Feeding disorder
eating and feeding disorders in babies and infants
A feeding disorder in infancy or early childhood is a child's refusal to eat certain food groups, textures, solids, or liquids for a period of at least one month, which results in inadequate weight gain, impaired growth, or developmental delays.
Feeding disorders resemble failure to thrive, except that, at times, there is no medical or physiological condition that can explain the very small amount of food the child consumes or the child’s lack of growth. Sometimes, a previous medical condition that has been resolved is causing the issue.
Types
Feeding disorder is divided into six further sub-types:
Feeding disorder of state regulation
Feeding disorder of reciprocity (neglect)
Infantile anorexia
Sensory food aversion
Feeding disorder associated with concurrent medical condition
Post-traumatic feeding disorder
Symptoms and signs
Children attempting to swallow different food textures often vomit, gag, or choke while eating. At feeding times they may react negatively to attempts to feed them, and refuse to eat. Other symptoms include head turns, crying, difficulty in chewing or vomiting, and spitting whilst eating. Many children may have feeding difficulties and may be picky eaters, but most of them still have a fairly healthy diet. Children with a feeding disorder, however, will completely abandon some of the food groups, textures, or liquids that are necessary for human growth and development
Children with this disorder can develop more slowly due to their lack of nutritional intake. In severe cases the child can seem to feel socially isolated because of their lack of social activities involving foods.
Associated problems
A few of the medical and psychological conditions that have been known to be associated with this disorder include:
Gastrointestinal motility disorders
Oral-motor dysfunction
Failure to thrive
Prematurity
Food allergies
Sensory problems
Reflux
Feeding tube placement
A child that is suffering from malnutrition can have permanently stunted mental and physical development.
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This entry incorporates text from “Feeding disorder” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.