An alternative to traditional weaning methods known as baby-led weaning (BLW) appears to be emerging in the UK. This approach advocates bypassing typical weaning practices of spoon-feeding puréed foods or baby rice, encouraging instead the introduction of foods in their whole form to the infant from 6 months old. A key tenet of BLW is self-feeding. Anecdotally, the practice of BLW appears to be...

The feeding performance of individual hatchery-reared (HR) and wild juvenile spotted seatrout Cynoscion nebulosus was compared across a series of six 1·5 h feeding exposures over a 3 day period in a controlled experiment. The predation cycle served as a context for discerning feeding performance elements. The experimental design facilitated assessments of the effects of experience, motivation d...

Central pattern generators (CPGs) are networks underlying rhythmic motor behaviours and they are dynamically regulated by neuronal elements that are extrinsic or intrinsic to the rhythmogenic circuit. In the feeding system of the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, the extrinsic slow oscillator (SO) interneuron controls the frequency of the feeding rhythm and the N3t (tonic) has a dual role; it is a...

A controlling maternal child-feeding style has been show to have negative consequences for child weight and eating style for children over the age of 12 months. Maternal restriction is associated with increased consumption of food if given free access and child overweight. Pressure to eat conversely is associated with picky eating and a lower child weight. Little research however has considered...

Global recommendations on strategies to improve infant feeding, care and nutrition are clear; however, there is limited literature that explains methods for tailoring these recommendations to the local context where programmes are implemented. This paper aims to: (1) highlight the individual, cultural and environmental factors revealed by formative research to affect infant and young child feed...

Communication between flowering plants and their pollinators involves innate, learned and deceptive sensory signals. Nocturnal, hawkmoth-pollinated flowers are among the most reflective and strongly scented known, suggesting the potential for multimodal sensory communication with pollinators. We measured the relative importance of these overstated signals, both alone and in combination, to nect...

BACKGROUND The brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens (Stal) is a serious pest of rice in Asia. Development of novel control strategies can be facilitated by comparison of BPH feeding behaviour on varieties exhibiting natural genetic variation, and then elucidation of the underlying mechanisms of resistance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS BPH feeding behaviour was compared on 12 rice vari...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Parental control over feeding has been linked to child overweight. Parental control behaviours have been assumed to be exogenous to the child, but emerging evidence suggests they are also child-responsive. This study tests the hypothesis that parental control in early infancy is responsive to infant appetite and weight. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Participants were 1920 moth...

Infants with slow weight gain cause concern in parents and professionals, but it is difficult to be certain whether such infants are genetically small or whether their energy intake is insufficient. The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of diet and feeding behaviours on slow weight gain early in infancy. The sample was 11 499 term infants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Pare...