Nutrition Care for Kids

Child nutrition services

The Clinical Nutrition department at Children’s Hospital Colorado serves infants, children and adolescents with nutrition and feeding problems. We aim to help all children thrive and grow. Our nutrition-trained medical providers and registered dietitians work closely with other medical teams to ensure that nutrition is optimized during hospital stays and in outpatient specialty clinics. Our medical providers lead clinics designed to assess and manage nutrition-related medical conditions, such as nutrient deficiencies associated with underweight kids or medical complications of overweight and obesity.

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

Nutrition is important to 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. At Children’s Colorado, we take nutrition seriously.

We’re experts in the nutritional care of 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 comply with continuing education to ensure competency. Many of our dietitians also have advanced training and specialty certifications.

Because our dietitians collaborate closely with the inpatient and outpatient medical teams, including participation with the Heart Institute, the Digestive Health Institute, the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, the Breathing Institute and Orthopedics Institute, they have extensive knowledge of medical and nutrition conditions that may be considered “rare” in other settings.

Our nutrition expertise is demonstrated by our active participation and leadership in local, state and national professional and/or government expert committees producing nutrition-related position papers, guidelines and standards. Many staff members participate and provide leadership in pediatric nutrition research, author articles and chapters in nutrition textbooks.

Conditions we treat

We treat a variety of nutrition- and feeding-related conditions, including the ones listed below:

• Poor weight gain
• Excessive weight gain
• Obesity 
• Food allergies and intolerances 
• Feeding tube needs
• Swallowing, chewing and feeding disorders
• Cystic fibrosis and lung disorders
• Digestive disorders and liver diseases
• Cancer and blood disorders
• Sports medicine
• Autism 

Appointment information

Parents can schedule a family-focused nutrition appointment with a dietitian or a nutrition-trained medical provider for underweight issues, overweight or for general nutrition concerns such as diet assessment, tube feeding tube evaluation, picky eating, food allergies or any special nutrition needs.

Families may also access nutrition services through the specialty clinic that is already treating their child. If a dietitian is not part of the specialty clinic, then parents can request a family-focused nutrition appointment.

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).