Nutrition Assessment and Management in Pediatric Dysphagia

ABSTRACT

Nutrition focuses on the intake and use of food material, whereas swallowing serves as the primary method of delivery for this nourishment. Swallowing dysfunction may compromise an infant's or child's ability to meet nutritional needs resulting in potentially long-lasting sequelae from the malnutrition. This article reviews clinical presentations of nutritional compromise; strategies for both oral feeding and enteral tube feeding regimens, including the provision of adequate fluid; and nutritional issues of specific pediatric populations who are at high risk for dysphagia.

KEY WORDS

nutrition - diet - dysphagia - pediatrics