Eating disorders in infancy and early childhood.

Feeding problems are frequently observed among the population of infants and small children. This problems include food refusal, overeating, selective eating and bizarre food habits. That problems might be transient, but they may last for many years among some of children. They could lead to poor weight gain, specific nutritional deficiencies and even failure to thrive. In ICD-10 classification two diagnostic categories regarding eating disorders during this life period have been proposed (Eating disorders and Pica of infancy and early childhood). That criteria are too general though, they don't tell much about etiology and they don't allow to make decision about using specific therapy for the disorder as well. The author presents American authors' propositions regarding more specific categories of feeding problems differentiation in this particular age group and presents casuistic descriptions.