Children who need more intensive treatment than we can provide in the outpatient clinic are seen in our Intensive Day Hospital Feeding Program.

Our goal is to help your child learn to eat a larger amount and a variety of foods and fluids and to train you, the parent/caregiver, in strategies to improve eating. Your child will work with a feeding therapist under the guidance of a psychologist, and may also receive occupational or speech therapy.

The Intensive Day Hospital Feeding Program is a leader in the field, treating more than 100 children each year, who come to us from all over the world.

“Our experience at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Day Hospital Feeding Program was positive from beginning to end. The team truly understood our daughter’s feeding issues, which made it possible to tailor the program to her specific needs and the concerns of our family .”

Our patients range in age from 16 months to 11 years, and our average patient is 3 years old. The average stay in our program is 16 days.

Treatment schedule

Our program runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday with varying start times. The usual Intensive Day Hospital Feeding Program stay is four weeks. After your child completes the program, our team will see him in outpatient clinic to ensure his progress continues.

Treatment goals

The goals of the day hospital program may include:

• Increasing the amount of food the child will eat
• Increasing the variety of foods the child will eat
• Promoting development of feeding, such as cup drinking and self-feeding, and oral motor skills
• Transitioning from tube to oral feeding
• Teaching caregivers to manage feeding problems at home

Ninety-five percent (95%) of patients in our program meet their goals that were established on admission.

About our staff

Your child's treatment team is a group of professionals from different specialties who work together to identify and treat your child's feeding problems.