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D Arts-Rodas, D Benoit. Feeding problems in infancy and early child- L’identification et la prise en charge des problèmes
hood: Identification and management. Paediatr Child Health d’alimentation pendant la première et la petite
1998;3(1):21-27.
enfance.
The purpose of this paper is to present a structured method to assess and RÉSUMÉ : Le présent article vise à présenter une méthode structurée
manage feeding problems in children under three years of age and a d’évaluation et de prise en charge des problèmes d’alimentation chez
newly developed instrument to assist in the assessment and monitoring of les enfants de moins de trois ans ainsi qu’un nouvel instrument
these feeding problems. Simple management strategies and practical sug- permettant de contribuer au bilan et à la surveillance de ces
gestions are described, derived from clinical experience and a pertinent problèmes d’alimentation. On y décrit des stratégies de prise en
review of the literature. Because feeding problems are so prevalent (af- charge simples et des suggestions pratiques tirées de l’expérience
fecting up to 35% of infants), the use of structured parent questionnaires, clinique et d’un examen pertinent de la documentation scientifique.
interviews and observation scales is important when assessing and manag- Puisque les problèmes d’alimentation sont très prévalents (ils
ing these problems. touchent jusqu’à 35 % des nourrissons), le recours à des
questionnaires structurés aux parents, à des entrevues et à des
Key Words: Feeding assessment, Feeding problems, Food aversion, Food échelles d’observation s’impose.
refusal, Infancy
Correspondence and reprints: Ms Arts-Rodas, Department of Psychiatry Research, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto,
Ontario M5G 1X8. Telephone 416-813-5232, fax 416-813-6565, e-mail debby.arts@mailhub.sickkids.on.ca
Child characteristics
Health problems
– Neurological deficits
– Anatomical/mechanical problems Other characteristics
of upper airway and GI tract Feeder-infant relationship
– Acquired/congential defects of larynx, – Caregiving environment
trachea, esophagus – Parenting skills
– Drug side effect – Other psychosocial factors
– Chronic illness
– Multiple food allergies
– Genetic and metabolic disorders
– Other
Developmental history
– Regulatory capacity
Feeding/growth history Feeding and/or
– Traumatic feeding experiences swallowing problems
High energy feeds Provide information Is the child able to eat – No oral feeds Refer to mental Provide support
and/or tube about nutritionally (anatomically and – Tube feeds health professional to feeder
feeding and developmentally developmentally)? – OT/SLP
appropriate diet intervention
YES NO
YES NO
Figure 1) Decision tree for assessment and management of feeding and/or swallowing problems. GI Gastrointestinal; OT Occupational therapist; SLP Speech
and language pathologist
the final clinical picture of a child with feeding and/or feeding (11). Simple questions such as “How often do you
swallowing problems (Figure 1). find your child is difficult to feed?” can help ‘quantify’ the
caregiver’s experience with the feeding problem. More
Clinical assessment open-ended questions, such as “How do you find your
Given that feeding problems in childhood are complex, child is doing with feeding?”, may provide additional in-
multifactorial and lack universally accepted definitions formation. Despite its usefulness in identifying the pres-
and classification systems, health professionals need to ence of some feeding problems, parental report may not
rely on clinical assessments to determine the presence of be the most reliable method to detect feeding problems.
such problems. A comprehensive clinical assessment, in- Parents may not be aware that their child has a feeding
cluding parental report (parents’ perceptions of mealtime problem (12). For instance, Linscheid (12) presented the
behaviours and nutrient intake), review of the child’s case of a mother who reported that her child was feeding
health and developmental, feeding and growth history, well, only to discover on further questioning that the child
and observation of a meal, may help to identify the pres- only ate in the bathtub. On the other hand, some parents
ence and severity of a feeding problem. may be so anxious about feeding their child that they per-
Parental report: An established part of child health su- ceive minor problems as major (6).
pervision includes asking caregivers about their child’s However, the monitoring of parents’ subjective experi-
ence of their child’s feeding may indicate problems with young children with swallowing dysfunction. These young
feeding. This monitoring can be facilitated by using in- children may have an inability to protect their airway dur-
struments such as the newly developed Infant Feeding Be- ing feeding, thus rendering oral feeding unsafe. Symp-
haviours – Parent checklist (Appendix 1). Using this toms of swallowing dysfunction may include history of
checklist, the parent is asked to rate 30 behaviours that recurrent pneumonias, respiratory illnesses, slow feed-
might be exhibited by their child at mealtimes on a five- ing, oral or nasal regurgitation, gagging, choking, or
point Likert-type scale. A high rating suggests that the be- coughing before and/or during the swallow. When swal-
haviour occurs almost always or that it is perceived as a lowing dysfunction is suspected, further clinical and labo-
significant problem. A total score is derived by adding ratory evaluation (4,14) is necessary to ensure a safe
parents’ ratings of each of the 30 items. The higher the to- swallowing mechanism.
tal score, the more severe the feeding problem is per- However, feeding problems are not encountered exclu-
ceived to be by the parent. A decrease or increase in the sively in children with health problems (Figure 1). For in-
total score over time may signal an improvement or dete- stance, problems with regulation of internal states (17),
rioration in the feeding problem (13). Nutrient intake rec- sensory integration, quality of caregiving and behavioural
ords or ‘food diaries’ may reveal information about mismanagement (eg, excessive parental anxiety at meal-
current feeding practices. The parent is asked to docu- times, forced feeding) may play an important role in the
ment prospectively all foods consumed by the child over a development of feeding problems in early childhood
three-day period. Alternatively, for the child who eats or (2,3,18). Quality of caregiving should be suspected as a
drinks only one or two items daily, 24 h recall may be suf- possible contributing factor to the feeding problem when
ficient. Analysis of three-day food diaries or 24 h recall the parent is angry with the child, is overwhelmed by the
can provide information about the types, textures and vol- feeding problems, has become indifferent towards the
umes of foods ingested, duration of the meal and meal- child (eg, has given up) or complains that the child’s feed-
time schedules. A detailed food diary may help to identify ing problems are affecting other family members and/or
children who are fed textures that are developmentally in- other areas of family life.
