Do you know a child who struggles during mealtimes?

Odds are that you do. Friends, family, your own little one. Pediatric Feeding Disorder is more prevalent than most people realize!

Pediatric feeding disorder (PFD) is still a new term for many, but for parents and families who have kids who struggle—the anxiety and worry are all too familiar. Children may struggle to eat for days, weeks, or months. For children with PFD, mealtimes that should lead to nourishment and connection become the source of fear and distress.

Families aren’t getting the help they need.

Pediatric Feeding Disorder is more prevalent than many other serious childhood ailments such as autism or cerebral palsy—1 child in 37 between 1 and 5 years old could be diagnosable. Yet as feeding therapy professionals, we’ve learned a hard truth: many professionals—even pediatricians!—aren’t trained to diagnose or help effectively.

Lily’s Story

Crying, arching, pushing, fussing: this is what mealtimes looked like for Lily and her family. At one year old , Lily's start to solid foods had not been feeling good for her or her parents for a while. Their pediatrician was concerned about her growth, her parents' anxiety grew, and when they sought out help they received misguided advice to keep pushing Lily to eat more, whatever it took.

Yet after months of trying, they knew something wasn't right. They knew they needed a different approach. They wanted mealtimes to feel less scary for their sweet and playful girl. Lily's mom advocated for having a new speech-language pathologist join her daughter's team, and this time the provider had more experience with responsive feeding. They made a plan together to reduce pressure and help Lily feel comfortable at the table. By focusing on her experience and following her lead, Lily began to open up to new foods and began eating a bit more during family meals. They found she loved juicy oranges and her mom's homemade blueberry muffins!

Unfortunately, Lily's story is a common one. Most providers do not have the proper training to support families using responsive feeding practices. Many providers are taught outdated, behavior-based strategies to try and get children to eat, and families are left feeling even more stressed when these strategies don't work.

Families need a better solution and they need it now.

Receiving appropriate treatment for pediatric feeding disorder is critical, but it’s often missed by well-meaning medical professionals who are not trained in responsive feeding practices. State-supported early intervention programs are also lacking in providers with the specialized training they need to support families.

It’s why we started the Chicago Feeding Group.

As professionals trained in feeding therapy, we realized we were facing a problem without enough resources or professionals to identify and support families in need. We decided to take matters into our own hands. In 2016, we held the first meeting of the Chicago Feeding Group with simple goals: bring together caring professionals for training and collaboration to better reach struggling families.

Our Story

In Spring 2020, as we all faced the new threat of COVID-19, something incredible happened that transformed us. The unexpected shift to virtual life helped us expand our reach to families and providers around the world! The Chicago Feeding Group found that our simple proposition of bringing low-cost but high-quality professional training was more of a need than we realized. The Chicago Feeding Group became a source for hope and information to families and professionals around the world.

We have a vision. We need your help.

We have no illusions that we can personally reach every child who needs our help.

But we can imagine a world where kids are quickly diagnosed and treated with the highest quality of care.

To do that, changes must be made from the start, in occupational therapy and speech-language pathology training programs. Someday, we hope this will happen. But right now, the training and professional mentoring need is immediate and much larger than this. Chicago Feeding Group is acting now to help children like Lily get the help they need.

How we do it:

Reach parents & families so they know they're not alone.

Parents shouldn’t have to feel like they are alone. We host online mutual support groups powered by active parents and are working to author professional-level resources written for non-medical professionals. We have plans to further expand our options.

Create parent & family supports and resources.

We have created professional-level open access resources written for non-medical professionals and have added to our resource library over the past year. We have fact sheets, free access to educational webinars and videos, and are working with parents to develop even more in 2025!

Reach more professionals worldwide with innovative, low-cost professional training.

We leverage our non-profit status to engage experts in the field—highly trained feeding professionals to coach and teach younger professionals in our popular monthly training sessions. The key to earlier intervention for families is more informed professionals.

Partner with Early Intervention and other community programs.

CFG is actively educating Illinois Early Intervention staff and providers with the most current research and information to support children with PFD and their families. We want every infant and toddler in Illinois who needs support to get it as early as possible. Our goal is to expand this initiative to other states.

Amplify the voice of families with PFD.

Awareness of this diagnosis is critical. Five states in the United States have formally recognized PFD. We support advocacy groups such as Feeding Matters in bringing that number up to 50, and we regularly train with real case studies and stories.

We can do this together. Would you give?

This is a moment we don’t want to waste. We are having an outsized impact and we need your help.

For those who can, would you consider giving $100 or any other amount to meet this critical need?

We have a goal to raise $10,000 for children with pediatric feeding disorder by Dec 31, 2025.

Chicago Feeding Group is a 501(c)3 federal non-profit and gifts are tax deductible as the law allows.

Help Children With Pediatric Feeding Disorder

Restore Joyful Mealtimes Campaign

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