Feeding Behaviors and Other Motor Development in Healthy Children (2–24 Months)

TLDR

The study aimed to monitor infants’ gross, fine, and oral motor development patterns related to feeding. Researchers conducted an incomplete block design with 98 mother–child pairs, performing in‑home interviews at 2–24 months to record the age of feeding behaviors and anthropometric measurements. Mean ages for feeding behaviors fell within normal ranges, yet individual children showed wide variation, indicating that counseling should consider this diversity.

Abstract

Objectives: To monitor infant's gross, fine and oral motor development patterns related to feeding.Design: An incomplete block design was used with 57 to 60 (sample=98) mothers interviewed when their children were 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 and 24 months (within ± 5 days of birth date). Each mother had 5 to 6 interviews.Setting: Selected developmental feeding behaviors were monitored using in-home interviews conducted by trained interviewers (n=2). At each interview, mothers reported the child's age when behaviors first occurred, and anthropometric measurements were performed.Subjects: Subjects were healthy white children who lived mostly in homes with educated two-parent families of upper socioeconomic status.Results: Mean behavioral ages were within normal ranges reported in the literature, whereas individuals exhibited a wide diversity in reported ages. Examples of gross motor skills (age in months, ± SD) included sitting without help (5.50 ± 2.08) and crawling (8.00 ± 1.55). Mean ages for self-feeding fine motor skills showed children reaching for a spoon when hungry (5.47 ± 1.44), using fingers to rake food toward self (8.87 ± 2.58) and using fingers to self-feed soft foods (13.52 ± 2.83). Oral behaviors included children opening their mouth when food approached (4.46 ± 1.37), eating food with tiny lumps (8.70 ± 2.03) and chewing and swallowing firmer foods without choking (12.17 ± 2.28).Conclusions: Mean ages for feeding behaviors occurred within expected age ranges associated with normal development. However, mothers reported that individual children exhibited a wide age range for achieving these behaviors. Our results should be considered in counseling mothers about infant feeding practices.