A direct influence of dietary long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) on the developmental quotient (DO) of the healthy term infant remains unexplored. To test this hypothesis, we designed a prospective study of three types of diet. 'I'wentynine infants received a LC-PUFA-supplemented formula, 31 received a standard infant formula. and 30 infants were breastfed exclusively. Neurodevelopmental response was measured by the Brunet-LCzine psychomotor development test at 4 mo. The fatty acid status was also assessed among three diet subgroups (59 subjects) at 4 mo. Formula-fed infants who received LC-PUFA supplementation scored significantly higher (p < 0.01) on the Brunet-IRzine scale than infants who received the standard formula. Breast-fed infants also performed better than those fed the standard formula. Arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid levels in circulating lipids and erythrocyte phospholipids were higher among breast-fed infants and among the group fed the arachidonic-and docosahexaenoic acid-supplemented for-

Pre-term birth has a significant impact on infants' social and emotional competence, however, little is known about regulatory processes in pre-term mother-infant dyads during normal or stressful interactions. The primary goals of this study were to investigate the differences in infant and caregiver interactive behaviour and dyadic coordination of clinically healthy pre-term compared to full-term infant-mother dyads and to examine pre-term infants' capacity for coping with stress using the face-to-face still-face paradigm (FFSF). Fifty mother-infant dyads, including 25 pre-term infants and 25 full-term infants were videotaped during the FFSF. All infants were 6-9 months of age (corrected for gestational age in the pre-term group). Infant and maternal socio-emotional expressivity and self-regulatory behaviours were coded and measures of dyadic coordination (Matching, Reparation Rate, and Synchrony) were calculated. There were no significant differences in infant and caregiver socio-emotional behaviours between the two groups and both groups demonstrated the still-face (SF) effect and the reunion effect. There was a difference in self-regulatory behaviour. Pre-term infants were more likely than full-term infants to use distancing (e.g., by turning away, twisting, or arching) from their mothers during the FFSF. Additionally, during the Reunion episode of the FFSF pre-term infants showed more social monitoring compared to full-term infants. Regardless of the birth status, the dyads showed less coordination and a slower rate of reparation during the Reunion episode than during the Play episode. The higher proportion of distancing in the pre-term group and the increase in social monitoring suggest that even in normal interactions pre-term infants may experience a higher level of stress and have less capacity for self-regulation compared to the full-terms and that pre-term infants appear to use a compensatory strategy of increased social monitoring to cope with the stress of renegotiating the interaction during Reunion. The findings suggest that pre-term infants have different regulatory and interactive capacities than full-term infants.

Aim-A follow up study of developmental quotient (DQ) at 24 months of toddlers whose diets in early infancy diVered in fatty acid composition, and in whom an association between diet and DQ was observed at 4 months. Methods-81 toddlers were distributed among three groups according to early type of diet: standard infant formula (SFo, n = 30); long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) enriched formula (LCPFo, n = 26); human milk (HM, n = 25). DQ at 24 months was assessed by Brunet-Lézine's psychomotor developmental test. A subgroup (n = 20; SFo 8; LCPFo 6; HM 6) was tested for erythrocyte phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine. Results-No DQ diVerences were found by analysis of variance. Neither DQ nor erythrocyte docosahexaenoic acid at 4 months were predictors of DQ scores at 24 months. Phosphatidylcholine arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acid correlated positively, and phosphatidylcholine linoleic acid and phosphatidylethanolamine eicosapentaenoic acid negatively, with DQ. Multiple regression analysis including these variables explained 52% of interindividual DQ variance. A strong association was found between the erythrocyte phosphatidylcholine arachidonic/ linoleic acid ratio and DQ (r = 0.75; p = 0.0001). Conclusions-The diet/DQ association found at 4 months was not predictive of DQ scores at 24 months. Irrespective of dietary or genetic factors, there appears to be a strong correlation between the LC-PUFA composition of the red cell membrane and higher neurodevelopmental performance. (Arch Dis Child 1997;76:421-424)