Post-traumatic feeding disorders in infancy: Behaviors predicting treatment outcome

The purpose of this study was to examine whether specific problem feeding b ehaviors exhibited by infants with post-traumatic feeding disorders (PTFD) predict treatment outcome. In this case series, 24 infants aged 7 weeks to 34 months received a three-component intervention for the treatment of thei r PTFD. The three components of the interventions included (I) physiologica l and environmental changes to regularize hunger-satiety cycles and promote good eating habits and routines; (2) nutritional monitoring; and (3) behav ior therapy (flooding). Infants with PTFD who exhibited passive refusal to swallow food placed in their mouths and did not chew/suck/move food placed in their mouths for more than 5 sec were significantly less likely to respo nd to treatment, compared to infants with PTFD who did not exhibit these be haviors. Further, compared with infants with PTFD who responded to treatmen t, more infants with PTFD who did not respond had anatomical/mechanical pro blems of their upper airway such as tracheoesophageal fistula or lung disea se such as bronchopulmonary dysplagia. The findings have direct implication s for the assessment and treatment of PTFD in infancy.