Feeding Matters

Feeding Matters is uniting the field’s leading medical experts, healthcare professionals, and passionate advocates with the most critical concerns of parents to affect systemic change. ACCELERATING IDENTIFICATION Delayed identification or intervention for children with pediatric feeding disorders can lead to poor brain development, deficient motor skills, and psychosocial impairment. Proper nutrition during the first few years of life is crucial for proper brain development. Because of this, the early identification of pediatric feeding disorders is critical to a child’s long-term health. IGNITING RESEARCH A lack of longitudinal, evidence-based data and the heterogeneous nature of pediatric feeding disorders have been identified as barriers to understanding more about the individualized needs of these children. Through strategic partnerships and seed funding, Feeding Matters supports research that addresses these issues head on. PROMOTING COLLABORATIVE CARE When caring for children with pediatric feeding disorders, parents often find themselves struggling with feelings of guilt, blame, isolation, helplessness, and even all-encompassing fear. By promoting a collaborative approach to care through four domains – medical, nutrition, feeding skill, and psychosocial – Feeding Matters works to equip the entire care team, including the family, with the knowledge they need to effectively treat children who struggle to eat. In 2017, Feeding Matters reached more than families and medical professionals from all 50 states and 112 countries.