Breast-feeding, maternal feeding practices and mealtime negativity at one year.
This paper explores whether breast-feeding, mediated by lower maternal use of controlling strategies, predicts more positive mealtime interactions between mothers and their 1 year old infants. Eighty-seven women completed questionnaires regarding breast-feeding, assessing their control over child feeding and mealtime negativity at 1 year of infant age. Seventy-four of these women were also observed feeding their infants solid food at 1 year. Mediation analyses demonstrated that the experience of breast-feeding, mediated by lower reported maternal control over child feeding, predicted maternal reports of less negative mealtime interactions. The experience of breast-feeding also predicted observations of less conflict at mealtimes, mediated by observations of maternal sensitivity during feeding interactions. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Farrow
C
C
School of Psychology, Dorothy Hodgkin Building, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK.
Blissett
J
J
D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000523:psychology; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior; D007225:Infant Food; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires