ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the normal development of feeding skills from conception to 3 years as a foundation for looking at the ways in which this development may be disrupted either during these early stages or subsequently. It examines a number of situations where multi-disciplinary intervention may be necessary to help the child to eat and drink as normally as possible, and thus thrive. The possibility of very real sensory disturbance either as a soft neurological effect or as a result of experience is now acknowledged as contributing to some children's feeding problems. Efficient feeding is usually established within a few hours or days of birth in the normal term baby weighing 1900 grams. In young babies, the distinction between 'dysfunctional' and 'disorganised' feeding as described by M. M. Palmer and M. B. Heyman is important. Physiological, neuroanatomical and psychological aspects of feeding interweave in a dynamic and fast-changing way.
