Failure to thrive in toddlers with lack of interest in eating and food and their cognitive development during later childhood.

Background: Experiencing Failure to Thrive or malnutrition in early years has been associated with children later displaying low Intelligence Quotient (IQ). The current study's aim was to examine whether Failure to Thrive in Toddlers with Lack of Interest in Eating and Food, a subtype of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder as defined by DSM-5, which has also previously been identified as Infantile Anorexia (IA), was associated with poor cognitive development outcomes during later childhood.

Methods: The IQs and growth parameter of 30 children (53% female) previously diagnosed and treated for IA at 12 to 42 months of age, were reevaluated at a mean age of 10.

Parental Pre and Postnatal Depression: The Longitudinal Associations with Child Negative Affectivity and Dysfunctional Mother-Child Feeding Interactions.

Background: Many studies have shown the influence of maternal perinatal depression on a child's emotional and behavioral regulation ability; yet there is scarce research on the impact of the father's perinatal depression on the caregiver-infant relationship and the child's development.

Methods: Through a longitudinal study, we investigated maternal and paternal depression and its association with infants' emotionality and mother-infant feeding interactions The sample was constituted of 136 first-time parents (68 couples, and their full-term babies at 3 and 6 months old). At T1 (28th week of pregnancy), T2 (three months old), and T3 (at six months age) parents responded to the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale.

A cross-sectional study of father-daughter/son interactions from 1 Month to 3 years of age with the feeding and play scales: Exploring the psychometric properties.

The quality of father-infant/toddler interactions has become a focal point in studies of early child development. However, studies targeting early father-infant/toddler interactions may be hampered due to the lack of specific and validated measures; indeed, most of the applied observational instruments were originally designed to evaluate mother-child interactions. In a sample of 142 fathers-infant/toddler dyads, the current study aimed to test the reliability of the Feeding and Play Scales, which were initially created to assess mother-infant/toddler interactions.

A Functional Approach to Feeding Difficulties in Children.

Purpose Of Review: This review provides an approach for resolving a variety of feeding difficulties in children, ranging from normal eating behavior that is misperceived as a problem to substantial feeding disorders.

Recent Findings: Criteria to identify pediatric feeding disorders have been thoroughly addressed in the newly established designations of avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and pediatric feeding disorder (PFD). These diagnostic criteria improve the accuracy of identifying, classifying, and managing significant feeding disorders in young children.

Anorexia nervosa and depression in a 5-year-old girl: Treatment with focused family play therapy and medication.

Objective: The current case presentation examines the treatment and recovery of a 5-year-old girl diagnosed with comorbid anorexia nervosa and major depressive disorder. Researchers have shown that children as young as 3-years-old may be dissatisfied with their bodies and have concerns about their weight. This case presentation of a 5-year-old child demonstrates that the age range defining early onset of eating disorders can span into early childhood, which requires treatment tailored to the developmental level of these young children.

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder: A Longitudinal Study of Malnutrition and Psychopathological Risk Factors From 2 to 11 Years of Age.

To evaluate different types and degrees of malnutrition over time in a sample of children diagnosed with Infantile Anorexia (IA), based on the DC:0-3R criteria, and recently defined by DSM-5 as the first subtype of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), and to investigate the relationship between children's severity of malnutrition and emotional/behavioral development, and mothers' long-term psychopathological symptoms. A total of 113 children (58 boys, 55 girls), originally diagnosed with IA, and their mothers, were evaluated at four assessment points at the children's mean age of 2, 5, 7, and 11 years. Several measures were used to assess the children's growth and level of malnutrition, mothers' psychopathological symptoms and eating attitudes, as well as their children's emotional/behavioral functioning.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE PARENT-CHILD PLAY SCALE FOR USE IN CHILDREN WITH FEEDING DISORDERS.

The Parent-Child Play Scale was developed as a scale that complements the Parent-Child Feeding Scale, created by I. Chatoor et al. (1997), to evaluate mother-infant/toddler interactions in two different caregiving contexts of a young child's everyday life, specifically play and feeding.

A practical approach to classifying and managing feeding difficulties.

Many young children are thought by their parents to eat poorly. Although the majority of these children are mildly affected, a small percentage have a serious feeding disorder. Nevertheless, even mildly affected children whose anxious parents adopt inappropriate feeding practices may experience consequences.

Feeding disorders of infancy: a longitudinal study to middle childhood.

Objective: To evaluate over time feeding behavior and emotional-behavioral functioning in a sample of children diagnosed with Infantile Anorexia (IA) and a group of typically developing children; and to investigate the relationship between maternal psychological functioning and the children's feeding patterns and emotional-behavioral functioning.

Method: Seventy-two children diagnosed with IA and 70 children in the control group were prospectively evaluated through several measures at two, five, and eight years of age.

Results: Our findings revealed partial improvement in the nutritional status of the children with IA.

Maternal psychopathology and child risk factors in infantile anorexia.

Objective: This study examines a transactional and multirisk model for Infantile Anorexia (IA) and investigates the contributions of the parent, the child, and dyadic interactional variables related to this feeding disorder.

Method: The sample consisted of 371 mother-child pairs (children aged 6-36 months), of which 187 pairs of mothers and normally developing children (ND-group), and 184 mothers and IA children. All dyads were videotaped during feeding; mothers completed questionnaires assessing their psychological profiles and eating attitudes, as well as their children's temperament and emotional/ behavioral functioning.

Physiological regulation and infantile anorexia: a pilot study.

Objective: To examine whether infantile anorexia is associated with physiological dysregulation.

Method: This study included eight toddlers with infantile anorexia and eight healthy eaters matched for age, race, socioeconomic status, and gender. Physiological measures of heart period and respiratory sinus arrhythmia were assessed across three different situations: mother-toddler interaction, toddler-stranger interaction, and toddler left alone with a toy while mother and stranger talked to each other at the other side of the room.

Failure to thrive and cognitive development in toddlers with infantile anorexia.

Objective: The goal of this study was to examine the relative contributions of growth deficiency and psychosocial factors to cognitive development in toddlers with infantile anorexia.

Methods: Eighty-eight toddlers, ranging in age from 12 to 33 months, were enrolled in this study. Toddlers were evaluated by 2 child psychiatrists and placed into 1 of 3 groups: infantile anorexia, picky eater, and healthy eater.

Supplemental nocturnal nasogastric refeeding for better short-term outcome in hospitalized adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa.

Objective: Although controversy exists regarding nasogastric refeeding for patients with anorexia nervosa, current methods of inpatient care often result in low discharge weight, a critical risk factor in relapse. This study compared the short-term outcomes of standard oral refeeding and supplemental nocturnal nasogastric refeeding.

Method: Subjects were 100 hospitalized Caucasian adolescent girls who met DSM-IV criteria for anorexia nervosa.

Feeding disorders in infants and toddlers: diagnosis and treatment.

Each of the six feeding disorders described presents with specific symptoms, has a different origin, and responds to different interventions. Consequently, it is important to establish an accurate diagnosis and use the appropriate intervention for the specific feeding disorder. As the study by Benoit et al [7] demonstrates, an intervention that may be helpful for one feeding disorder can be completely ineffective for another.