FEEDING BEHAVIORS OF NEWBORN INFANTS AS A FUNCTION OF PARITY OF THE MOTHER

Abstract

THOMAN, EVELYN B.; BARNETT, C. R.; and LEIDERMAN, P. H. Feeding Behaviors of Newborn Infants as a Function of Parity of the Mother. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1971, 42, 1471-1483. The effects of maternal parity on bottle-feeding behaviors of neonates were investigated. In order to assess the feeding behavior of infants independent of the contribution of the mother, the following 3 groups of infants were observed: (1) 125 infants given their first feeding at 12 hours of age by a nurse, a standardized situation designed to permit assessment of prenatal effects due to parity of the mother; (2) 41 infants fed by the mother and observed throughout the 3-day lying-in period; and (3) 115 infants fed by a nurse at some time during the first 3 postnatal days, a standardized feeding condition designed to provide a comparison group for the mother-fed infants. Observations were obtained by means of an automatic, continuously recording apparatus. At 12 hours of age, the nurse feedings revealed a prenatal effect of maternal parity: infants of multiparous mothers required more feeding intervals than did infants of primiparous mothers. Primiparous mothers consistently used a greater number of feeding intervals and more time in nonfeeding activities than multiparous mother-infant pairs. The primiparous pairs showed a marked decrease in the number of intervals over the 3 days of observation.