Nutritional status and feeding difficulties in children up to 2 years of age with cow's milk allergy

Abstract

AbstractBackground/ObjectivesTo assess the nutritional status and incidence of feeding difficulties in Polish children up to 2 years of age with cow's milk allergy (CMA) on cow's milk proteins‐free diet.MethodsA cross‐sectional, multi‐center study included children aged 6 months to 2 years with confirmed or suspected (without oral food challenge) diagnosis of CMA on the elimination diet for at least 1 month. The primary outcomes were an assessment of proportion of children with impaired nutritional status (with the weight for length and body mass index (BMI) z‐score > 1 and <−1), and feeding difficulties according to the Montreal Children's Hospital Feeding Scale. Children with confirmed and suspected CMA were assessed separately.ResultsA 144 children with confirmed CMA and 88 with suspected CMA were included (57 and 78% with multiple food allergies, respectively). Among children with confirmed CMA, one‐third (35.5%) of participants had any nutritional status impairment regardless of definition. Among those, most of children had mild malnutrition (10.4 vs. 9%) and possible risk of overweight (11.1 vs. 9.7%; following respectively BMI for age and weight for length z‐scores). Only 16.0% of children had feeding difficulties. Feeding difficulties was identified to be a risk factor for moderate malnutrition compared to children without feeding difficulties (odds ratio 10, 95% confidence interval: 4−27).ConclusionsMild malnutrition and possible risk of overweight are concern in children up to 2 years of age on cow's milk proteins‐free diet. Feeding difficulties are less common, however, may affect the nutritional status.