How It Works
Our Therapies
Resources
Picky eating is normal, but when meals become a source of stress for your whole family, it's worth addressing. In-home OT feeding therapy helps children expand their diet, reduce anxiety around food, and make mealtimes calm again.
Understanding Feeding Challenges
Every child goes through picky phases. But when a child has extreme food refusal, physical reactions to new foods, or an extremely limited diet, that's feeding disorder territory. The root is often sensory — certain textures, tastes, smells, or temperatures trigger a gag reflex or anxiety response that's not a behavior problem; it's a nervous system response.
Here's what families often describe:
Panic or extreme anxiety when new foods are introduced. Gags or vomits when trying new textures. Anticipatory anxiety — refusing meals because they "might" have a disliked texture.
Diet restricted to fewer than 20 foods (often just 5-10). Foods must be a specific brand, shape, temperature, or texture. Any variation triggers refusal or physical distress.
Difficulty chewing or swallowing certain textures. Pocketing food in cheeks rather than swallowing. Gagging at smooth, chunky, dry, or wet foods. May drool or have trouble with utensils.
Mealtimes cause stress and conflict. Family eating together is impossible. Parent stress about nutrition. Worry about growth or social situations involving food.
You Don't Need to Wait
ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) is a real clinical diagnosis, but many children with sensory-based feeding challenges fall into a gray area. They might not meet the full criteria for ARFID, yet mealtimes are genuinely stressful and their diet is genuinely limited.
Feeding therapy doesn't require a diagnosis. If meals are causing family stress, your child's diet is significantly limited, or they show anxiety or physical distress around food, an OT can evaluate them and start building strategies to make mealtimes calm and more expansive.
Whether your child has a formal ARFID diagnosis, autism, sensory processing differences, or no diagnosis at all — if feeding is a daily stress, OT feeding therapy can help. We work slowly, without pressure, to expand both what they eat and how they feel about food.
Tired of the mealtime battles? Let's make eating enjoyable again.
Find a Feeding ProviderBy Age
Feeding challenges look different depending on your child's age. Here's what families commonly see — and where feeding therapy makes the biggest impact.
Won't eat anything soft, anything chunky, anything that's a certain color. Diet limited to 5-8 foods. Transitions from baby food are extremely difficult or have stalled completely.
Crying, vomiting, or gagging when new foods are offered. Gets anxious at the dinner table because they're afraid something unfamiliar might appear on their plate.
Diet lacks variety in textures, tastes, and nutritional content. Parents worry about growth, vitamin intake, and whether this is sustainable long-term.
Family dinner time is tense and focused on what the child will eat. Eating out is stressful or impossible. Meal planning revolves around the one child's limited preferences.
Can't participate in school lunch, field trip meals, or birthday party cake. Feels isolated when peers are eating and enjoying foods they won't eat.
No progress in expanding foods. Still eating a very narrow range. New foods still trigger anxiety or physical distress.
Anticipatory anxiety about what's being served at lunch. Worry about social situations involving food. May refuse to attend celebrations because of food anxiety.
Diet still lacks important food groups. Parents concerned about impact on growth, energy, and long-term health.
Can't eat at restaurants, friend gatherings, or family celebrations. Anxiety prevents them from trying new foods independently.
May become more restrictive with stress or anxiety. Avoids eating situations. Food anxiety may evolve into or compound other anxiety disorders.
Aware they eat differently from peers. May hide eating habits. Feels shame or embarrassment about limited diet. Social withdrawal from food-centered activities.
Without intervention, diet may remain restricted into adulthood. Health risks from nutritional deficiencies. Limited ability to participate in normal adult social and work meals.
See something familiar? Let's expand what's possible at mealtimes.
Get StartedHow We Help
OT feeding therapy addresses the sensory, motor, and behavioral roots of picky eating — building a healthier relationship with food.
OT feeding therapy is the gold standard for sensory-based feeding challenges and limited diets. Your therapist works in your home environment, during actual mealtimes, to understand what makes your child anxious around food. They create a pressure-free plan to gradually expand food acceptance, reduce feeding-related anxiety, and help your child develop a healthier relationship with eating.
For children with feeding challenges that involve oral motor skills, chewing, swallowing, or dysphagia concerns.
For children whose feeding challenges relate to posture, positioning, or motor planning during meals.
Most families start with feeding-focused OT. Some add speech or PT support as needed.
Find the Right FitOur Philosophy
Feeding anxiety is real. We don't use pressure tactics, bribes, or forcing — those methods backfire and often worsen anxiety. Instead, we create a safe, playful environment where your child can gradually build tolerance and confidence around new foods.
Their gag reflex and anxiety aren't willful — they're sensory responses. We work with their nervous system to gradually build tolerance, not against it.
We see how meals actually happen in your family. We understand your routines, your table dynamics, your kitchen. We modify what needs to change right where it matters most.
Many parents feel they've tried everything or blame themselves. We partner with you to identify what's worked and what hasn't, and we build from real strength.
Tolerating a food on the plate without gagging is progress. Trying something new without crying is a victory. We notice and celebrate the small steps that build toward big changes.
Strategies designed for your child's unique feeding profile.
Get Matched with a ProviderFeeding is deeply rooted in family routines, and change happens best where families eat.
Therapy happens at your dinner table, with your plates, your foods, your family routines. The therapist sees real barriers and builds real solutions — not theoretical ones.
Everyone at the table learns how to support your child without pressure. Siblings see the approach. Mealtimes shift from stressful to manageable — for the whole family.
Feeding therapy only works with daily repetition. Home-based therapy means your child practices new food tolerances and skills at every meal, between sessions.
When feeding stops being a battle, the whole family benefits. Dinnertime becomes calmer. Family meals become possible again. Nutrition improves.
In-home therapy means real progress at real mealtimes.
Get StartedReal Progress
Here's what families experience with sensory-based feeding therapy.
From Our Families
"Our feeding therapist showed us how to present foods without pressure. For the first time, our son actually volunteered to try something new. I never thought I'd see that."
"Dinnertime used to end in tears every night. Now my whole family actually enjoys meals together. That's something I thought we'd lost."
Common Questions
All kids go through picky phases, but when mealtimes cause regular distress, diet is limited to fewer than 20 foods, or your child shows anxiety around food, it's worth an evaluation. A feeding therapist can distinguish between typical pickiness and feeding challenges that benefit from intervention.
ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) is a clinical diagnosis involving extreme food restriction that affects nutrition or quality of life. Many children with sensory feeding challenges don't meet full ARFID criteria but still benefit greatly from OT feeding therapy.
Yes. Feeding challenges are extremely common in children with autism, sensory processing differences, ADHD, and other neurodevelopmental conditions. OT feeding therapy is highly effective for children with these diagnoses.
No. Research shows pressure, bribes, and forcing backfire and often increase anxiety around food. Sensory-based feeding therapy uses a gradual, pressure-free approach that's much more effective long-term.
Progress timelines vary, but most families see meaningful change within 3-6 months with consistent therapy and home practice. Food expansion is gradual and based on your child's comfort level, not a rushed timeline.
Sometimes. Feeding anxiety can be primarily sensory, primarily anxiety-based, or both. During evaluation, the therapist identifies the root causes and tailors therapy accordingly. If significant anxiety is present, we often collaborate with mental health providers.
In-home occupational therapy for feeding challenges and picky eating — no diagnosis required. Real strategies that make family meals enjoyable again.
Free to get started · Insurance verified before first visit · No diagnosis needed
