Feeding Behavior of Infants

This volume successfully opens a new and significant field. For many years the scientific importance of infant feeding has been recognized. The emphasis in such study has been upon the biochemistry of nutrition and the physiology of digestion. This volume, on the contrary, is exclusively concerned with a scientific analysis of the facts relevant to an understanding of infant feeding behavior. As the authors clearly say, the problems of infant feeding behavior are psychological as well as biological. That is, they are problems which involve the behavior of the whole living integrated individual. After a clear discussion of the basic significance of feeding behavior in human infants, the authors treat the underlying concepts of behavior which must be recognized in dealing with the complex repertory of acts involved in human feeding. In this section are described certain of the scientific procedures which have been worked out in the Yale Clinic of Child Development, especially those involving motion-picture recording and the subsequent motion-picture analysis of behavior. The patterns of feeding behavior as they appear in the following age periods are then presented: (1) The fetal period (from the 7th to the 40th postconception week). (2) The neo-natal period, from birth through 4 weeks). (3) The first quarter (from 4 to 12 weeks). (4) The second quarter (from 16 to 24 weeks). (5) The third quarter (from 28 to 36 weeks). (6) The fourth quarter (from 40 weeks to 1 year). (7) The second year). Next follows a more detailed analysis of the foundation of the motor mechanisms of feeding, such as suckling, mastication, swallowing, and hand-mouth behavior. An interesting history of the development of nursing devices is presented in connection with this discussion. In the second part of the book, the growth of feeding behavior is traced in relation to the breast, the bottle, and the cup and spoon. In this section, an elaborate series of photographs is reproduced, most effectively supplementing the verbal description of the behavior acts involved in various forms of feeding. The third section of the book deals with the regulation of feeding behavior. Here schedules of feeding, as actually observed in normal infants, are presented, supplemented by a normative discussion. The "behavior hygiene," or "mental hygiene" of each developmental period is given special attention. This part of the book is novel in its approach, and will be of practical assistance to all those who deal with …