Infant Feeding Difficulties

Feeding challenges have become increasingly more common with parents reporting difficulty around  feeding for up to 50% of otherwise healthy children. This number only increases if there are delays or  asymmetries in development. Feeding challenges can be stressful and even scary because they can  

impact nutritional intake, growth, and development from birth. On top of that, there is rarely ONE reason  that feeding challenges are happening. 

Signs and Symptoms of Feeding Difficulty 

First, we need to figure out if there is difficulty with feeding. From the moment of birth, babies have the  inherent ability to locate, latch, suck, and swallow in order to fulfill nutritional needs. Signs and symptoms  of feeding difficulties can include any of the following (and likely a combination of several of these):  

• Baby’s frustration, crying, or turning away with eating  

• Long feeding times 

• Frequent coughing/choking/gagging when eating 

• Frequent vomiting/excessive spit up during or after meals 

• Pain with breastfeeding with or without nipple damage 

• Milk dribbling out of mouth 

• Latching difficulties 

• Preference for one breast over the other 

• Clicking or smacking when eating 

• Incomplete breast drainage 

• Chomping or gumming on nipple 

• Poor weight gain 

• Snoring, noisy, or mouth breathing 

Potential Causes of Feeding Difficulty 

Whether you are breastfeeding, bottle feeding, or a combination of both, challenges with feeding can be  caused by a variety of different sources. 

• Medical conditions (Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, GI conditions, etc) 

• Structural challenges (Cleft lip, suboptimal palate shapes, etc) 

• Under-active or overactive feeding reflexes (gaping, rooting, gag, etc) 

• Difficulty with coordination of sucking 

• Weakness of the tongue 

• Poor endurance or fatiguing quickly 

• Tension in the neck, shoulders, trunk, jaw, etc. 

• Restricted movement of the tongue and other oral/facial structures 

How Specialized Physical Therapy Can Help 

If your baby is having trouble with breast or bottle feeding or you are experiencing any of the signs/ symptoms of feeding difficulty, it may be helpful to seek out assistance from a specialized healthcare  professional(s) to determine the underlying cause of the difficulties. Your provider will be trained to  evaluate and address the specific needs of you and your baby with targeted exercises and an  individualized home program to help make feeding easier and more comfortable. 

For more information on if your baby would benefit from individualized physical therapy treatment related  to feeding difficulties, feel free to reach out to us. Our team  of clinicians are pediatric physical therapists and certified breastfeeding specialists, and we are here to 

help! Year One Wellness offers virtual consultation everywhere and in-person consultations in and around  Austin, TX.