The relationship of a mother's working model of feeding to her feeding behaviour

Aims of the study. This study aimed to examine the difference the attunemen t of a mother's working model of feeding to her infant makes for her positi ve feeding affect and behaviour, accounting for infant and mother condition s. Background/rationale. The concept of a mother's working model of feeding is derived from attachment theory. Caregiving, including feeding, is a com ponent of this theory. The conditions that may influence the attunement of a mother's working model of feeding to her infant include infant birth matu rity status (premature, fullterm), age at assessment, and robustness, index ed by weight-for-age z score (WAZ). Mother conditions include symptoms of d epression and feeding practice (breast feeding or exclusive bottle feeding) . Design/methods. Participants in this longitudinal study were 99 mothers and their infants (47 full-term, 52 premature, very low birth weight). After w ritten informed consent was given, home assessments were made when infants were approximately 1, 4, 8 and 12 months old (adjusted age for premature in fants). Working model attunement was assessed with a video-assisted intervi ew. A mother's positive affect and behaviour, including sensitivity and res ponsiveness, were rated from videotaped feeding interaction. Results/findings. Repeated measures analysis with a general linear mixed mo del showed a significant positive relationship with positive affect and beh aviour for both working model attunement and the WAZ score and a significan t negative relationship for symptoms of depression. Neither birth maturity status, infant age, nor feeding practice had a significant effect on mother 's positive affect and behaviour during feeding. Conclusions. Nurses' efforts to enhance the attunement of a mother's workin g model of feeding may help mothers feed with greater positive affect and b ehaviour. Further study of how the attunement of a mother's feeding expecta tions and intentions are related to her symptoms of depression and with wha t she makes of the infant's growth and well-being is needed. The theoretica l model needs testing with infants from the entire premature Population.