title: [Anorexia in the first year of life. Case contribution].
abstract: The anorexia is a frequent cause for paediatric consultation, especially during the first year of life, during which often it is not due to illness or to some organic cause. Particularly interesting from the etiopathogenetic and most of all from the curative point of view are the protracted anorexias in which the relationships mother-child-surroundings appear disturbed. Generally, the loss or the simple reduction of the appetite could heal, all the same and also in a short while if the mother would accept willingly the new situation, trusting in a spontaneous resolution. On the contrary she usually forces the infant to take the meal even if incompletely, meeting at each new attempt, the infant's resistance initially passive and then more and more active and efficacious. Thus an "anorexia for opposition" is established by the conflict between mother and child that the mother stirfs up to then end looser if not even victim. An exemplar in this connection is given by the anorexias of the 16 personal cases extracted from a larger casuistry: infant of age between 40 days and 12 months in the most part of which the anorexia was arisen from different causes (illness from slight infections, the replacement of the human milk with the adapted milk, the weaning, copious rations); in some infants the loss of appetite was without an apparent cause. The anorexia became worse after the mother's reiterated attempts to force the infant to have a meal. During the hospitalization the mother was detained with the son; the giving of the meals was in a first time done by the paramedical personnel with the mother present an then by the mother only. In 14 infants the cyproheptadine was given. Only in a few cases the mothers were treated with anxiolytic. All the cases have been resolve positively.
authors.affiliation: Cattedra di Clinica Pediatrica II, Università di Pisa, Italia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paci
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zappia
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bertini
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zoppi
mesh_terms: D000855:Anorexia / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001066:Appetite / Q000502:physiology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger / Q000502:physiology; D007223:Infant; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations
vernacular_title: L'anoressia durante il primo anno di vita. Contributo casistico.