from a utensil, chewing, or drinking from a cup.
Your child may have trouble picking up food and getting it to their mouth or difficulty completely closing their lips to prevent food from falling out.

Pediatric feeding disorders are usually due to conditions such as:

  • Prematurity
  • Neurological impairment
  • Metabolic disorders
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder
  • Gastrointestinal issues
  • Food allergies


These challenges can limit your child’s ability to grow and thrive – and can be hard on the whole family.

We are here to help your child overcome their feeding disorder and reach their fullest potential

Our Speech Pathologists Provide Customized Feeding Disorder Treatment for Long-term Success

When a feeding disorder is suspected, our speech pathologists conduct a comprehensive assessment of your child’s overall health and medical history, as well as their feeding skills and challenges. We spend time getting to know you and your child and discovering your long-term goals for your family.

This connection helps us to create a customized feeding disorder treatment plan specific to your unique child and family.

Cleveland Feeding and Swallowing Center’s caring and skilled speech pathologists work closely with you and your child to enhance the skills needed to make mealtime enjoyable and nutritious. Our intensive feeding therapy program focuses on oral skills, mealtime compliance and structure, exposure to a variety of foods, and more.

Through our in-center program, our speech pathologists help create positive changes in your child’s eating behaviors – and then guide you in ensuring that these efforts translate into the home environment as well.

This comprehensive program – along with your commitment – can help your child begin eating like their peers, enjoying a wider variety of foods, and maintaining the proper nutrition needed to flourish.

Contact the Speech Pathologists at Cleveland Feeding and Swallowing Center Today

At Cleveland Feeding and Swallowing Center, we take the time to create a personal plan customized to meet your needs and abilities – and accomplish your goals.

We are personally committed to getting you back to the dinner table and making meals the enjoyable experience they are meant to be for your entire family.