Children's nutrition and dietetics

About

The paediatric nutrition and dietetic service provides essential support and care for all paediatric inpatients, outpatient and day case services.

Many of our specialist paediatric services including allergy, haematology, neonatology and HIV require specialist paediatric dietetic input as part of the wider multidisciplinary team. Nutrition plays a vital role in the treatment of nearly all paediatric patients from intensive nutrition support to promote growth to dietary changes and restrictions to improve quality of life and improve medical outcomes.

Patients should expect be able to access our specialist paediatric dietitians in a timely and responsive fashion so that nutritional issues are minimised quickly and their treatment is maximised.

The overall aim of the paediatric dietetic service provides specialist nutritional assessment, treatment, advice as well as education to children, families and their carers. We offer:

• oral nutrition support
• enteral nutrition support 
• parenteral nutrition support

Further online resources

• INFANT AND TODDLER FORUM: PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR HEALTHY EATING HABITS
• MOMENTUMS: A RESOURCE TO SUPPORT CHILDREN WHO HAVE SPECIAL NUTRITIONAL NEEDS

Clinics

Our children's nutrition and dietetics service holds clinics at St Mary's and Hammer smith hospitals.

Paediatric general dietetic clinic

Hours

Mondays 14.00 to 17.00 and Fridays 09.30 to 12.30

Specialist nutrition support clinic – haematology/bone marrow transplantation/oncology

Hours

Wednesdays 10.00 to 11.30

Child development nutrition clinic

Hours

Wednesdays, 14.00 to 17.00

Specialist nutrition support clinic – allergy and food challenges

Hours

Wednesdays 14.00 to 17.00

All of our St Mary’s clinics are located at:

Paediatric outpatients department
Sixth floor
Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother (QEQM) building
St Mary’s Hospital
Praed Street
London W2 1NY 

You can contact all of these clinics on:

Phone: 020 3312 1127

Hammersmith Hospital paediatric general dietetic clinic

Hours

Tuesdays 13.30 to 16.20

Address

Children's outpatients
Hammersmith Hospital
Du Cane Road
London W12 0HS

Contact information

Phone: 020 3313 3048

Meet the team

Our children's nutrition and dietetics service is managed by a team of specialist dietitians.

Dietitians

Katie Elwig, clinical lead dietitian (paediatrics, bone marrow transplant, hematology, oncology)
Caroline King, clinical lead dietitian (neonates)
Shalina Meah, senior specialist paediatric dietitian (children's intensive care)
Anna Conrad, senior specialist paediatric dietitian (allergy)
Mae Said, senior specialist paediatric dietitian (diabetes)
Stephanie Clark, senior specialist paediatric dietitian (neonates)
Kiranjit Atwal, specialist paediatric dietitian
Heidi Speckmeier, specialist paediatric dietitian
Audrey Inegdibon, dietetic assistant (food allergy challenges)
Trak Davis, senior specialist paediatric dietitian 

Patient information

Find out what to expect when you come to hospital for your child's nutrition and dietetics appointment.

Before your appointment

You will be contacted by one of the team within a week of us receiving your referral to arrange an appointment.

Parents/caregivers should attend all appointments with their child if they are under 16. There is no limit to the number of family members but two parents/carers is preferable.

Teenagers may wish to attend their appointment on their own and this should be discussed prior to coming to the appointment.

Patients are not required to remove clothing during a dietetic consultation with the exception of babies under one year of age.

In some cases the dietitian may request a three-day food and symptom diary to be filled in and this will be sent to the parents prior to the consultation. Please bring the completed diary to your appointment. In addition please bring your child’s ‘red book’ to the appointment.

During your appointment

Please note that we are a teaching hospital, so medical students may be present for some appointments. If you do not wish to have them in the room please let the nurse or doctor know and the students will be asked to step outside

The dietitian will discuss the reason for referral to the service and take a full dietary history. Based on this, advice and support will be provided, often with written information to support this and take home.

All patients will have their weight and height taken and on occasion your child may have their mid-arm circumference measured (using a tape measure around a bare arm) or tricep skin fold thickness (using calipers).

After your appointment

A follow-up will be discussed at the end of the appointment and a date confirmed. Your dietitian will write a letter to your referrer discussing the nutritional treatment and a copy of this letter will also be sent to you.

Referrals

Find out how to refer patients to our children's nutrition and dietetics service.

GP and secondary care

Referrals may be made for telephone advice, email advice, outpatient opinions or hospital admission. The paediatric dietitians will take referrals from all paediatric teams at the Trust and will only accept referrals from the community if they are also under a consultant at the Trust. 

To refer a child to the St Mary's paediatric dietetic service, please use the contact details below:

St Mary’s Hospital department of nutrition and dietetics
Ground floor
Cambridge wing
St Mary’s Hospital
Praed Street
London W2 1NY

Katie Elwig, clinical lead dietitian (paediatrics)
Phone: 020 3312 1127
Email: catherine.elwig@nhs.net

To refer a child to the Hammersmith paediatric dietetic service, please use the contact details below: 

Children’s outpatient department
Ground floor
D block
Hammersmith Hospital
Du Cane Road W12 0HS

Caroline King, clinical lead dietitian (neonates)
Phone: 020 3313 5805
Email: caroline.king12@nhs.net

GP advice

If you have questions about a patient or a referral, please call;

• St Mary’s Hospital: 020 3312 1127
• Hammersmith Hospital: 020 3313 5805

Self-referrals

Paediatric patients can only self-refer if they are under a consultant within the Trust. If you are under our care and would like to self-refer please do so by contacting the lead clinical lead dietitians listed above