Infant feeding: beyond the nutritional aspects

To draw attention to the importance of interaction between caregiver and child during feeding and the influence of parenting style on dietary habit formation.

A search was performed in the PubMed and Scopus databases for articles addressing responsive feeding; the articles considered most relevant by the authors were selected.

The way children are fed is decisive for the formation of their eating habits, especially the strategies that parents/caregivers use to stimulate feeding. In this context, responsive feeding has been emphasized, with the key principles: feed the infant directly and assist older children when they already eat on their own; feed them slowly and patiently, and encourage children to eat but do not force them; if the child refuses many types of foods, experiment with different food combinations, tastes, textures, and methods of encouragement; minimize distractions during meals; and make the meals an opportunity for learning and love, talking to the child during feeding and maintaining eye contact. It is the caregiver's responsibility to be sensitive to the child's signs and alleviate tensions during feeding, and make feeding time pleasurable; whereas it is the child's role to clearly express signs of hunger and satiety and be receptive to the caregiver.

Responsive feeding is very important in dietary habit formation and should be encouraged by health professionals in their advice to families.