Gastroenterology

The HEFT team supports former NICU babies who go home with a feeding tube (NG or GT), for supplemental nutrition or thickened feeds. 

Our goal is to help your baby transition from the NICU to home and assist in their nutrition and oral feeds. Because each baby's feeding and tube weaning needs are unique, we use an individualized process to continually support your baby's progress and success. We help to coordinate care plans with your pediatrician and home care teams for prescriptions, referrals, and home health needs. 

Our data shows that most babies will discharge their feeding tubes within 90 days of discharge from the NICU.

FSC clinic specializes in helping infants and children up to 3 years of age with feeding difficulties. We address concerns about safety, nutrition, and growth. 

Our well-rounded team includes a pediatric gastroenterologist, speech therapist, and a dietician. Together, they will provide an evaluation for your young child. To meet with our team, a referral is required from your child's physician or current feeding therapists.

Conditions for evaluation:

• Coughing, choking, gagging with feeding
• Slow feeding
• Bottle refusal
• Poor growth
• Feeding tube dependency

Referrals can be faxed to 801-442-0459.

CAFE clinic specializes in helping children 3-18 years with either a pediatric feeding disorder (PFD) and/or avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) get evaluated for more intensive-based services and care. 

Our well-rounded team includes a pediatric gastroenterologist, a behavioral health specialist, pediatric speech and occupational therapists and a dietitian.  Our comprehensive approach ensures that each patient receives the best possible treatment tailored to their unique needs.

Conditions for evaluation:

• Trauma-based food avoidance
• Tube dependency and hope for tube weaning
• Stagnation of progress through outpatient feeding therapy 
• Narrow or restrictive solid food intake (<5-10 total foods). 
• Liquid calorie dependency

To make an appointment with CAFE clinic, please ensure your child has met the following requirements:  

• Has had a Clinical Feeding Evaluation by an outpatient therapist (either through Intermountain PCH pediatric rehab services or a private evaluation) and 2-4 follow up outpatient practice visits.
• Referred through pediatrician or family physician (send referral through fax or website, below)
• Call our schedulers to receive a secure online intake form to complete. Once reviewed, our clinic will reach out to schedule. 

For those that qualify through CAFÉ clinic, patients may enter an intensive multi-weekly co-treatment sessions with a behavioral health specialist and feeding therapists directed toward PFD and ARFID patients to help overcome their disorder. 

This is a hybrid session with in-person therapy and virtual behavioral health guidance by our psychologist that works to intensify therapies and coach families toward a more normalized and healthy approach to mealtimes and snacks.  To enter Co-Treatment, your child must be evaluated and deemed appropriate through CAFÉ clinic.

Co-Treatment Approaches:

• Personalized therapy treatments based on your child's needs
• Coaching sessions with a behavioral health specialist to give advice and tips for at-home approaches and coping skills to use at mealtimes in order to normalize feeding
• Close communication with your primary care team to ensure a healthy nutritional and developmental future for your child.
• Return visit to CAFÉ Clinic after co-treatment sessions to ensure adequate nutrition and health status.

IntAC is an intestinal rehabilitation program (IRP) providing comprehensive support and long-term care for infants and children who are missing part of their intestines or who have problems with their intestines absorbing properly. These children need specialized care as they cannot absorb all the necessary nutrients or fluid from their gastrointestinal tract. They often require intravenous (IV) nutrition support through total parenteral nutrition (TPN), feeding tubes, and specialized enteral nutrition. 

Our dedicated team includes pediatric gastroenterologists, pediatric registered dietitians specializing in parenteral nutrition, a nurse practitioner, and specialized nursing staff dedicated to educate and support families to navigate to the complex medical system these patients require. 

Our goal is to achieve optimal independence through minimizing intravenous (IV) and enteral (feeding tube) nutrition while supporting the child’s healthy growth and development.

We have expertise in intestinal rehabilitation through therapies that optimize nutritional support and improve bowel function, encourage early introduction of enteral nutrition, and do close monitoring in the prevention and treatment of risks or complications related to central venous catheters. Our collaboration with pediatric surgeons, radiologists, infectious disease specialists, and pharmacists helps provide your child with well-rounded care.

We work closely with local home health providers and pharmacies to ensure seamless delivery of IV nutrition, medications, feeding tube supplies, and home nursing. 

Conditions we treat:

• Short bowel syndrome
• Necrotizing enterocolitis
• Intestinal atresia
• Intestinal volvulus
• Gastroschisis
• Aganglionosis
• Other congenital anomalies resulting in significant surgical resection of bowel
• Congenital diseases that affect function of the small intestines

Complications related to short bowel syndrome include:

• Intestinal failure (TPN dependence)
• Intestinal failure-associated liver disease (IFALD)
• Loss of central venous access
• Central line associated blood stream infections (CLABSI)
• Vitamin and nutrient deficiencies
• Anastomotic ulcers