Feeding and Swallowing Disorders

Think about how you eat. You first have to get the food or drink to your mouth. You may use a fork, spoon, straw, or your hands to do so. You then have to open your mouth and take the food in. You close your lips to keep the food in your mouth. You then chew the food or move the liquid to get ready to swallow. Children may have delays in one or more of these different phases during feeding. They may also demonstrate heightened texture sensitivity to certain foods and textures while eating and refuse to eat certain foods due to this texture sensitivity.

Children have to learn the feeding process. They start by sucking and learn how to eat solid foods and drink from a cup. Children will have some trouble at first. Drinks may spill from their mouths. They may push food back out or gag on new foods. This is normal and should go away. A child with a feeding disorder will keep having trouble. Some children will eat only certain foods, or they may take a long time to eat. These children may also have a feeding disorder.

Some children also have swallowing problems, or dysphagia (dis-FAY-juh). Swallowing happens in three stages, or phases. A child can have a problem in one or more of these phases. They include:

• Oral Phase – sucking, chewing, and moving food or liquid into the throat.

• Pharyngeal phase – starting the swallow and squeezing food down the throat.

• Esophageal phase – opening and closing the esophagus, or the tube that goes from the mouth to the stomach.