Hunnius, Sabine

Van Dijk, Marijn

Van Geert, Paul

English

Open University of the Netherlands Research Portal

Open Universiteit www.ou.nl The First Bites; Development and Variability of EatingBehavior during the Weaning PeriodCitation for published version (APA):Van Dijk, M., Hunnius, S., & Van Geert, P. (2006). The First Bites; Development and Variability of EatingBehavior during the Weaning Period.Document status and date:Published: 01/01/2006Document Version:Peer reviewed versionPlease check the document version of this publication:• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences betweenthe submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for thefinal version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website.• The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review.• The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.Link to publicationGeneral rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain• You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal.If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, pleasefollow below link for the End User Agreement:https://www.ou.nl/taverne-agreementTake down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at:pure-support@ou.nlproviding details and we will investigate your claim.Downloaded from https://research.ou.nl/ on date: 29 Nov. 2023The First BitesDevelopment and Variability of Eating Behavior duri ng the Weaning PeriodMarijn van Dijk1, Sabine Hunnius2, & Paul van Geert31 Department of Psychology, Open University of The Netherlands2 Department of Pediatric and Developmental Psychology, Tilburg University, The Netherlands3 Department of Clinical and Developmental Psychology, University of Groningen, The NetherlandsINTRODUCTIONMETHODDuring the weaning period , infants take a critical step in their eating behavior. With the introduction of the first spoon-fed purées infants begin to change from feeding solely on milk (breast milk or formula) to feeding on more solid food. This shift in eating behavior generally occurs rapidly. Within a short period of time, infants adjust their oral-motor behavior to the new food and learn to handle the changed feeding situation. Their oral-motor behavior develops from rhythmic sucking to a coordinated pattern of biting and chewing. This includes e.g. the ability to actively remove food from a spoon and the inhibition of the tongue protrusion response. Most studies on early feeding have examined the eating behavior of either very young infants or children of one year and older (see e.g., Young & Drewett, 1998; Pearcey & De Castro, 1997). However, the developmental transitions in oral-motor behavior and feeding efficiency during the we aning period have been neglected to date, and repeated measurements of eating behavior in infancy are scarce. It was the aim of this study to investigate the rapid development of oral-motor functioning and the changes in effectiveness of feeding during the weaning period. The research was carried out within a dynamic systems theoretical framework (Thelen & Smith, 1994; van Geert, 1994), and thus focuses on the dynamic aspects of change and patterns of inter- and intra-individual variability.Ten healthy infants were followed during the transi tions to solid food, starting with their very first bite of solids (at the averaged age of 22.8 weeks, SD=3.6 weeks) until after the transition (12 weeks later). Throughout this period, 15 feeding interactions of the infants with their primary caregiver were video-taped. The first 4 minutes of each video-observation were coded , using a coding scheme based on categories of oral-motor functioning (see e.g., Skuse, Stevenson, Reilly & Mathisen,1995) and efficiency of feeding (see e.g., Young & Drewett, 2000). Also, the consumed quantity of food was weighed at each measurement occasion.The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as multivariate analyses (repeated measures ANOVAs ).RESULTSperc active bites0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%FleurtjeFinnMyrddinLotteBorisJurRamonLucasMorrisLottaaverageperc tongue protrusion0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%FleurtjeFinnMyrddinLotteBorisJurRamonLucasMorrisLottaaverageperc suck reaction0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100% FleurtjeFinnMyrddinLotteBorisJurRamonLucasMorrisLottaaverageCONCLUSIONSThe results show a rapid increase in oral motor efficiency already during the first weeks after the introduction of solid food: Behaviors associated with the previous way of eating (e.g., sucking, tongue protrusion) decrease, while behaviors which are well-adapted to the new oral-motor challenges (e.g., active closing of the lower lip) become more frequent. Also the feeding effectiveness increases significantly within this short time period.The largest intra-individual variability in oral-motor functioning was found in the infants’ earliest performances , which is consistent with the account that developing systems are most sensitive to context variables and thus most variable (van Geert, 1994). There was, however, no decrease in the variability in the amount of consumed food, which is in accord with earlier findings that young children are very variable in their eating behavior from day to day (Young & Drewett, 2000). The weaning period involves changes in many different a reas . Both, infant and mother have to adjust their behavior to the new feeding situation and to each other, which results in the emergence of new interaction patterns. These changes will be addressed in future analyses of our data. References & AcknowledgementsPearcey, S.M., & De Castro, J.M. (1997). Food intake and meal patterns of one year old infants. Appetite, 29, 201-212.Skuse, D., Stevenson, J., Reilly, S., & Mathisen, B. (1995). Schedule for oral motor assessment (SOMA): methods and validation. Dysphagia, 10, 192-202.Thelen, E., & Smith, L.B. (1994). A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. Cambridge, MA: Bradford Books/MIT Press. Van Geert, P. (1994). Dynamic systems of development: Change between complexity and chaos. New York: Prentice Hall / Harvester Wheatsheaf.Young, D. & Drewett, R.F. (2000). Eating behavior and its variability in 1-year-old children. Appetite, 35, 171-177.We thank the mothers and infants who participated in the study. Financial support was provided by Nutricia Nederland.Fig. 1Fig. 2Feeding effectiveness:- rapid increase in consumed grams , especially between the first and the second series (see Fig. 4)- inter and intra-individual variability remained large across all seriesOral motor functioning:- rapid increase in the frequency of active closing of the lower lip when eating from a spoon throughout the measurement period (see Fig. 1)- significant decrease in frequency of tongue protrusion after accepting a bite of food throughout the measurement period (see Fig. 2)- significant decrease in frequency of sucking on the spoon throughout the measurement period (see Fig. 3)- largest change in the frequency of tongue protrusion and active closing of the lower lip between the first and second series- significant decrease in intra-individual variability (SD) over the measurement period for all three behaviorsmarijn.vandijk@ou.nls.hunnius@uvt.nlMETHODThe measurement design consisted of 3 series of 5 naturalistic video-observations . The first 5 recordings were made in the two weeks after the introduction of solids, and the second and third series were made 4 respectively 10 weeks after the infant’s first bite of solid foods. 1st bite 4 weeks later 6 weeks after that14 days 14 days 14 daysFig. 3consumed food (grms)050100150200250300FleurtjeFinnMyrddinLotteBorisJurRamonLucasMorrisLottaaverageFig. 4RESULTS

The First Bites; Development and Variability of Eating Behavior during the Weaning Period

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The First Bites; Development and Variability of Eating Behavior during the Weaning Period

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