Oral Motor Exercises and Feeding Therapy for Children With Feeding Difficulties

Some children's feeding difficulties go beyond picky eating -- they struggle with the physical side of eating itself, such as chewing certain textures, managing food in the mouth, or moving between purees and solid foods, and this is where feeding therapy can help.

What Feeding Therapy Looks At

A feeding assessment typically looks at oral motor skills -- the strength and coordination of the lips, tongue, jaw and cheeks -- alongside sensory responses to different tastes and textures, since both can affect how comfortably a child eats.

Oral Motor Exercises

Depending on what's identified, therapy may include targeted oral motor exercises and structured practice with introducing new textures gradually, always paced to what the child can tolerate.

Working Alongside Speech Development

Dr. Charu Arora notes that oral motor strength and coordination used for feeding often overlaps with the muscles used for speech, which is one reason feeding and speech concerns are sometimes assessed together.

When to Seek an Assessment

If your child consistently struggles with chewing, gags frequently on certain textures, or has stalled at purees well past the usual age for progressing to solids, a feeding assessment is a reasonable next step. Call 9990555423 or 8796958310, or message us on WhatsApp, to arrange one.