"Learning How to Eat" Project

Eating is one of the basic functions of our life and this function develops mainly during the early years of a baby's life.  Most babies develop this function naturally and with no great difficulty. However there are instances when this function does not develop as expected.

When parents encounter difficulties whilst feeding their infants they generally do not have the knowledge to "diagnose" and deal with the problem and usually they do not know to whom to turn for counseling and treatment.

The "Learning How to Eat Project" was developed at ALYN by the staff of the Hospital's speech and language therapy department in order to identify problems and provide guidance and instruction to parents in correct diet and eating habits for babies and toddlers.  In this way feeding problems in older children can also be prevented.  Speech therapists who specialize in feeding problems, together with a dietitian, meet with parents to explain the natural "milestones" in a child's eating development and they stress the importance of parents having the "tools" to deal with any eating problems which may arise with their infant. The Project team set up meetings with parents of infants and toddlers at which instruction is given on correct feeding and nutrition and parents are taught how to identify the "red lights" in the child's development to which they must pay attention. In addition there will be discussion time, a question and answer session and the experts with give suggestions and tips about infant feeding.

The team are happy to give advice at these meetings and in addition they can be consulted on ALYN Hospital's forum on the subject of infant feeding at www.alyn.org.il/feeding

The project is funded by "Boeing".