Impact on parents of feeding young children with congenital or acquired cardiac disease.

Feeding an infant is an interactive process that facilitates social, emotional and culturally based skills. Children with congenital or acquired cardiac disease frequently require supportive regimes with regard to feeding so as to maintain weight, resulting in altered experiences for both the child and family. This study evaluated the practical, emotional and social ramifications for parents, of having a child with cardiac disease who also experienced difficulties with oral feeding. The study sampled three groups of parents who had children less than 3 years of age: those with cardiac disease who had difficulty in feeding, those with cardiac disease and no such difficulty, and those with no medical diagnosis. Parents completed a questionnaire about feeding, a time diary of activities involved in feeding, and Tuckman's Mood Thermometers, which measure anger and 'poorness-of-mood' associated with feeding the identified child. Parents of children with cardiac disease and a feeding difficulty reported a significantly more negative mood-state, and significantly longer time associated with feeding, than parents of children in the other two groups. Emerging themes from qualitative analysis of the data suggested that having a child with congenital cardiac disease producing difficulty in feeding had a strong negative impact on the whole family.