The Experiences of Mothers Feeding Their Infants with Autism

Principal Investigator: Amy Weitlauf, Ph.D.

Other researchers: Amy Campbell (principal contact), Sharon Karp, Julie Barroso, Mulubrhan Mogos

Description

The purpose of this study is to identify specific feeding characteristics of infants later diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as compared to their neurotypical sibling(s) through the experiences of their mothers. This study will examine the different modalities of infant oral feeding (breast, bottle, and solid food feeding) and the difficulties encountered by mothers to feed their children with ASD during infancy.

This study will use maternal interviews to retrospectively obtain their perspectives and experiences they have encountered when feeding both an infant with ASD and a neurotypical infant. The perspectives and experiences will encompass each child's first 12 months of life and gain perspective of their entire feeding behavior in this time period. Our target sample population to be recruited for this study is mothers of children with ASD diagnosis aged 2-10 years old who have a history of feeding difficulty in infancy (0-12 months of age), did initiate breastfeeding, and who have at least one additional neurotypical child.

Maternal interviews will be conducted via Zoom and last approximately 30-45 minutes.

Participant Criteria

Mothers who are age 18 years of age and older and are English speaking with a child diagnosed with autism aged 2-10 years old and have a history of feeding difficulty in infancy (0-12 months of age), did initiate breastfeeding, and who have at least one additional neurotypical child.

Compensation

$25 Amazon gift card

Visit Requirements

1

Brochure

Download Brochure

Contact Information

Amy Campbell

amy.a.campbell@vanderbilt.edu

Last Updated: Wednesday, October 18, 2023

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