Feeding Problems in Typically Developing Young Children, a Population-Based Study.

Katerina Sdravou,Elias Andreoulakis,Maria Fotoulaki,Elpida Emmanouilidou-Fotoulaki,Giorgos Makris,Athanasia Printza,Fotini Sotiriadou

doi:10.3390/children8050388

Abstract

Feeding problems have been estimated to occur in approximately 25–45% of normally developing children. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of feeding problems in typically developing young children in Greece. Child feeding behavior, parents’ feelings about their child’s feeding patterns, and parental feeding practices were also explored. Parents completed the Greek version of the Behavioral Pediatrics Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS). Data on 742 healthy, typically developing children aged two to seven years are presented. Overall, the majority of children in the sample showed high frequency of desirable mealtime behaviors and low frequency of undesirable mealtime behaviors. However, a significant proportion of the cohort presented with food neophobia and low consumption of vegetables. When applying test cut-off scores, it was found that 8.2% of the sample had abnormal Total Frequency Score (TFS) and 26.6% had abnormal Total Problem Score (TPS). The study showed that parent-reported feeding problems are quite common in children of typical development in Greece. Moreover, while the majority of the sample displayed a high frequency of favorable behaviors, specific child feeding behaviors are amenable to improvement.

Highlights

Feeding development occurs without difficulties in most of the typically developing children
The present study aims to provide an estimation of the prevalence of feeding problems in typically developing young Greek children using the Behavioral Pediatrics Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS)
The present study employs the BPFAS aiming to investigate the prevalence of feeding problems in typically developing young children in Greece

Summary

Introduction

Feeding development occurs without difficulties in most of the typically developing children. Feeding problems in early childhood are quite common and are of great concern both to parents and pediatricians worldwide [1,2,3]. Feeding problems range from mild to severe [1,2] and are associated with a number of negative effects on organic, psychological, developmental, and social aspects which vary from mild (e.g., missed meals) to severe (e.g., failure to thrive) [4,5,6]. Feeding problems encompass a variety of heterogeneous problems whose development and maintenance involve many different factors. This fact makes their classification complicated and as a result many researchers give different definitions of feeding problems such as “feeding problem”, “food refusal”, “selective eating”, “food selectivity”, “picky eating”, “fussy eating”, and “dietary restriction”. Other researchers identify three basic categories of children who exhibit unfavorable feeding behavior; children with limited appetite, children with selective intake, and children with fear of eating [1,2]

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