Paediatric Nutrition

Growth Assessment:

Are you confused by growth charts? – not sure if your child may be under or overweight for their height (or length) and age?

A Paediatric Dietitian can help you make sense of your child’s growth chart taking into account your own individual situation and family genetics.

Children’s Weight Issues:

Both over and underweight can have important health and social consequences on your child.  Our Paediatric Dietitian can look at food intake and energy output of your child and advise you about appropriate dietary changes for your child. Importantly, this is done on an individual, tailor made plan for your family.

Fussy Eating:

These are many reasons why your child may be so much fussier about food than the average child.  Every child is different and the underlying factors that cause food fussiness can be physical, medical, psychological or environmental.  Children who are fussy eaters can be much more, or much less, sensitive to tastes, textures and smells of food.  Fussy eaters often have particular problems with eating a wide range of healthy foods.

Understanding your child’s fussy eating habits and working with your child and our Paediatric Dietitian as a team, is an essential start to turning this frustrating family situation around.  Our Paediatric Dietitian also assists you in getting the best nutrition for your child from the limited range of foods that your child currently eats.

More help for fussy eaters: Accreditation in the SOS approach to feeding

The Nutrition Specialists paediatric Dietitian, Niki Lawson, recently undertook advanced training and accreditation with the Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) approach to feeding.  This approach was developed by Dr Kay Toomey and Dr Erin Ross from the Denver Children’s hospital Paediatric Oral feeding Clinic and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Centre.

The approach is helpful for all problem feeders, but particularly at the more difficult end where children are affected by a history of reflux, tube feeding, food intolerance or autism spectrum sensory issues.

Niki has a long-standing special interest in fussy eating and the parent-child feeding relationship. She is an active member of the statewide Feeding Difficulties Interest Group, with access to specialist paediatric speech therapists and occupational therapists. She is thrilled to add this new approach to her family centred work with fussy eaters.

For further information, please feel free to call us on 08 9204 2588.