Peadiatric Feeding Therapy | Hamilton - Waikato
Feeding Therapy | Table Talk
Responsive feeding therapy for children to feel confident in their eating and enjoy mealtimes.
Paediatric Feeding Therapy
Helping Children Become Confident and Capable Eaters
At Table Talk Therapy, the focus is on helping children develop a healthy and joyful relationship with food. Support is provided to help children enjoy eating, feel internally motivated to eat enough, and gain confidence in their eating skills. Whether your child struggles with extreme picky eating, food aversions, or mealtime tantrums, I am here to support you on the journey towards mealtime peace.
Our Approach
Enjoyable Mealtimes: The goal is to create positive and enjoyable mealtimes for the whole family. Promoting enjoyment of food involves supporting children in discovering foods and flavours they love, making snack time enjoyable with friends, and ensuring they feel celebrated during family meals.
Internal Motivation and Exploration: Through therapy, kids are encouraged to explore a variety of foods, trust different textures, and adapt to mealtime changes. The focus is on helping children learn to enjoy eating with their family and friends and to find their internal motivation to eat when their body tells them they are hungry.
Confident Eaters: Children are supported to become confident eaters where they have the skills to navigate mealtime changes, trust different food textures, and comfortably eat a variety of foods.
Family Involvement: Close collaboration with families empowers parents and caregivers with effective strategies to support their child's food journey. Fostering trust and safety, the focus is on helping your child and family rediscover the joy of eating together and building lasting mealtime skills. The approach always prioritises the feeding relationship between the child and adult.
When is Picky Eating More Than a 'Phase'?
Picky eating can often be a passing phase, but there are times when it signals a more serious issue.
Consider professional help if your child:
- Consistently eats a limited range of foods.
- Avoids entire food groups or reacts strongly to specific textures and smells.
- Has difficulty with chewing or swallowing.
- Experiences anxiety during mealtimes or avoids social situations involving food.
Recognising these red flags early can make a significant difference in your child’s development.
Table Talk Is Here To Help
If typical strategies aren’t working and mealtimes are a constant struggle,
it might be time to seek help.
Table Talk Therapy specialises in supporting families to make mealtimes
happy, healthy, and stress-free.
Comprehensive assessments and personalised therapy are provided for:
Picky eaters
Highly anxious eaters of all ages
ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder)
Paediatric Feeding Disorder
Difficulties transitioning to solids
Limited range of foods considered safe
Oral feeding alongside tube feeding
Challenges with managing food in the mouth
Fear and refusal of new foods
Gagging and choking
Difficulties with introducing solids and texture progression
Sensory sensitivities to food textures, smells, and flavours
Difficulty accepting purees
Social pressure and anxiety around eating
Difficulty chewing (swallowing whole or spitting out food)
What Does a Feeding Assessment Look Like?
Our assessment process involves a detailed review of your child's feeding history and observation of typical meals to create a customised therapy plan. The focus is on understanding the whole child to provide effective support.
Detailed discussions gather information about your child's relationship with feeding and eating, current intake, feeding skills, sensory preferences, nutrition, medical history, growth, development, and your family’s feeding goals.
A mealtime observation assesses your child's mealtime skills, exposure to both 'safe' or familiar foods and 'less preferred' or new foods is encouraged during this assessment session.
For those not local, assessments can also be conducted via telehealth.
Therapy
At Table Talk, I love helping children learn how to eat a wider variety of foods. With specialised training in managing mealtime challenges, the approach is tailored to suit your child's and your families needs. This will look different for everyone.
Working closely with you, we create a personalised plan that addresses both short-term and long-term feeding goals.
Examples of therapy activities include:
- Cooking exercises and food play
- Education sessions and guided learning to introduce new foods
- Incorporating your child's interests to facilitate food learning
- Low-pressure exploration of foods
- Sensory exploration activities
- Desensitisation to new foods
- Coaching and counselling for parents
- Generating plans to implement at home
Pricing
Initial Assessment (1.5-2 hours): $300-380 + GST
Includes a detailed case history, feeding assessment, and a comprehensive written summary with recommendations.
Therapy Session (45 minutes): $125 + GST
Therapy Session (60 minutes): $160 + GST
Travel:
- Within Hamilton metro area: $25 + GST
- Greater Waikato region: Mileage charged at $1 per kilometre (return trip).
Comprehensive feeding reports are available upon request.
Transforming Mealtime Challenges with Table Talk Therapy
Ready to take the first step towards happier mealtimes? Let's chat- I'm here to help.