Kids Play offers specialist skills in addressing Picky Eaters and Fussy Feeders. Many families have stressful mealtimes, are worried about the limited range of foods their child eats and can’t find a way to successfully introduce new foods.

Our goal is to foster focused, independent children.

To do that, our therapists work with you to identify areas of difficulty and build towards positive change.

We use an approach based on the Sequential Oral Sensory Approach to feeding problems developed by Kay Toomey and Erin Ross. It utilises a step by step approach with systematic desensitization and behavioural modification.

This enables children to learn the routine of participating in mealtimes, how to explore food in fun and new ways, how to engage with a broader range of foods and start to expand what they eat.

We provide sessions individually or in groups where appropriate. They can be run as an intensive over 1-3 weeks or over a period of weekly appointments.

We work with other professionals as required including Speech Pathologists, Dietitians, Paediatricians, GPs, and Gastroenterologists.

Are you tired of hearing the word “no” screamed at you when offering your child a healthy meal. You are not alone. Mealtimes can be one of the most stressful times of many parents day. Learning to eat a range of foods is hard for children to do. Eating is one of the most complex tasks that we do. It involves all your organ systems in some way (breathing), every muscle of your body eg sitting and chewing and the coordination of all your sensory systems. No wonder kids can find it hard.

Studies have shown that about a third of children will go through a fussy phase in the first 3 years of life.

 Proven strategies to help children through this phase include:

But what if this still doesn’t work. We have all heard “they will eat when they are hungry” and this is true for many children. However there is a percentage of children who will not be able to coordinate their body and sensory system to learn to eat. Many of the children who we call fussy eaters are in fact limiting their foods to what they think they can manage and would rather starve. This can cause stress for the parents and stress, coughing, gagging, vomiting, reduced nutrition and failure to thrive for the child.

Children are considered to be extremely picky eaters or fussy eaters when they have a number of the below features:

When children and families are experiencing the level of difficulty listed above then specialist help is required to create change for these children and families. A team approach is essential so that all the factors affecting eating are addressed by professionals who specialise in this area.

Please see our Multidisciplinary Feeding Clinic to learn more on how to get help.

Take the stress out of eating.

Schedule an assessment today.