Bedfordshire and Luton Children's Nutrition and Dietetics

Welcome to our service

• How we work

  Our children’s nutrition team work with families and the wider community to provide evidence-based dietary advice that aims to improve health and wellbeing.

  We offer clinic appointments to children and their families, providing individually, tailored advice based on the child’s:

  • age
  • developmental stage
  • nutritional requirements
  • medical condition

  We also provide public health nutrition programmes that aim to improve the health of children under 5 years of age in Luton.

  Waiting times

  Waiting times for your first contact with a dietitian will vary depending on the reason your child has been referred to us. We aim to see all children referred within 18 weeks. However, you may be offered an appointment or an invitation to a group workshop within 4 to 8 weeks of your child’s referral being accepted.

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  The dietetic service has a responsibility for training dietetic students. If you would prefer not to have a student involved in your child’s care please contact the service.

• Food allergies and intolerances

  We can help to diagnose a suspected food allergy or intolerance and offer advice and support with managing your child’s diet. We can also offer support with re-introducing food allergens into your child’s diet if this is safe to do at home.

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  Cow's milk allergy

  Cow's milk allergy is one of the most common food allergies in babies and young children. We can offer support to help you and your child if you think they might have a cow's milk allergy. 

  Read more about cow's milk allergy.

• Fussy or selective eating

  We can assess your child’s diet and growth to ensure they are getting what they need. We can offer advice on how to get more nutrients into your child’s diet if required and offer support around feeding behaviours and managing mealtimes.

  Read more about fussy and selective eating.

• Weight management

  We support families with children who:

  • have a BMI over the 98th centile and go to a special needs school
  • have a BMI over the 99.6th centile and are under 5 years old 
  • have a BMI over the 99.6th centile with safeguarding concerns
  • have a BMI over the 99.6th centile and are unable to attend a local weight management programme due to special educational needs or other weight related complications

  Read more about healthy eating

  Read more about keeping babies, children and teenagers active

• Vitamin and mineral deficiency

  We support and advise children and their families who have a vitamin and/or mineral deficiency confirmed through a blood test. We can provide dietary advice to correct a child's nutrient deficiency.

  • Read more about iron.
  • Read more about folic acid.

• Struggling to gain weight

  We see children who:

  • have a BMI below the 2^nd centile and have other nutritional concerns, such as feeding difficulties
  • have a BMI below the 0.4^th centile
  • are slow to gain weight, for example if their weight has dropped more than 2 centiles over time or they've unintentionally lost weight in the last 3 to 6 months

• Home enteral tube feeding

  Enteral tube feeding, also known as tube feeding is used when someone is not able to get enough nutrients from their oral diet alone.

  Our team of Specialist Dietitians and Dietetic Support Workers work with tube fed children and their families in Luton and South Bedfordshire. We provide personalised feeding plans to ensure children and young people meet their nutritional needs. 

  Read more about home enteral tube feeding

• Family Food First

  The Family Food First programme works with early years childcare in Luton to promote and reward healthy lifestyle activities.

  Led by experts in public health nutrition, Family Food First helps early years staff gain the knowledge and tools they need to set the foundations for children's lifelong health. The programme uses a whole-setting approach to health and wellbeing, engaging with children, staff, parents, carers and the wider community.

  Read more about Family Food First

• Who you will see and speak to

  Administrators are skilled NHS professionals that provide organisational support for the clinical and public health teams. They are often the first point of contact you will have with the service and will be able to use their specialist knowledge of how the service works to get the help you need.

  Dietitians are qualified and registered health professionals with the Health and Care Professions Council. They can assess, diagnose, and treat dietary and nutritional problems in infants, children and young people. Dietitians translate the most up-to-date scientific research on nutrition into practical support and guidance. They are experts in understanding and monitoring children’s growth.

  Dietitians work closely with other healthcare professional colleagues and nursery or school settings if needed to help treat a wide range of conditions including allergy, diabetes, feeding issues and gastrointestinal conditions.

  Nutritionists are qualified and registered health professionals with the Association for Nutrition. They provide advice and guidance on food and healthy eating across the life course.

  Our nutritionists work closely with the local authority, early years and school settings to improve practice and provision on food and health education.

  Dietetic Assistants are trained health professionals. They provide advice on health to families, schools and early years settings, under the supervision of a dietitian or nutritionist.

• Where we work

  Our clinical children’s nutrition team works across Luton and South Bedfordshire. We offer virtual and face-to-face individual appointments to children and families.

  When an appointment is available for your child you will receive an SMS text message that contains a link for you to choose an appointment online. You will be able to choose a face-to-face or a virtual appointment. Our virtual appointments can be accessed through our virtual waiting room on the date and time of your appointment. Please make sure you are in a suitable private space for the appointment. Your dietitian will not be able to conduct the consultation if there is a risk of breaching your child’s confidentiality.

  Our face-to-face appointments are offered at two locations in Bedfordshire:

  • Luton Treatment Centre, Vestry Close, Luton, LU1 1AR.
  • Grove View Integrated Health and Care Hub, Court Drive, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU5 4JD.

  Car parking is available at both sites.

  We also offer group education workshops on specific conditions for parents and carers.