FAQs
How do I know if my child needs to see a dietitian?
There are a range of reasons that you might want to come and see a paediatric dietitian:
Baby or child not gaining adequate weight or height, or not tracking well on growth centile charts
Fussy or selective eating that’s concerning you or making mealtimes unenjoyable
Child with a disability that affects their nutrition - e.g. requiring tube feeding or other specialist nutrition intervention
Suspected or diagnosed food allergies or intolerance
Feeling uncertain about how best to feed your child and family to optimise their health and wellbeing
Will I need to have more than one session with you?
Usually, yes.
There is often a lot to learn about a child and their family unit to effectively address feeding issues. The first session involves lots of information gathering, and it is often in the second session that we progress to working on strategies to support improvement. Depending on the issues, 2-3 sessions may be adequate or you may wish to return for further support.
In some cases (e.g. dietary education for new diagnosis of Coeliac Disease) one session can be enough.
Should my partner/parent/friend attend the appointment?
If you are parenting with a partner or with the close support of a family member or friend, we encourage you to bring this person to one or all appointments for your child, if you find this helpful. Parents or caregivers who have significant involvement in feeding and mealtimes will benefit from being “on the same page” with strategies that we discuss in clinic. If they’re unable to attend in person we can include them using telephone or videoconferencing.
Will you weigh and measure my child?
Sometimes we will, yes.
If your concerns are around poor weight gain or faltering growth it can be important to regularly weigh and measure your child so we can assess whether the changes we’re making are having an effect.
Where there is no initial concern around weight or height gain we may take measurements initially and then measure less often if there is no reason to focus on this aspect of your child’s care.
If a child has been referred due to concerns that their weight is too high, we don’t tend to take weight measurements in clinic. Children in larger bodies can often be made to feel as though their weight is of central importance, and will define their health and more broadly, define how they can live their lives. This is not true. Children (and adults) in larger bodies can be well and healthy. We prefer to focus on supporting caregivers to improve family feeding dynamics, nutritional quality, attunement with the body and joyful physical movement. Improving these things is much more powerful than focusing on weight and has a positive effect on health, regardless of body size.
Should my child attend the appointment?
The majority of my work is with the parent or caregiver, so it is not usually necessary for us to see the child in clinic. Children can sometimes find one-hour appointments difficult to tolerate and it can be easier for the caregiver to focus on our discussion if they attend without the child. Some children find the focus on their eating upsetting.
In many cases we need to monitor the weight and height of the child or baby. This can be done by bringing them to the appointment, or by having them weighed at a GP clinic, pharmacy or at home before the appointment. If we would prefer to do the measurements in clinic, we will ask you to bring your child in.
If you would like to bring your child to the session they are absolutely welcome - we always love to meet the children we’re supporting. For some parents childcare can be tricky and we understand this - bring them along with some books, toys or a tablet to watch.
Can I have a Zoom or phone appointment?
Yes, absolutely! We are very happy to work in person, or via video or telephone - whatever suits you best.