[Eating behavior and skills of premature children in different age periods]

Abstract

Premature infant feeding often causes a number of difficulties not only during the nursing of a baby in the neonatal period, but also in further periods of the formation of nutritional skills and habits. Eating difficulties are noticeable not only during the first year of life. The further development of the eating behavior of premature children differs from fullterm peers. The aim of the publication is to demonstrate the peculiarities of eating skills and eating behavior in premature infants throughout the entire period of childhood. Material and methods. The search for original studies and systematic reviews that evaluated eating skills or eating behavior in children and adolescents born prematurely at various age periods was carried out using the eLIBRARY.ru and PubMed databases. Results. Children with a gestation period of less than 32 weeks at birth are most vulnerable to the development of eating disorders, since the suck-swallow-breath pattern is in the process of maturation. Eating difficulties are noticeable during the first year of life, since the formation of eating behavior is closely related to the development of motor skills and the neurodevelopment. The proportion of premature children experiencing nutritional difficulties decreases with age, but does not become comparable with that among full-term peers. Later with time, motor disorders are replaced by selective appetite, and tendencies to eating disorders are formed. In addition, with age, gender differences in eating behavior appear, which are characterized by an increase in eating disorders among boys. Conclusion. Currently, the data demonstrating characteristic age patterns in children born prematurely have been accumulated. Such a long-term effect of premature birth on eating behavior dictates the need for close attention to this group of children among pediatricians and the development of specialized programs for monitoring of preterm children.

Keywords: eating behavior; eating disorders; eating skills; preterm infants.