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Feeding and Swallowing Center | Day Hospital Feeding Program
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Introduction
The Day Hospital Feeding Program helps children learn to eat a larger amount and variety of food and fluid by teaching parents to manage mealtime refusal behaviors.
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Transcript: Introduction
Narrator: Your child has been recommended for the intensive Day Hospital Feeding Program at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia located in the Children's Seashore House Building on the Philadelphia campus. This treatment program helps children learn to eat a larger amount and variety of food and fluid by teaching parents to manage mealtime refusal behaviors. We see a variety of children who resist eating for a number of different reasons, including medical problems, developmental issues and sensory issues. Most children stay in the program a total of four weeks, coming into the hospital every day Monday through Friday.
Families need to arrive as early as 8:00 am and typically leave by 4:00 pm. During that time children participate in three feeding therapy sessions a day. At first children eat in a one-on-one setting with a trained feeding therapist who uses a strict set of mealtime rules. You will initially be observing these therapy sessions from an observation room. By the end of the program you will be taught to use the same rules so that your child will continue to eat in this same way at home. Each day you and your child will check in at the day hospital room. There is a TV, an outside play area, tables, chairs and cubbies for personal belongings in this room. Think of it as your home base. In the day hospital room you will meet a nurse and other staff members. The day hospital staff is there to provide you with useful information about the hospital and general information about your admission.
One of the biggest challenges of the Day Hospital Program is the amount of unstructured time in between feeding therapy sessions. These feeding therapy sessions are scheduled three hours apart to make your child as hungry as possible. Your child may also participate in supportive therapies such as oral-motor therapy or occupational therapy. However, these sessions are typically scheduled no more than once to three times per week.
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