Child Nutrition

Support from a Paediatric Dietitian Can Make Mealtimes Easier
Food plays a central role in a child’s growth, development, and daily routine. From breakfast to bedtime, many parents are constantly thinking about how to best nourish their child. But when feeding challenges arise; such as fussy eating, poor growth, or restricted diets, it can affect not only a child’s health and wellbeing, but also the emotional wellbeing of the entire family. At Optimum Intake Dietitians, our experienced paediatric dietitians provide compassionate, evidence-based support to help children thrive and take the stress out of mealtimes for parents.

Every Child Deserves a Positive Relationship with Food
Learning to eat is a journey and for many children, it’s not always a smooth one. Some kids struggle with certain textures, become selective with flavours, or find it hard to try new foods. As a result, mealtimes can become limited, stressful, and frustrating for both parents and children. A reduced variety of foods can impact your child’s nutrition, growth, and social confidence, especially in settings like school lunches or shared meals with others.

Our experienced paediatric dietitians work closely with families to support children at every stage; from infancy through to the teenage years. Whether your child needs help with fussy eating, managing medical conditions, or learning to eat independently, we’re here to guide and support you. We believe in building healthy eating habits early, so your child can grow, thrive, and enjoy food without pressure or fear.

Families often seek support from our paediatric dietitians for:

Practical, Personalised Support from Experienced Paediatric Dietitians

At Optimum Intake, our paediatric dietitians combine years of hands-on experience with specialised training to provide tailored, evidence-based nutrition support for children and their families. We understand that every child is different, and so is every mealtime challenge.

One of the most common reasons families seek our help is for fussy eating or food refusal. For some children, becoming a confident eater is a complex journey. They may react strongly to certain textures, colours, or food combinations, making mealtimes a source of stress rather than connection. Encouraging “just one more bite” often leads to battles, leaving children with an even narrower range of accepted foods.

When variety decreases, it can begin to affect your child’s growth, health, and development, as well as their confidence in social settings like school lunchrooms, family gatherings, and playdates. This experience can be distressing for both children and their parents.

Our team has specialised training in managing fussy eating and problem feeding using a compassionate, multi-dimensional approach:

• ✅ We support your child to meet their nutritional needs with practical, achievable strategies

• ✅ We empower you as a parent with tools to reduce mealtime stress and take calm, confident leadership

• ✅ We work with your child in a hands-on way, giving them space to explore, learn about, and build trust with new foods over time

We are also proud to be registered NDIS providers, with extensive experience supporting children with complex disabilities, including autism, ADHD, sensory processing difficulties, and feeding challenges. We collaborate with speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and psychologists to create a unified support team focused on improving your child’s health, confidence, and overall quality of life.

Now is the time to build lifelong healthy eating habits—for your child and your family. Call us on 0499 008 451 or contact us online to book an appointment with one of our friendly paediatric dietitians.

Our Commitment to Child Safety

At Optimum Intake Dietitians, we are dedicated to providing a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment for all children and young people. Our Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy ensures that our team is trained, our spaces are welcoming, and our processes prioritise child safety at every step.

We also uphold a Statement of Commitment to Child Safety and our Promise to Young People, reinforcing our responsibility to protect, listen to, and empower children in our care.

View our Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy

Read Our Promise to Young People

For any questions, please contact our Child Safety Officer at [email protected].

Fussy Eaters and Problem Feeders – Food-Play-Eat Program

The ‘Food-Play-Eat’ program, developed by Optimum Intake Dietitians, aims to support children to become competent, confident and courageous eaters. In this 3-month program, you can expect your dietitian will work with you and your child to develop strategies and skills to support your child to feel comfortable and ready to explore new foods and expand their food variety. We teach this using the natural, social reinforcement of playing with the food and interacting with adults.

Your child will learn to:

• Have positive experiences with food,
• Interact more freely with foods, with less pressure or encouragement
• Increase the variety of foods they are willing to try
• cues to eating,
• Consume an increased volume of food

You as the parent will experience increased confidence, skills and understanding when feeding your child. You will have the support of your dietitian every step of the way to translate these activities and skills to the home environment.

Who will benefit from our Food-Play-Eat program?

• A Child who has a low volume of oral intake
• A Child who has a limited variety of tastes and textures in their diet
• A Child who has difficulties transitioning to advanced textures
• A Child who has maladaptive behaviours around eating
• Families who experience power struggles at meals

The program is structured on a 12 session protocol & includes:

• Initial Assessment and mealtime/eating development history
• Home or clinic-based Feeding / meal time baseline competency assessment
• 8 weeks of Food School Learning: lessons and observations (parent and child).
• Foods chosen for the home Food School Learning sessions are based on the individual child’s needs
• Growth measures collected and evaluated where required
• Referral to other feeding practitioners where indicated (if your child has complex feeding difficulties) such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychology and a list of accredited clinicians can be provided to you on request.
• 12-week final session on feeding / mealtime competency and evaluation

For further information about the program or regarding an appointment, please contact our office on 0499 008 451.