A new NIH study reported in the Journal of Pediatrics has said that young children with eating problems in the first three years of life are likely to have a developmental delay.¹

The study reviewed data from more than 3500 children from the Upstate KIDS study, which is a study of children born in New York State between 2008 and 2010, which “tracked the growth, motor, and social development of children to examine associations with parental medical conditions and characteristics, including infertility treatments, environmental, and other exposures”.

The mothers were asked to rate the eating pattern and developmental milestones of their children at 18 (1.5 years), 24 (2 years) and 30 months (2.5 years) of age. Analysis of data revealed that compared with children who never had any feeding problems, children with high eating problems such as crying frequently, pushing food away and gagging at one or two ages assessed, had a two-fold higher risk of missing a developmental milestone and fail all areas on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) (ORs = 2.10 – 2.50), which is a developmental screening tool. Children who had feeding problems at all the three ages evaluated quadrupled their risk of missing a developmental milestone (ORs = 3.94 – 5.05).

This study suggests that eating disorders in young children may be indicative of a developmental delay. According to the authors, feeding problems in all likelihood do not cause development delay. However, the associated problems such as lack of fine motor skills or communication difficulties in a child with development delay may be the cause of feeding problems. They also point out that if feeding problems continue up to 30 months, these are the children who should be screened as they are at the greatest risk for developmental delay. Early diagnosis of development delay assures timely intervention.

Reference

1. Putnick DL, et al. Feeding problems as an indicator of developmental delay in early childhood. J Pediatr. 2021 November 10; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.11.010