Feeding behaviour in the weaning period

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Nutrition
• Developmental Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Understanding infant feeding behaviors during the weaning period is crucial for both theoretical and practical reasons.
• Existing methods for describing feeding interactions may lack the specificity needed to analyze nuanced behaviors and their impact on intake.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a reliable observational coding system for infant feeding behavior.
• To investigate the relationships between specific feeding behaviors (mother-led vs. self-feeding), meal duration, and actual food intake in 12-14 month old children.

Main Methods:

• A home-based observational study involving 100 children aged 12-14 months.
• Video recording and direct observation of two meals per child, using a newly developed coding scheme for feeding acts.
• Inter-observer reliability testing on 40 randomly selected meals, demonstrating high reliability (p > .80) for most codes.

Main Results:

• A reliable coding scheme was established, differentiating mother-feeding, assisted self-feeding, and self-feeding behaviors.
• Significant variation in self-feeding extent and moderate meal-to-meal consistency were observed among children.
• Food intake correlated with the number of bites, not meal duration; longer meals with adjusted bites showed lower intake.
• Infants consumed more food when fed by the mother compared to self-feeding, with minimal impact on meal duration.

Conclusions:

• The developed coding scheme is simple, reliable, and effective for analyzing infant feeding behaviors.
• Findings highlight the differential impact of feeding method and meal duration on infant food intake.
• This tool can link specific feeding behaviors and mealtime characteristics to nutritional outcomes.