Short-term influence of breastfeeding on the infants' interaction with theenvironment

The present study tested the hypothesis that around the age of weaning, hum an infants are more interactive with their environment immediately after br eastfeeding. To this aim, we assessed 4- to 6-month-old infants' responsive ness to a rotating, musical mobile before breastfeeding on one test day, an d after breastfeeding on another. Thirteen infants, fitted with miniature m ovement detectors on both their left leg and wrist, were videotaped for 4 c onsecutive min during which the mobile was alternately switched on and off in 1-min intervals. Although the infants showed no significant differences in limb activity as a function of the timing of a breastfeed, they looked a t the mobile significantly longer when tested after breastfeeding. This fin ding suggests that breastfeeding has a substantial effect on 4- to 6-month- old infants' attentiveness to and interaction with their environment. (C) 2 000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.