Hannah Renzoni - Region 1

Hello everyone! I’m Hannah, and I am in the last few weeks of my clinical rotation. Recently, I was given the opportunity to follow along with the outpatient pediatric dietitians at my hospital and one of my favorite parts of the week was being able to sit in during the Growth and Nutrition Clinic. It’s a clinic targeted toward kids who are 6 years old or younger who are failing to thrive, losing weight, or having very slow weight gain for their age. In this clinic, there is a physician, a dietitian, and a social worker. The physician and dietitian work with the parents to come up with strategies and goals for their growth, and the social worker helps connect the families to any necessary resources.
 
In some cases, especially with picky eaters or food-averse children, they also conduct feeding tests to see how the children interact with food to better understand how to help them. The dietitian of this clinic and I discussed the goals for the children, and how she utilizes the growth chart and feeding tests (if applicable) to come up with strategies. Aside from quantitative goals like calorie and protein needs, she also did a lot with qualitative goals related to the behaviors of the child, the parents, and around eating. For example, I got to see how she discussed the importance of mealtime structure and boundaries around food with a family, offering encouragement and support while giving direction on how to help improve their child’s food intake.
 
It was an amazing experience to see how the interdisciplinary team came together to offer comprehensive and practical strategies to the families, offering support and zero judgment. This experience gave me more insight into the world of pediatrics, as it is so different from working with adults, and it reinforced my knowledge of how important nutrition is for infants and children to reach their full potential. 

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