EARLY FOOD REFUSAL - INFANT AND FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS

This study compared infants who developed food refusal during the firs t year of life with a healthy control group concerning feeding, growth pattern, family situation, and infant behavioral characteristics. Inf ants with food refusal had a lower relative weight at inclusion in the study and at follow-up at the age of 2 years. Food refusal was also a ssociated with weaning problems, parental reports of lower food consum ption, a higher incidence of breast-feeding, a higher frequency of mea ls, psychosocial problems in the family, less positive perceptions of parenting, infant difficultness, and problematic behaviors. The findin gs have implications for identification and understanding of factors r elated to early food refusal.