Function-based assessment and treatment of pediatric feeding disorders

The high prevalence of medical conditions and oral-motor dysfunction in children with feeding disorders suggests that biological factors play an important role in the etiology of feeding problems. Feeding disorder of infancy and childhood can be defined as a persistent failure to eat adequately, as reflected in significant failure to gain weight or significant weight loss over certain period of time. This disorder may be characterized by a variety of different topographical presentations such as total refusal to eat, dependence on supplemental feedings such as a gastrostomy tube (G-tube), inappropriate mealtime behavior (for example, crying, batting at the spoon), failure to thrive (FTT), and selectivity by type and texture. A diagnostic criteria for a feeding disorder specify that no medical condition severe enough to account for the feeding disturbance exists, and the feeding disturbance is not better accounted for by another mental disorder or by lack of available food.