Providing dietary support for children at any age

02/Jul/2021     Health

Mater Health and Wellness offers a comprehensive and specialised dietetics service for children from birth up to sixteen years of age to manage a range of conditions and concerns.

Support is offered for children with growth concerns, nutrition, weight management, food allergies and intolerances, difficulty eating, constipation and digestion, children with disabilities and a specialise multidisciplinary tube feeding clinic.

Dietitian Katie Van Geelen said she and her team can see children at any age and any stage of development with complex to general dietary issues.

“Our team will do a full assessment of the child including their weight, growth, symptoms they are experiencing, food intake and other related health issues that may be impacting them,” Katie said.

“We see neonates from the Neonatal Critical Care Unit all the way up to high school aged children who may be unwell and needing to use a feeding tube.

“For children with feeding tubes we run a specialised clinic where we collaborate with speech pathology, dietetics and occupational therapy helping patients wean off a tube while still maintaining adequate nutrition.” 

Dietitian Sarah Hansen explained they can also help parents whose children may be experiencing food allergies or intolerances.

“We find these children can develop an aversion to food or certain types of foods and we work with the parents to re-introduce these foods safely back into their diets,” Sarah said.

“Our team also work collaboratively with the children’s paediatricians, immunologists and gastroenterologists to ensure we are meeting the advised care plan for the child.”

Katie said the services offered at Mater are unique with so many allied health disciplines co-located in the one place making it easy for parents to access support for their children.

“By offering shared patient care parents are able to see their paediatrician, specialists and allied health team in the one building, the teams work very closely together so we can cross refer to another specialty if necessary,” Katie said.

“Our model of shared patient care means we are able to holistically support children and engage their families by taking a multidisciplinary approach to their care and we are focused on working together for the best patient outcome.”

To find out more about Children’s Therapy Services at Mater please call, 07 3163 6000, email info.wellness@mater.org.au or visit the website here.

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