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Restricted Eating in Preschoolers with Autism: Mother Stressors and Solutions

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Abstract

Feeding interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) focus solely on the child, not the family milieu. This qualitative study aimed to understand mothers’ perspectives on managing restricted eating among preschoolers with ASD. Focus groups were conducted with eleven mothers of preschoolers with ASD. Audio recordings were transcribed, and data analyzed for themes. Mothers experienced stressors balancing priorities of adequate nutrition with family mealtime demands and found solutions in support from other mothers, strategies from a wide array of sources, and resorting to trial and error to improve eating. Healthcare practitioners should explore and consider family stressors, competing demands, and coping skills when recommending mealtime interventions for optimal child and family well-being.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of the following LEND trainees in grounding our research with their questions and assisting in data analysis: Kara Brown, Anthony Foster, and Lindsey Stanek.

Funding

Karen Burkett and Karen Harpster were partially funded by a grant through the Maternal and Child Health Bureau and the Leadership and Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH, 45229, USA

    Karen Burkett

  2. College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221, USA

    Karen Burkett

  3. Early Intervention RAF Lakenheath, Sterling Medical Corporation, Suffolk, UK

    Marissa-Li Haggard

  4. Cincinnati Veterans Affairs Medical Center-Bellevue CBOC, 103 Landmark Drive, Bellevue, KY, 41073, USA

    Dawn Van Rafelghem

  5. Division of Occupational and Physical Therapy, Department of Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH, 45229, USA

    Karen Harpster

  6. Department of Rehabilitation, Exercise, and Nutrition Sciences, College of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45267, USA

    Karen Harpster

Authors
  1. Karen Burkett
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  2. Marissa-Li Haggard
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  3. Dawn Van Rafelghem
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  4. Karen Harpster
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Contributions

Conceptualization: KB, KH; Data Curation: KB, KH; Formal analysis: KB, MH, DR, KH; Investigation: KB, KH, DR; Methodology: KB; Project administration: KB, KH; Software: KB; Supervision: KB, KH; Writing—original draft: MH; Writing—review & editing: KB, MH, DR, KH.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karen Burkett.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the study institution.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Burkett, K., Haggard, ML., Van Rafelghem, D. et al. Restricted Eating in Preschoolers with Autism: Mother Stressors and Solutions. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 2589–2597 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05078-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05078-6

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