title: Appropriate spoon form for feeding of liquids in infant feeding development.
abstract: Feeding development in infants is important not only for of the purpose of acquiring nutrition but also for developing the ability to intake liquids. Our previous study showed that the introduction of a straw was appropriate after an infant has acquired the ability to sip liquid from a spoon and/or cup. In this study, we investigated the effect of a bowlshaped spoon on liquid intake. The aim of this study was to determine the appropriate form of spoon for infant feeding development. Eleven healthy infants (3 girls and 8 boys, 10-18 months old, mean age: 13.3 months) were recruited with their guardians' consent. We made 3 types of prototype spoon: A, oval (a standard renge soup spoon); B, flared-out (with the margin of the bowl flared out); and C, hemispherical (with a hemispherical bottom, and smaller than type A or B). We observed infants taking liquid supported by their mothers and evaluated the following responses: 1) confusion with regard to lip position, 2) spillage and 3) choking. Type C showed statistically less confusion with regard to lip position than type A or B (p<0.01), and B showed less than type A (p<0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed in spillage or choking among the three types of spoon. The renge soup spoon is often used to smooth the transition from breast/bottle to cup feeding. In this study, we demonstrated the appropriate spoon form for infant feeding development.
authors: Department of Dysphagia Rehabilitation and Community Dental Care, Tokyo Dental College, Japan. rishida@tdc.ac.jp
authors: Ryo
authors: R
authors: Ishida
authors: Mai
authors: M
authors: Ohkubo
authors: Tetsuya
authors: T
authors: Sugiyama
authors: Yasutoshi
authors: Y
authors: Honda
authors: Miho
authors: M
authors: Hosoya
authors: Misuzu
authors: M
authors: Hattori
authors: Takahiro
authors: T
authors: Kawata
mesh_terms: D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000209:etiology; D002657:Child Development; D003297:Cooking and Eating Utensils / Q000145:classification*; D004750:Enteral Nutrition / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior; D007225:Infant Food; D008046:Lip / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male