Fussy eating and feeding difficulties in infants and toddlers consuming a cows’ milk exclusion diet

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Cows’ milk allergy (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CMA</jats:styled-content>) is the most common infant food allergy in the United Kingdom, requiring a strict exclusion diet. Feeding difficulties and fussy eating are also very common problems in young children and can negatively influence feeding and dietary intake in an infant with <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CMA</jats:styled-content>. The aim of this study was to compare the levels of fussy eating and feeding difficulties in two groups of young children: a group consuming an exclusion diet for <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CMA</jats:styled-content> and a control group of children consuming an unrestricted diet.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method</jats:title><jats:p>Participants were recruited from allergy and health visitor clinics on the Isle of Wight. Parents completed a number of questionnaires about their child's feeding behaviour.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>One hundred and twenty‐six participants (mean age 13 months) were recruited. Participants consuming an exclusion diet for <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CMA</jats:styled-content> had significantly higher scores for both fussy eating and feeding difficulties (p &lt; 0.05), although overall both groups were within the normal range. A number of symptoms were found to be positively moderately correlated with higher feeding difficulty score (p &lt; 0.05). A higher consumption of milk/milk substitute consumed per day was positively correlated to both feeding difficulties and fussy eating (p &lt; 0.05).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Participants consuming an exclusion diet for <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CMA</jats:styled-content> have higher scores for feeding difficulties and fussy eating than those consuming an unrestricted diet; however, the majority of participants’ scores were within the normal range and did not affect the growth.</jats:p></jats:sec>