12th Annual International Pediatric Feeding Disorder Conference
Phoenix, AZ February 21-22, 2025
Wow! Thank you Feeding Matters. What a wonderful, inspiring, thought-provoking, fun, educational, and exciting conference this weekend. This year’s conference theme was get curious “inspiring participants at every stage of their journey to walk away with new perspectives and actionable insights”. And it delivered!
We learned about food insecurity, ARFID, evaluation procedures, trauma informed care, special populations such as preterm infants and Downs syndrome, the role of psychology, PFD domains, parental needs, and much more. The highlight for me was the conversation. That conversation that is had between presentations, at lunch, or on breaks. The ah-ha moments and new ideas generated from colleagues from a different discipline or perspective. Discussing new information. Making connections. Meeting professional colleagues finally face to face and making new colleagues.
A unique aspect of the Feeding Matters conference is the blending of Parent and Professional perspectives. There is an emphasis on learning from each other and meeting the needs of children and their families living with PFD. We need to help our children and families find services and get off waiting lists! One take away for me is to remember to take time to ask my families how they are doing.
Personally, I would like to say thank you to Feeding Matters for allowing me to present my dissertation research on gagging in children with PFD. During the conference, I was able to have many conversations about gagging in children with PFD with professionals and parents. Gagging can be a negative experience in PFD that we address as clinicians. It is also something that children and adults with PFD and ARFID are living with. This is an important topic that needs more focused research. Thank you to my doctoral committee and especially to Kates Farm for supporting my research with a travel grant to Feeding Matters.
Feeding Matters- you are doing extraordinary work to move this field forward, to connect us, and to support families. May we all stay curious!
This meeting was a gift.
!Bravo, Krisi! I don’t remember if you posted your dissertation on your newsletter; I’d love to read it, tho, and am sure others would as well.
Thank you for sharing the conference highlights and your top takeaways.
Sally