Welcome to the Beyond Fussy Eating programme.
This is an online programme for families of children who have feeding difficulties. We have called our programme Beyond Fussy Eating because it is about children who are extremely selective eaters and sometimes have little interest in eating food. They may eat a very limited variety of foods, which can lead to poor growth and poor nutrition. This is sometimes known as ‘selective eating’ or ‘sensory-based feeding difficulties’, but here we will refer to it as ‘avoidant and/or restrictive eating, drinking and mealtime behaviours' or Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). The programme will also help any health, education and care staff who work with these children.
The programme aims to:
- Give you information to help you explore and understand a child’s feeding difficulties.
- Give you ideas on strategies and activities that can support children with their feeding difficulties.
- Help you work towards setting goals for a child and putting together an action plan to work towards these goals.
- Give you ideas on where you can find further information and advice.
The programme consists of five video modules:
- Module 1 - Exploring feeding difficulties (20 minutes)
- Module 2 - Mealtime strategies (10 minutes)
- Module 3 - Learning about new foods (32 minutes)
- Module 4 - Planning for changes (7 minutes)
- Module 5 - ‘A parent’s perspective’ (14 minutes) - This is an interview with a parent of a child with feeding difficulties who talks about her child’s journey, and advice they have found helpful in their journey
The programme has been designed for you to work though the modules at your own pace, but we would strongly recommend that you watch all the modules and watch them in this order.
There are information sheets that accompany each of the modules and are referred to as and when relevant during the modules.
We hope you find the programme helpful.