INTRODUCTION:

The knowledge on eating behaviour determinants allows the elaboration of strategies that prevent and treat their imbalances. Failure to thrive is the reflection of the most severe cases of feeding disorders among children.

OBJECTIVES:

To characterize eating behaviour among children with failure to thrive and their family history of failure to thrive and/ or underweight. To relate the eating behaviour of children with failure to thrive with their parents/caregivers’ eating behaviour. To compare children with and without older siblings regarding their eating behaviour and anthropometric measures.

METHODOLOGY:

In this cross-sectional research children’s eating behaviour was assessed using Children’s Eating Behaviour Questionnaire. For each child, one parent/caregiver responded to the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire. Clinical and family data were collected during Paediatric Nutrition appointments.

RESULTS:

A sample of 33 children (3 to 13 years) was included. Children presented higher scores in subscales related to food avoidance (Emotional under-eating, Food fussiness, Slowness in eating and Satiety responsiveness) and lower related to food approach (Enjoyment of food, Food responsiveness, Emotional over-eating and Desire to drink). One third had family history of low weight or failure to thrive. Food responsiveness was positively associated with parents/caregivers’ external intake (R = 0.385, p = 0.027), and emotional overeating with parents/caregiver’s restraint (R = 0.485, p = 0.004). Children with older siblings had higher enjoyment of food (mean = 2.59, sd = 0.93, vs. 2.00, sd = 0.60 p = 0.046) and lower food fussiness (mean = 3.09, sd = 0.91 vs. 3.77, sd = 0.55, p = 0.017) compared to those without older siblings. They also presented lower weight percentiles (n = 17; median = 16.5 vs. 1.0, p = 0.023).

CONCLUSIONS:

Family history might be relevant, as one third of children with failure to thrive had prior cases of failure to thrive and/ or underweight in the family. Having older siblings was associated with a more favourable eating behaviour, despite not reflecting directly in their weight status. Parents with higher external eating identify their children as having higher food responsiveness, and those with higher restraint identify their children as having a great intake of food mediated by emotions.

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