Feeding disorders during infancy and early childhood highlight the interactive nature between the infant and caregiver. In broad terms, feeding disorder is characterized by a variety of conditions, including food refusal, food avoidance, active attempts to reject the feeding process, or a delay in self-feeding. Feeding disorder has been an underlying process in some children who have been described as picky eaters or poor eaters or who demonstrate feeding resistances. A feeding disorder may or may not be accompanied by physical sequelae of maladaptive eating patterns, but without well-defined criteria, the term has been used interchangeably with failure to thrive, which refers to inadequate weight gain based on standard growth charts. Failure-to-thrive syndromes, in some cases, are caused by a medical disease process; however, this term is often applied to children without medical illnesses who have been exposed to parental deprivation or neglect. The text revision of the fourth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) includes three distinct disorders of feeding and eating in this age group: pica, rumination disorder, and feeding disorder of infancy or early childhood. A high rate of spontaneous recovery from all of these feeding disorders occurs, although a subset of infants refuses to eat and has persistent eating problems throughout childhood. Additional maladaptive feeding patterns that cause impaired nutritional intake that are not included in the DSM-IV-TR include (1) infantile anorexia, (2) feeding disorder of caregiver-infant reciprocity, (3) sensory food aversions, and (4) posttraumatic feeding disorder.

Students should study the questions and answers below for a useful review of these disorders.