Nutrition Care for Kids

Child nutrition services

Nutrition is important for your child’s health, development, growth and general well-being. What your child eats can make a big difference in how well your child thrives and grows.

Children’s Hospital Colorado provides nutrition care for infants, children and adolescents through both the Growth and Medical Nutrition Clinic and nutrition services embedded within many specialty clinics across the hospital. Our registered dietitians and nutrition-trained medical providers are part of several specialty programs, including the Heart Institute, Digestive Health Institute, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Breathing Institute and Orthopedics Institute, as well as inpatient care teams.

Our registered dietitians also work closely with the Lifestyle Medicine Program providing multidisciplinary treatment options for obese or overweight infants, toddlers, school-age children and adolescents.

Across all these programs, our registered dieticians work closely with families and the care teams to support growth, feeding and nutrition needs in children with both common and complex medical conditions.

Why choose Children’s Hospital Colorado for nutrition and dietetic services?

At Children’s Colorado, we are experts in nutritional care for kids.

Our medical providers are either board-certified pediatricians or advanced practice pediatric providers trained in nutrition and have academic appointments in the Section of Nutrition and Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. All our dietitians are registered with the Commission on Dietetic Registration and complete continuing education to stay up to date on the latest care guidelines. Many of our dietitians also have advanced training and specialty certifications.

Because our nutrition teams work closely with both inpatient and outpatient medical providers across Children’s Colorado, they have experience caring for children with a wide range of medical, growth and feeding conditions, including complex nutrition concerns.

Our team members are participants and leaders in local, state and national committees that develop nutrition-related papers, guidelines and standards. We also are committed to pediatric nutrition research, with our team publishing articles and chapters in nutrition textbooks.

Conditions we treat

We treat a variety of nutrition- and feeding-related conditions, including:

• Growth faltering and poor weight gain
• Obesity and obesity-related complications through our Lifestyle Medicine Program
• Bariatric surgery nutrition care
• Feeding tube and enteral nutrition management
• Restricted diets and selective eating
• Autism spectrum disorder and feeding difficulties
• Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)
• Vitamin and micronutrient deficiencies
• Food allergies and intolerances
• Sports nutrition
• Nutrition support for children with complex medical conditions, including swallowing and feeding disorders, cystic fibrosis and other lung disorders, digestive and liver diseases, cancer and blood disorders, cardiac conditions and other specialty care needs

Appointment information

To receive nutrition services, you’ll need a referral from your child’s medical provider.   Based on your child’s needs, referrals may be directed to the Growth and Medical Nutrition Clinic or the Lifestyle Medicine Program.

All families should check with their insurance provider to ensure that coverage is provided for dietitian visits including the CPT codes 97802 (initial assessment), 97803 (reassessment) and 97804 (group therapy).