| Age of onset | Potential contributing factors |
| Prenatal | - Fetal (intrauterine) growth restriction
- Prematurity
- Prenatal infection
- Congenital syndrome (metabolic or chromosomal)
- Teratogenic exposure (eg, alcohol, anticonvulsant, tobacco smoke, caffeine)
|
| Birth to 6 months | - Poor quality of suck (whether breast- or bottle-fed) and/or oral motor dysfunction
- Improper formula preparation
- Breastfeeding problems, including insufficient milk supply
- Inadequate number of feedings
- Poor feeding interactions (eg, infant gags or vomits during feeding, caretaker misreads signals of hunger or satiety)
- Child neglect
- Parental mental illness
- Metabolic, chromosomal, or anatomic abnormalities
- Underfeeding (possibly related to poverty)
- Milk protein intolerance
- Cystic fibrosis
- Congenital heart disease
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease
|
| 7 to 12 months | - Feeding problems, for example:
- Autonomy struggles, particularly if caretaker is unduly anxious about intake or cleanliness
- Oral motor dysfunction that interferes with adaptation to more textured foods
- Delayed introduction of solid foods
- Refusal to eat new foods when first offered so caretaker no longer offers
- Caretaker does not offer adequate quantity or variety of solid foods
- Intestinal parasites
- Food allergies
|
| >12 months | - Coercive feeding
- Picky eater
- Highly distractible child
- Distracting environment
- Acquired illness
- Social factors (eg, underfeeding related to fear of overfeeding, poverty)
- New psychosocial stressor (eg, divorce, job loss, new sibling, etc)
- Sensory-based feeding disorders in children with developmental disorders (eg, autism spectrum disorder)
- Chewing or swallowing dysfunction
- Excessive milk or juice intake
- Caretaker does not offer enough quantity or combination of healthy foods
- Celiac disease
|
