An infant‐led approach to complementary feeding is positively associated with language development

Abstract

The timing and strategy with which parents first introduce their infants to solid foods may be an important predictor of subsequent developmental outcomes. Recent years have seen a decline in the prevalence of traditional parent-led feeding of soft, puréed food and a rise in the prevalence of infant-led complementary feeding. Although there has been some research espousing the benefits of infant-led complementary feeding for improving food fussiness and self-regulation, there has been little exploration of this approach that may impact on other developmental outcomes in children. The current study explores whether aspects of the infant-led approach, specifically the child eating unaided and consuming finger foods and eating with the family, are related to child language outcomes. One hundred thirty one parents of children aged 8-24 months completed questionnaires about their approach to complementary feeding, their current feeding practices, their child's experiences with family foods and child language comprehension/production. The findings suggest that an approach to complementary feeding which promotes infant autonomy in feeding (i.e., eating finger foods rather than puréed foods) and consuming more family foods is related to more advanced child language production and comprehension. Specifically, the prevalence of eating family foods mediated the relationship between eating unaided at the onset of the complementary feeding period and later language outcomes. This study is the first to find a significant relationship between different approaches to introducing solid foods and child language outcomes and these findings highlight the potential for different complementary feeding approaches to influence behaviour beyond mealtimes.

Structural models of genome-wide covariance identify multiple common dimensions in autism

“…Notably, the genetic influences contributing to the age by which children self-feed with a spoon were distinct from genetic factors underlying other motor developmental achievements, such as crawling, sitting or walking, when studied in SPARK. Infant autonomy in feeding, especially eating with the family, has been related to more advanced child language production and comprehension 30 . Especially within SPARK, age of self-feeding with a spoon showed moderate to strong relationships with multiple language-related phenotypes and may present an early marker of cognitive and language development in ASD.…”

Complementary food exposure and children’s early understanding of food words: the approaching eating through language (APPEAL) study

“…Other factors not accounted for in our study may also contribute to food-related language development. For example, a recent study by Webber et al ( 31 ) found that children of caregivers who offered foods from the family table during mealtime had greater language acquisition, suggesting yet another form of interaction that may drive language development. Although, more research is needed to expand our understanding of contributors to food-related language development, our current results, like those of Webber et al ( 31 ), align with the interactionist framework of language, whereby greater frequency of introduction to diverse, complementary foods (the repeated and reinforced interaction) is related to understanding of a larger number of food words (the development of food-related language).…”

“…For example, a recent study by Webber et al ( 31 ) found that children of caregivers who offered foods from the family table during mealtime had greater language acquisition, suggesting yet another form of interaction that may drive language development. Although, more research is needed to expand our understanding of contributors to food-related language development, our current results, like those of Webber et al ( 31 ), align with the interactionist framework of language, whereby greater frequency of introduction to diverse, complementary foods (the repeated and reinforced interaction) is related to understanding of a larger number of food words (the development of food-related language). Together with our prior work showing that greater understanding of food words was related to greater acceptance of a novel food, independent of repeated exposure to the novel food itself ( 11 ), and from the observations made in the current study, we hypothesize that the variety of complementary foods fed contributes, in part, to greater acquisition of food-related language, which then promotes, in part, eating behaviors.…”

Structural models of genome-wide covariance identify multiple common dimensions in autism

“…Notably, the genetic influences contributing to the age by which children self-feed with a spoon were distinct from genetic factors underlying other motor developmental achievements, such as crawling, sitting or walking, when studied in SPARK. Infant autonomy in feeding, especially eating with the family, has been related to more advanced child language production and comprehension (33). Especially within SPARK (e.g.…”