The relationship of a mother's working model of feeding to her feeding behaviour.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to examine the difference the attunement of a mother's working model of feeding to her infant makes for her positive feeding affect and behaviour, accounting for infant and mother conditions.


BACKGROUND
The concept of a mother's working model of feeding is derived from attachment theory. Caregiving, including feeding, is a component of this theory. The conditions that may influence the attunement of a mother's working model of feeding to her infant include infant birth maturity status (premature, full-term), age at assessment, and robustness, indexed by weight-for-age z score (WAZ). Mother conditions include symptoms of depression and feeding practice (breast feeding or exclusive bottle feeding).


METHODS
Participants in this longitudinal study were 99 mothers and their infants (47 full-term, 52 premature, very low birth weight). After written informed consent was given, home assessments were made when infants were approximately 1, 4, 8 and 12 months old (adjusted age for premature infants). Working model attunement was assessed with a video-assisted interview. A mother's positive affect and behaviour, including sensitivity and responsiveness, were rated from videotaped feeding interaction.


RESULTS
Repeated measures analysis with a general linear mixed model showed a significant positive relationship with positive affect and behaviour for both working model attunement and the WAZ score and a significant negative relationship for symptoms of depression. Neither birth maturity status, infant age, nor feeding practice had a significant effect on mother's positive affect and behaviour during feeding.


CONCLUSIONS
Nurses' efforts to enhance the attunement of a mother's working model of feeding may help mothers feed with greater positive affect and behaviour. Further study of how the attunement of a mother's feeding expectations and intentions are related to her symptoms of depression and with what she makes of the infant's growth and well-being is needed. The theoretical model needs testing with infants from the entire premature population.
Pridham
K F
KF
School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53792, USA. kpridham@facstaff.wisc.edu
Schroeder
M
M
Brown
R
R
Clark
R
R
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001903:Bottle Feeding / Q000523:psychology*; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000523:psychology*; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007224:Infant Care / Q000523:psychology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000523:psychology*; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000523:psychology*; D016014:Linear Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009042:Motivation; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009769:Object Attachment; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014743:Videotape Recording