11 month-old twins with food avoidance

Sharing food with infants in Hadza communities in Tanzania

By analyzing mealtime interactions of Tanzanian Hadza infants with their interactional partners, we explored how two foundational schemas, namely giving/sharing and autonomy are realized and fostered in infants. We focused on three aspects of the mealtime interactions, namely how the infants' share was protected, whether independent eating was fostered by the infants' interactional partners, and how infants were encouraged to share food. To answer these questions, we also considered the settings that were created for infant eating, persons involved, and characteristics of the foods. Hadza infants (N = 24) between the ages of approximately 6 and 27 months were video recorded in mealtime situations. The videos were analyzed qualitatively and revealed the following patterns: First, infants' shares were protected by eating meals in secluded places or providing infants with separate dishes. Second, independent eating was situational. It can be limited according to the child's interest in the food or by the interactional partner. Some caregivers subtly enhanced independence by appearing unaware of infants' signals. Third, sharing was encouraged and supported when it occurred spontaneously. Infants were also asked to share and occasionally tricked into sharing. Tolerated scrounging seemed to be generally accepted by both infants and caregivers. However, we also observed conflicts in competitive situations and somewhat overwhelmed infants. These results are discussed in light of hunter-gatherers' foundational schemas and livelihood changes observed in the Hadza.

Parental perceptions of childhood feeding problems

Previous research suggests that parental report of children's feeding corresponds with their child's nutritional intake (Cooke et al., 2006; Ekstein et al., 2010). The current study aimed to determine whether there is a relationship between parental report of children's feeding problems and their child's nutritional intake in a non-clinical population and, in addition, to establish whether parental anxiety (Cooke et al., 2003) can predict whether parental report of feeding problems correspond with the child's intake. Sixty-one parents of children aged two to seven years completed the parent report measure; the Behavioural Paediatric Feeding Assessment Scale as well as a food diary detailing their child's intake, which was analysed using CompEAT nutritional software. They also completed the anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Previous findings of an association between parent report of feeding problems and child's intake (Cooke et al., 2006) were not replicated. However, an association was found between parents' anxiety and their reports of feeding problems. Parental anxiety was also found to independently predict whether parent report of feeding problems matched the child's intake. Findings highlight the importance of a multifactorial approach to understanding childhood feeding difficulties. This requires replication with a clinical sample.