Its been almost 3 months since my last post and I promised to go through the acronym STOMP as causes for feeding difficulties. This week in particular this entry seems important with the publication of a twin study from University College London on Fussy Eating and Neophobia, which has got the media going crazy.
Today’s entry is only about organic or medical causes of feeding difficulties. Those parents that have got children with food allergy, reflux of developmental delay (just to name a couple of medical diagnoses) will know that feeding difficulties are common when a child is not well. The question though is, when is your child’s feeding difficulty possibly a medical condition that has not been diagnosed.
There are a couple of “red flag signs” in regards to feeding difficulties that I would suggest requires a healthcare professional’s attention. These include:
- Dysphagia (difficulties in swallowing) – if you see your child has obvious difficulties in swallowing
- Coughing and spluttering every time your child has liquids (especially if you child has frequent chest infections)
- Gagging every time textured solid foods are given and this causing distress
- Apparent pain with feeding – in the young this often exhibits itself as refusing to drink breast milk or from the bottle
- Vomiting and diarrhea in association with feeding difficulties
- Growth faltering in association with feeding difficulties
If there is an underlying medical cause leading to the feeding difficulty, the problem is unlikely to be resolved without the medical condition being treated. It is therefore important to discuss feeding difficulties with somebody if they exhibit any of the above symptoms.
My next entry will be about mechanistic feeding as cause for feeding difficulties.