Feeding behaviour in the weaning period

Feeding behaviour in the weaning period is important theoretically and prac tically. The aim of the study was to develop appropriate observational code s for its description, to assess their reliability, and to examine the rela tionships between feeding behaviour, meal duration, and food intake. One hu ndred children aged 12-14 months were visited in their own homes, and two o f each child's usual meals video-recorded and analysed using direct observa tion. Codes were developed that distinguished between the mother feeding he r child directly and assisting her child's self-feeding, and between the ch ild's behaviour when responding to being fed by the mother and when feeding themselves. All-occurrence sampling was used to record counts of these fee ding acts during the meals. Two observers replicated coding of 40 randomly chosen meals to determine the reliability of these counts. Except for three codes which were used very infrequently (median counts of zero over the 20 0 meals), reliability was high with p > .80. There was wide variation in th e extent to which individual children fed themselves during meals, with onl y moderate consistency from meal to meal. Food intake was uncorrelated with meal duration, but correlated with the number of bites of food taken. Adju sted for the number of bites, longer meals were associated with a lower int ake. When fed by the mother the child's food intake was greater than when t hey fed themselves, but the duration of the meals was little affected.. The coding scheme is simple to use and generally reliable, and provides a mean s for relating more global measures of emotional or other characteristics o f mealtime behaviour to feeding behaviour and nutritional intake.