Mother-infant feeding interactions in mothers with and without eating disorder history: Results of a structured observational study.

BACKGROUND: A growing body of evidence suggests that children of mothers with eating disorders (EDs) have a greater risk of early feeding problems. Recognizing and reacting adequately to the infant's signals during feeding is crucial for the child's development of internal and external regulatory mechanisms of food intake. Parental EDs might affect this ability. Therefore, we investigated the quality of mother-infant interactions during feeding using video recording and a structured coding system. METHODS: The data of this pilot study was collected in a prospective cohort study investigating the influence of maternal EDs on child outcomes. Twenty women with ED history and 31 control women were videotaped while feeding their infant during a main meal at ten months postpartum. The mother-infant interactions were evaluated by two raters using the Chatoor Feeding Scale. We assessed birth outcomes, the mother's ED and depression status, breastfeeding practices, infant feeding problems and infant temperament by maternal self-report. RESULTS: Mothers with and without ED history scored very similar on the Feeding Scale, however mothers from the control group experienced more struggle for control with their infants during feeding (p = 0.046) and made more negative comments about the infant's food intake (p = 0.010). Mothers with ED history were more concerned about infant feeding at three months postpartum and reported significantly more problems with solid foods in their children. Birth outcomes were comparable between groups, except for lower weight-for-length birth percentiles in children of women with ED history. CONCLUSION: Whilst examined mothers with ED history are more concerned about feeding their children, ED psychopathology does not affect the quality of mother-infant interaction during feeding at the transition to autonomous eating at ten months of age.

Maternal eating disorder severity is associated with increased latency of foetal auditory event-related brain responses.

OBJECTIVE: Maternal eating disorders (EDs) are associated with adverse pregnancy and child outcomes. There is limited research investigating the influence of maternal EDs on foetal brain development. METHOD: Using foetal magnetoencephalography (fMEG), an auditory sequence was presented for 10 min to assess brain response latencies in foetuses of mothers with (n = 12) and without (n = 11) a history of anorexia nervosa (AN) in the third trimester of pregnancy. ED history and severity were assessed using the structured clinical expert interview eating disorder examination (EDE) and the self-report questionnaire EDE-Q. RESULTS: Foetuses of mothers with AN showed delayed foetal brain responses to auditory stimulation compared to foetuses of control women. Self-reported ED symptom severity explained 34% of variance in foetal brain response latencies in the AN group. CONCLUSIONS: ED pathology was strongly associated with foetal brain response latencies in the third trimester with longer latencies in foetuses of women with a history of AN reporting more ED symptoms. Follow-up on the children is pivotal to investigate if fMEG outcomes are associated with later child development.