Infant Distress in a Food Delay Task Changes With Development and Predicts Amount Consumed

Abstract

ObjectiveEating behavior regulation emerges during early development and involves general self-regulation (emotional, behavioral), appetite regulation (homeostatic metabolic need) and appetite self-regulation (including both Bottom-Up Food Approach and Bottom-Up Food Avoidance and top-down purposeful self-control of eating). Limited research has investigated developmental trajectories of the regulation of eating behavior before the preschool years. The current study used a novel food delay task to assess infant distress as an early emerging marker of eating behavior regulation constructs across early infancy and examine associations with amount of milk consumed.MethodMother-infant dyads (n = 179) completed the Ability to Delay Gratification for Food in Infants Task (ATDG-FIT) at 2 weeks, 8 weeks, and 16 weeks of age. The ATDG-FIT required infants to wait before being fed while their bottle was present, but not accessible (3-min Pre-Feeding Delay). After this, the infant was fed for 1 min, then the feeding was paused for 30 s (Mid-Feeding Delay). Infant distress was coded during each feeding delay period and the amount of milk consumed was measured.ResultsThe mean proportion of distress during the Pre-Feeding Delay period decreased from 8 to 16 weeks of age (F(2,230) = 15.02, p < 0.001), whereas the mean proportion of distress during the Mid-Feeding Delay increased from 2 to 8 weeks of age (F(2,230) = 27.04, p < 0.001). There was a positive interaction between distress during Mid-Feeding Delay and infant age predicting the amount consumed in the protocol (ß = 0.30, p = 0.022), suggesting that the association between distress during this part of the task and amount consumed strengthens as infants get older.ConclusionThe ATDG-FIT may be an effective method to assess emerging eating behavior regulation constructs during early infancy.

Understanding risk and causal mechanisms for developing obesity in infants and young children: A National Institutes of Health workshop

“…The emotion regulation pathway suggests that infants who demonstrate better emotion regulation such as less distress or easier soothing may be less likely to experience their caregivers' use of food to soothe them, and thus may not make the connection to food as a way to soothe emotional distress over time (i.e., stress‐eating). One study used a task that indexed multiple aspects of self‐regulation relevant for food and eating in infants, including emotion regulation, homeostatic hunger, and food reward responsivity, and found that infant distress while waiting for food was associated with greater consumption after the waiting period had ended, and that the strength of this association increased with age, highlighting connections between emotion and eating regulation 197 . Another hypothesized mechanism is the “impulse‐control” pathway, in which it is theorized that infants and young children who demonstrate better self‐control around tempting foods will be at lower risk for obesity over time because they have developed the “skill” of resisting such foods.…”

“…One study used a task that indexed multiple aspects of self-regulation relevant for food and eating in infants, including emotion regulation, homeostatic hunger, and food reward responsivity, and found that infant distress while waiting for food was associated with greater consumption after the waiting period had ended, and that the strength of this association increased with age, highlighting connections between emotion and eating regulation. 197 Another hypothesized mechanism is the "impulse-control" pathway, in which it is theorized that infants and young children who demonstrate better self-control around tempting foods will be at lower risk for obesity over time because they have developed the "skill" of resisting such foods. Modeling the interplay among aspects of selfregulation such as emotion regulation, food reward responsivity, and impulse control, in both lab-based and real-world contexts will be essential to make better predictions regarding obesity risk.…”