{"h1":"What to do first after a Sensory-Based Feeding Selectivity diagnosis","faq":[{"a":"No — it goes beyond typical picky eating. Children with sensory-based selectivity often refuse foods because of how they feel, smell, look or sound in the mouth, and the range of accepted foods can be very narrow. Gentle, graded feeding therapy helps widen it over time.","q":"Is sensory-based feeding selectivity just fussy eating?"},{"a":"Keep offering, but without pressure. Place a tiny portion of a new food beside trusted foods and allow looking, touching or smelling with no expectation to eat. Repeated calm exposure is how acceptance grows — forcing or bribing usually increases refusal.","q":"Should I stop offering new foods to avoid stress?"},{"a":"Seek prompt medical review if your child gags, chokes or coughs during feeds, has a wet voice or breathing change while eating, is losing weight or not growing, or eats so few foods that nutrition is at risk. Unsafe swallowing always needs a doctor first.","q":"When should I see a doctor urgently?"},{"a":"Some children improve with time, but sensory-based selectivity often benefits from structured, child-led feeding support — especially when the range of foods is narrow or growth is affected. Early gentle help makes mealtimes calmer and progress faster.","q":"Will my child grow out of it on their own?"}],"lang":"en","slug":"my-child-was-just-diagnosed-with-sensory-based-feeding-selectivity-what-should-i-do-first","title":"What to do first after a Sensory-Based Feeding Selectivity diagnosis","entity":{"key":"picky-eating","kind":"condition","name":"Sensory-Based Feeding Selectivity","slug":null},"lenses":[{"kind":"stakeholder","label":"Parent","value":"parent"},{"kind":"domain","label":"Adaptive","value":"adaptive"},{"kind":"intent","label":"Support","value":"support"},{"kind":"lifecycle","label":"Plan","value":"plan"},{"kind":"route","label":"Special-Education","value":"special-education"},{"kind":"empowerment","label":"Family Empowerment","value":"family_empowerment"}],"parent":{"key":"conditions","label":"Conditions"},"related":[{"lang":"en","slug":"how-do-i-explain-sensory-based-feeding-selectivity-to-my-child","title":"How do I explain Sensory-Based Feeding Selectivity to my child?"},{"lang":"en","slug":"my-child-was-just-diagnosed-with-feeding-and-eating-difficulties-what-should-i-do-first","title":"What to Do First After a Feeding & Eating Difficulties Diagnosis"},{"lang":"en","slug":"what-can-i-expect-as-my-child-with-sensory-based-feeding-selectivity-grows-up","title":"What can I expect as my child with sensory-based feeding selectivity grows up?"},{"lang":"en","slug":"where-should-i-start-to-get-help-for-a-child-with-sensory-based-feeding-selectivity","title":"Where to start for sensory-based feeding selectivity"},{"lang":"en","slug":"how-do-i-choose-the-right-therapy-for-a-child-with-sensory-based-feeding-selectivity","title":"How do I choose the right therapy for a child with Sensory-Based Feeding Selectivity?"},{"lang":"en","slug":"how-can-feeding-therapy-help-a-child-with-sensory-based-feeding-selectivity","title":"How can feeding therapy help a child with sensory-based feeding selectivity?"}],"summary":"After a diagnosis of Sensory-Based Feeding Selectivity, take three first steps: make mealtimes calm and pressure-free, ask your paediatrician to check growth and rule out medical factors, and book a feeding assessment so a therapist can map why your child refuses foods. Support is gentle and child-led, steadily widening accepted foods. AbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.","answer_md":"*A diagnosis can feel overwhelming — but it's also the moment your child's mealtimes begin to get gentler, and you are not navigating this alone.*\n\n## In short\nFirst, take a breath — a diagnosis of Sensory-Based Feeding Selectivity is the start of a clear plan, not a verdict on your child or your parenting. Your **first three steps** are simple: keep mealtimes calm and pressure-free, protect your child's nutrition and growth with a paediatrician check, and book a feeding assessment so a therapist can map *why* your child refuses certain foods. From there, support is gentle, child-led and steadily widens the foods your child accepts.\n\n## What to do first\n- **Lower the pressure today.** Stop bribing, forcing or coaxing bites. Offer one tiny portion of a new food *beside* foods your child already trusts, and let them look, touch or smell it with zero expectation to eat. Curiosity grows where fear shrinks.\n- **Protect nutrition and rule out medical factors.** Ask your paediatrician to check growth, weight, iron, reflux, constipation or any swallowing concern. These can quietly drive food refusal and need to be addressed alongside therapy.\n- **Book a feeding assessment.** A feeding therapist will look at the sensory side (how foods *feel*, *smell* and *look* to your child) and the oral-motor skills behind chewing and swallowing — then build a step-by-step plan.\n- **Keep a simple food diary.** Note which foods your child accepts, by texture, colour, temperature and brand. This reveals patterns and gives the therapist a precise starting point.\n- **Eat together, predictably.** Shared, routine, unhurried meals lower anxiety so your child can be curious at the table rather than on guard.\n\nSensory-based selectivity is rarely about stubbornness — it is about how a child's senses experience food. With patient, playful, graded exposure, most children steadily expand what they will eat.\n\n## When to seek a check sooner\nSeek prompt medical review if your child gags, chokes or coughs during feeds, has a wet voice or breathing change while eating, is losing weight or not growing well, or eats so narrow a range that nutrition is at risk. Any sign of unsafe swallowing needs a doctor first, before feeding therapy.\n\n## The Pinnacle way\nAbilityScore® is part of Pinnacle’s developmental assessment. Diagnosis, where needed, requires an appropriately qualified healthcare professional — never from an app or online form. From there your child receives a precise [feeding and developmental profile](/ask/what-is-the-abilityscore-and-how-is-it-calculated) and a plan built by therapists who understand the senses and skills behind eating, through our [feeding and oral-motor therapy](/feeding-therapy). You can [explore how we support families](/) at every step.\n\n## Trusted sources\nAmerican Speech-Language-Hearing Association guidance on paediatric feeding and swallowing; American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org) feeding and picky-eating guidance; WHO ICD-11 feeding or eating difficulties framing.\n\n**Next step —** Ready to make mealtimes calmer? [Book a feeding assessment with a Pinnacle clinician](/feeding-therapy).\n\nThis is general information, not a diagnosis — individual assessment and diagnosis require an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.","canonical":"https://pinnacleblooms.org/ask/my-child-was-just-diagnosed-with-sensory-based-feeding-selectivity-what-should-i-do-first","editorial":{"reviewed_at":"2026-06-11T20:12:18.613642+00:00","reviewed_by":null,"developed_by":"SETU Consortium · Pinnacle Blooms Network"},"alternates":[{"href":"https://pinnacleblooms.org/ask/my-child-was-just-diagnosed-with-sensory-based-feeding-selectivity-what-should-i-do-first","lang":"en","indexable":true},{"href":"https://pinnacleblooms.org/ask/my-child-was-just-diagnosed-with-sensory-based-feeding-selectivity-what-should-i-do-first-te","lang":"te","indexable":true}],"dimensions":[{"key":"conditions","label":"Conditions"}],"meta_title":"Feeding Selectivity: What To Do First","meta_robots":"index, follow, max-image-preview:large","everyday_tip":"At one meal a day, place a tiny portion of a new food beside a food your child already trusts — let them look, touch or smell it with no pressure to eat. 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