Infant feeding behaviours and attitudes to feeding amongst mothers with eating disorders: A longitudinal study

Abstract

This study aims to investigate breastfeeding, infant feeding behaviours, and attitudes to feeding amongst women with eating disorders (ED) and healthy controls (HC). Women with active ED (C-ED; N = 25), past ED (P-ED; N = 28), and HC (N = 46) were recruited in pregnancy and followed up longitudinally. Post-natally infant feeding behaviour was investigated at 8 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year and parental modelling at 1 and 2 years. Women with P-ED and C-ED reported higher concerns about their infant being/becoming overweight compared with HC, respectively, at 8 weeks and 6 months and 6 months only post-partum. Women with P-ED showed less awareness of infant hunger and satiety cues compared with HC at 8 weeks. Despite few differences between ED and HC, both P-ED and C-ED predicted maternal attitudes and worries about child's eating. These are likely to impact on child's growth and later eating behaviours and might impact on the intergenerational transmission of ED.

Keywords: children; eating disorders; feeding behaviour; mothers.