Infant hunger and satiety cues during the first two years of life: Developmental changes of within meal signalling

Abstract

Overfeeding in infancy may lead to overweight and obesity in later childhood. Mothers are advised to "tune in" to their infant's hunger, appetite and satiation cues to prevent overfeeding. The present study aimed to 1) assess stability and change in infant hunger and satiety cues (first two years of life) taken at six monthly intervals; 2) track the expression of appetite cues during the course of a meal (beginning, middle and end). Thirty-eight women (mean age 35.3 + 3.7 years) participated in the study. Mothers were within a normal weight range (BMI = 22 + 3.3 kg/m), most were married (N = 35; 95%) and for most this was not their first child. After an initial investigation (T1) follow-up visits took place every six months with filmed meals involving solid foods. A typical meal contained foods high in protein and carbohydrate plus cooked vegetables. Films were viewed and communication cues (engagement indicating appetite and disengagement indicating satiation) identified and recorded by appearance using the NCAST (Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training). Coding included the frequency and time at which each cue appeared. Results showed that infants were more likely to communicate potent engagement cues such as babbling, mutual gaze and looking at mother with age. None of the disengagement cues showed any significant main effects of time of follow up. Most, not all, feeding cues were stable across the segment of the feed and did not show a simple linear change across the meal, rather this appeared to develop with age. Raising awareness of these cues with mothers may encourage more responsive and positive mealtime interactions.

Bidirectional association of neurodevelopment with growth: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…Consistent with our results, previous studies observed the relationships between social skills and infant's physical development [32]. According to the Infant Research framework [33], infant social communication abilities develop in dynamic functional interactions between mothers and infants.…”

“…In that case, it may preclude their potential development of caregivers' feeding responsiveness [35]. Scholars propose that maternal responsiveness to their children's expressions, such as appetite, hunger, and satiety is essential developing a healthy diet and could play an essential role in offspring weight status [32]. Besides, it is generally known that language and social competence can be simultaneously discussed as previous studies have demonstrated that children's social and language development are synchronized mainly[36];…”

Bidirectional Association of Neurodevelopment with Growth: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…In that case, it may preclude their potential development of caregivers' feeding responsiveness [35]. Scholars propose that maternal responsiveness to their children's expressions, such as appetite, hunger, and satiety is essential developing a healthy diet and could play an essential role in offspring weight status [32]. Besides, it is generally known that language and social competence can be simultaneously discussed as previous studies have demonstrated that children's social and language development are synchronized mainly [36]; However, no relationship between language ability and body weight was found in our study.…”

Reading Appetite Cues in Infancy: A Role for Nutrition Education

“…One interpretation of this observation is that mothers with obesity are more alert and responsive to cues for hunger and less sensitive to signs of fullness, which may result in T infant hunger than those who formula fed. The observation that breastfeeding promotes more responsive feeding has been supported by a number of studies by Shloim et al [8][9][10] and could relate to a greater level of closeness, contact and trust that their baby is capable of communicating satiety. It has also been shown that infants born to mothers at high risk of obesity were less likely to breastfeed exclusively, and less likely to believe that infants know their own hunger and satiety than mothers at low risk [11].…”