Apparent Insatiability: An Unrecognized Manifestation of Food Intolerance in Breast-Fed Infants

¹ Depts of Pediatrics and of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University Faculty of Medicine Montreal, Canada
² Dept of Pediatrics Ste-Justine Hospital, University of Montreal Faculty of Medicine, Montreal, Canada

Recognized manifestations of food allergy in infants include atopic dermatitis, urticaria, colic, gastroenteropathy, allergic rhinitis, asthma, and anaphylaxis.¹ Recently, sleep disturbance was added to this list.² We present two exclusively breast-fed siblings in whom the cardinal manifestation of food intolerance was apparent insatiability. To our knowledge, voracity has never been reported as a manifestation of food sensitivity. Further, confronted with an apparently healthy and well-growing infant, most clinicians would tend to dismiss maternal concerns regarding their infant's feeding behavior. This attitude may not only delay diagnosis, but also prolong maternal sleep deprivation associated with insatiable breast-fed infants who have unrecognized food intolerance.