The Trauma Trap: Impact on Families and Feeding

Trauma: • an injury (such as a wound) to living tissue caused by an extrinsic agent • a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury • an emotional upset   We don’t usually use the word trauma when discussing feeding disorders, but we should.   Children who have experienced significant emotional stress during feeding because of GI discomfort, poor oral control, cardio-respiratory issues, or forced feeding are at risk for disordered behavioral responses around feeding for many months (or years) to come. Infants born prematurely exhibit feeding problems due to neurological and respiratory immaturity and the myriad of issues that can arise while in the NICU. These challenges follow them out of the NICU and into the home, and while being able to go home is a milestone in and of itself, there are many more milestones to overcome when it comes to feeding. “During development, the cognitive, motor, emotional and ‘state’-regulating areas of the brain organize in response to experiences. And in each of the diverse brain systems which mediate specific functions, some element of previous experience is stored.” (Perry, 1999) The infant’s early experiences (good or bad) and their responses during feeding down the road are inevitably linked. Take Nash*, an 18 month old (corrected age) who struggles to get through a meal without gagging and vomiting. Born at 30 weeks gestation, he relied on a naso-gastric (NG) tube for nutrition for 6 months, which involved the trauma of reinsertion when the tube had to be changed as well as the chronic discomfort inherent in the placement of a...

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