Role of parental stress on pediatric feeding disorders

The study examined the relation between parental anxiety and child feeding progress. Eighteen sets of parent and G-tube-fed child dyads participated. Caloric intake was recorded daily as the outcome measure of treatment progression. Parental anxiety was measured subjectively (self-report questionnaires) and objectively (salivary cortisol). Objective parental anxiety increased significantly (p <.001) when parents went from simply observing to actually feeding the child. There was, however, no direct relation between parental stress and caloric intake. Exploratory analyses of documented behavioral observations during feeding revealed a significant increase (p <. 001) in the child's negative behaviors with parental feeding, as opposed to staff feeding. Based on the results, further research to investigate parent-child dynamics during feeding is warranted.