Olfactory conditioning facilitates diet transition in human infants

We evaluated whether Pavlovian conditioning methods could be used to increa se the ingestion of non-preferred solutions by formula-fed human infants. I n baseline measures, 5-7 month old infants sucked less frequently and consu med less water than regular formula. During a 3-day olfactory conditioning period parents placed a small scented disk, the conditioned stimulus, on th e vim of their infants' formula bottle at every feeding. Following this tra ining, infants' responses to water were tested when their water bottles had a disk scented with the training odor a nor EI odor or no odor: Infants te sted with the training odor sucked more frequently and consumed significant ly more water than they had at baseline. Infants tested with no odor or a n ovel odor consumed water at or below baseline levels These data demonstrate that olfactory conditioning can be used to enhance ingestion in infants an d suggest that such methods may be useful for infants experiencing difficul ty when making transitions from one diet to another: (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.