appropriate, for excessively long or short periods and ‘on An in-depth feeding history not only provides informa-
demand’ versus a structured schedule. tion about present feeding habits but also investigates
Review of health, and developmental, feeding and feeding patterns from birth. Benoit (19) developed a
growth history: A review of the child’s health history pro- Feeding History Questionnaire that is completed by the
vides information about medical conditions that may con- caregiver and may be useful clinically. The questionnaire
tribute to feeding and/or swallowing problems (Figure 1). inquires about progression to various textures, choking
For instance, feeding and/or swallowing problems may be and other traumatic incidents, pica, duration of meals,
associated with any combination of the following: neuro- feeding schedule, food intolerance, preferred foods and
logical deficits (eg, cerebral palsy); anatomical/mechani- textures, previous treatment of feeding problems, and
cal problems of the upper airway (eg, choanal atresia); family history of eating/feeding disorders.
acquired/congenital defects of the oral cavity, larynx, tra- A review of growth parameters – height and weight – is
chea and esophagus (eg, cleft palate, tracheoesophageal an essential part of any comprehensive assessment of
fistula); drug side effect (eg, chemotherapy); chronic ill- feeding problems because it can help to identify children
ness (eg, gastroesophageal reflux, cardiac and lung prob- with growth failure. A discussion of growth failure or fail-
lems); multiple food allergies; and genetic or metabolic ure to thrive is beyond the scope of this paper. However, it
disorders (eg, Down syndrome, phenylketonuria) (14). In is important to emphasize that there is no empirical evi-
addition, traumatically acquired conditioned dysphagia dence documenting the frequency of association between
(15) and post-traumatic feeding disorder (16) have been feeding problems and growth failure (9,20).
described as possible causes of persistent feeding prob- Mealtime observation: Observation should focus on
lems. Traumatically acquired conditioned dysphagia and child-feeder interactions, the child’s oral motor skills and
post-traumatic feeding disorder may result from repeated behaviours, the caregiver’s responses to adaptive and
exposure to noxious substances, experiences or proce- maladaptive feeding behaviours, and the feeding’s sur-
dures (eg, choking, vomiting, forced feeding, repeated suc- roundings. To guide and organize observations, struc-
tioning or insertion of tubes for feeding) in and around the tured instruments such as feeding interaction scales (21)
mouth. The prevalence of these types of feeding problems and child maladaptive feeding behaviour scales (Appen-
may be on the rise because advances in medical technol- dix 1) can be used. Table 1 provides some guidelines for
ogy enable more children with severe illnesses to survive. mealtime observations.
A comprehensive review of all health problems that may
contribute to feeding and/or swallowing difficulties is be- MANAGEMENT OF FEEDING PROBLEMS
yond the scope of this paper. Extensive lists of medical di- Many parents and health professionals fail to identify
agnoses associated with feeding problems may be found or underestimate the severity of feeding problems (12)
elsewhere (14). and often use a wait-and-see approach (3,22). Unfortu-
Furthermore, it is important to identify infants and nately, the wait-and-see approach may make treating
Below is a list of things that babies and young children sometimes do at meal times. Please use the rating scale to help you choose how often
you think your child does these things. Put your answer in the blank space.
For example: If you answer “occasionally” to question 1: “turn head away from food/shake head no”, then write 2 in the blank space.
0 1 2 3 4 5
Never Rarely Occasionally Frequently Very frequently Almost always
How often does your child
1. Turn head away from food/shake head no ___________
2. Refuse to open mouth/delay in opening mouth ___________
3. Cover mouth (eg, with hands, arms, object) ___________
4. Push food away (including offering food to feeder or giving spoon/glass back without emptying) ___________
5. Throw food/utensils away ___________
6. “Hide” chin in shoulder, chest ___________
7. Arch back ___________
8. Squirm/turn entire body on chair (even if eating) ___________
9. Touch food with lips/tongue but does not eat ___________
10. Bite on spoon/nipple ___________
11. Remove food from mouth with fingers/wipe food away from lips ___________
12. “Bunch” tongue at the back of mouth ___________
13. Not chew/suck/move food in mouth (more than 5 s)/passively refuse to swallow ___________
14. Chew/suck on food but does not swallow ___________
15. Swallow in “gulps” ___________
16. Use tongue thrusting (or push food out with tongue)/spit ___________
17. Gag/retch/cough ___________
18. Vomit ___________
19. Cry/fuss/whine/tantrum/appear angry ___________
20. Appear “tired”/fall asleep (“pretend” or not) ___________
21. Appear disinterested/unmotivated to eat/not hungry ___________
22. Appear frightened/panicky/tense ___________
23. Appear distracted from eating (by toys, food, etc) ___________
24. Appear distracted while eating (by toys, soother, food, etc) ___________
25. Get out of chair/wander/stand ___________
Does your child Yes No
26. Cry/cough/gag at the sight of food/bottle q q
27. Eat with a slow pace q q
28. Sit comfortably and appropriately (ie, given developmental age) to promote good eating q q
29. Take only a small amount of food q q
30. Show other maladaptive behaviours q q
If yes, describe ________________________________________________________________________________________________
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