There are a few things that could lead to feeding therapy. It depends on the age of your child. It might start as young as a newborn who is not a successful at nursing or drinking a bottle. You would know this either because a child is not gaining weight, you see that they are losing formula excessively when they are eating or it takes them a very long time to take a bottle. Once you start spoon feeding, if a child is continually refusing the spoon, or seems to be doing a lot of coughing or gagging even once you have been trying for a little while, that may be a place to start. Most feeding difficulties come when introducing regular table food and chewables (i.e., cheerios, crackers). By 12-14 months, a child should be demonstrating biting and chewing skills to handle soft cookies and by 18 months handling harder table foods (i.e., harder cookies, raw fruits and vegetables). Just to throw it out there, we also expect that a child is starting to drink from an open cup at about 12-14 months. Difficulties with any of these skills might be an indication to seek some help.
