Feeding behaviors and other motor development in healthy children (2-24 months).
OBJECTIVE
To monitor infant's gross, fine and oral motor development patterns related to feeding.


METHODS
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.


METHODS
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.


METHODS
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.
Carruth
Betty Ruth
BR
Nutrition Department, College of Human Ecology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37996-1900, USA. bacarruth@utk.edu
Skinner
Jean D
JD
D000375:Aging; D002657:Child Development; D004326:Drinking; D004435:Eating; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009048:Motor Skills; D009055:Mouth; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016138:Walking