What we do
Helping children and young people with Paediatric Feeding Disorders (PFD) to develop a lifelong, healthy relationship with food since 2019.
We make mealtimes, good times by providing life changing feeding therapy and empowering families and communities through advocacy, training, education and research.
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.
PFD 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).
Our infographic shows the complex skills children need to acquire in order to learn to eat and the areas that can be impacted upon as a result of their feeding difficulties.
Our Mission
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.
Our Four Pillars
Our charity objectives are set out across Four Pillars. Click on each pillar below to find out more.
Education
and Training
The Feeding
Clinic
Research
and News
Advocacy and Awareness Raising
Our Challenge
PFD is a poorly understood developmental condition that emerges in early childhood, and is a developmental condition, where children have difficulties 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.
What is PFD?
Just as dyslexic children can be incorrectly labelled as lazy or slow; dyspraxic children as clumsy or careless, children with PFD are often labelled as fussy or awkward.
However, PFD is a complex developmental condition that can have long term physical and mental health 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 often have less than 10 foods in their repertoire and many only have one or two.
PFD is characterised by difficulties across four different domains. Below are some examples of the challenges children with PFD can experience.
Constipation, chronic fatigue, swallowing difficulties, gagging and choking.
MEDICAL
Social isolation, anxiety and feelings of low self-worth.
SOCIAL / EMOTIONAL
Delayed self-help, fine motor and oral motor skills.
DEVELOPMENTAL
Weight and growth
concerns, nutrient deficiency (resulting in poor appetite and lethargy).
NUTRITIONAL
To find out more about PFD, download our free handout here
What support do you need?
We’ve created a handy flow chart to help you find out what kind of support you need and how we can help.
Click on the button below to find out more, and get in touch when you’re ready to start your journey with us.
