ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the importance of working with the family and outlines some of the useful ways that systemic therapies can be applied to helping families with feeding problems. It discusses the importance of being able to take account of and be responsive to other professional systems and demonstrates that interventions at this level can often be very powerful and effective. The chapter discusses some of the core characteristics of systemic therapy, which have something to offer everyone who works with families. Systemic therapy is predicated on openness towards and an appreciation of the family's perspective. Feeding even a new baby involves other members of the family, whether directly or indirectly. The discussion thus far implies that feeding one's child not only involves the giving of food but also encompasses a huge interactive area of emotions, beliefs, behaviours, social and cultural processes and pressures. Many families with feeding difficulties have a great many helpers.
