Clinical Nutrition Services

Experts in Nutritional Care

We understand how important your child's diet is to their health and growth, which is why our board-certified pediatric dietitians collaborate closely with our inpatient and outpatient teams.

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Clinical Nutrition Services at Children’s National Hospital provides evidence-based medical nutrition therapy to assist in your child's growth, development, disease prevention and disease management across inpatient and outpatient settings.

As credentialed food and pediatric nutrition experts, our registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) stay up-to-date on the latest research, nutrition interventions and safety standards to ensure that your child receives the highest level of dietary care.

Choosing Children’s National for Your Child's Nutritional Needs

Highlights of our program include:

Nationally-recognized nutrition specialists. As one of only a few dedicated pediatric teams in the area, our team of child nutrition experts work closely with some of the world’s most renowned physicians, researchers and health professionals to develop a personalized, therapeutic approach for treating and managing your child's disease, while helping them establish lifelong healthy lifestyle habits.
Variety of specialty care services and programs. We offer comprehensive inpatient and outpatient nutritional care through our numerous specialty programs with teams whose area of expertise is in working with patients with that specific condition.
Accessible nutrition care. Our specialty programs, which are by referral only and outpatient nutrition clinics are available on an outpatient basis at the main hospital and various satellite offices conveniently located throughout Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Our Specialty Care Programs and Services

During your child’s hospital stay, our registered dietitian nutritionists will administer medical nutrition therapy as part of a healthcare team to reduce risk of malnutrition and assist in your child’s recovery back to good health. Inpatient nutrition services are offered within the following departments:
- Adolescent Medicine
- Adolescent Psychiatric Unit (APU)/Child Psychiatric Unit (CPU)
- Bone Marrow Transplantation
- Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
- Cardiology
- Endocrinology and Diabetes
- General and Thoracic Surgery
- Hematology
- Inborn Errors of Metabolism
- Eating Disorders
- Gastroenterology
- Intestinal Rehabilitation
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
- Nephrology
- Neurology
- Neurosurgery
- Oncology
- Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
- Pulmonology
Our registered dietitian nutritionists administer medical nutrition therapy as part of the healthcare team in the following specialty multidisciplinary clinics. Patients must be referred to these clinics by a primary care doctor or other provider. Learn more about each clinic, and ask your doctor if you believe your child can benefit from nutritional care in one of these programs.
- Blood Marrow Transplant Clinic
- Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Clinic
- Cardiology and Cholesterol Clinics; Single Ventricle Home Monitoring Program
- Celiac Program and Clinics
- Cystic Fibrosis Clinic
- Eating Disorders Clinic
- Endocrine/Diabetes Clinic
- Eosinophilic Esophagitis Clinic
- Feeding Disorders Program
- Gastroenterology Clinic
- Genetics Clinic
- HIV: Burgess and SIS Clinics
- Obesity Program (IDEAL Clinic)
- Intestinal Rehabilitation Clinic
- Ketogenic Diet Clinic
- Muscular Dystrophy Clinic
- Oncology Clinics
- Renal and Dialysis Clinic
Consult with a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) to improve your child’s eating habits, address weight concerns (such as underweight, poor weight gain or overweight) or manage your child's condition (such as diabetes, high cholesterol/lipids, tube feeding, food allergies or renal/nephrology) using simple lifestyle changes. Patients can receive care at the main hospital or at one of our specialty care locations.
Conditions We Treat at Outpatient Visits
- Diabetes
- Food allergies
- High cholesterol/lipids
- Poor growth/underweight
- Renal/Nephrology (kidney issues)
- Tube feeding
- Weight management/overweight
Tips for Your First Outpatient Appointment
- When scheduling, be ready to answer some questions about your child’s health. Specifically, what are the nutritional concerns? Is your child overweight or underweight? Do they have abnormal lab results? Is there difficulty with feeding, such as picky/selective eating?
- Bring photo identification. Parents or legal guardians must be with the child at all times, or must provide a written permission form if someone else accompanies the child to the appointment.
- Bring your insurance card. Bring any referrals your insurance requires for testing or seeing a specialist. A co-pay will be collected at time of service. Private insurance, Medicaid and nearly every insurance plan is accepted, but still double check coverage for nutrition services with your insurance provider.
- Bring your child’s medical history. Share any consult notes from pediatrician, growth charts, food records, and other documents which have important information about your child’s condition, medications, and treatments.
- Find out if your child needs lab work. After their initial nutrition appointment, your child may need blood work before their next appointment. If so, ask if these tests can take place through your child’s pediatrician or family doctor to save your family time and a trip to the lab. Ask the outpatient center where the results can be faxed and bring a copy of the lab work results to your child’s next appointment.
- Schedule follow-up visits before you leave. This will ensure you child receives timely medical care.