Question

• Investigate how infant development progresses with an emphasis on feeding skills development.

• Describe energy and nutrient needs of infants.

• Identify how feeding and food choices that parents make for their infants have health consequences in the long term.

• Identify indicators of normal infant feeding skill development in addition to breastfeeding.

Answer 1

An infant’s developmental readiness determines the type and texture of foods to feed and which feeding styles to use. Newborn infants are only able to such and swallow liquids because of their limited level of development; however, these skills are integral to their survival. Infants ability to feed well at birth could be attributed to a combination of reflexive responses that enable them to locate the source of nourishment, suck, and swallow the liquid. The reflexes include rooting reflex, suck/swallow reflex, tongue thrust reflex, and gag reflex. As the infants mature, they gain the skills necessary to progress from eating strained complementary foods from a spoon to feeding themselves. Sequence of feeding skills development is as follows:

APPROXIMATE AGE	FEEDING SKILLS
From birth to 5 months	Swallows liquids but pushes most solid objects from the mouth Coordinates suck-swallow-breath while breast or bottle feeding Moves tongue forward and back to suck
4 months through 6 months	Takes in spoonful of pureed or strained food and swallows without choking Drinks small amount from cup when held by another person, with spilling
5 months through 9 months	Begins to eat mashed food Eat from a spoon easily Drinks from a cup with some spilling Begin to feed self with hands
8 months through 11 months	Begin to eat ground or finely chopped food and small pieces of soft foods Begin to experiment with spoon but prefers to feed self with hands Drinks from a cup with less spilling
10 months through 12 months	Begin to eat chopped food and small pieces of soft, cooked table food Begin to spoon-feeding self with help Bites through a variety of texture

Energy and nutrient needs for infants: The infants energy requirement on many factors or caloric requirement including body size, metabolic rate, physical activity, age, sex, genetic factors, and medical conditions.

AGE	REFERENCE WEIGHT (in lbs)	ENERGY REQUIREMENTS (kcal/day)
1-3 months	Males: 9.7 – 13.2 lbs	Males: 472 – 572 kcal/day
	Females: 9.3 – 12.1 lbs	Females: 438 – 521 kcal/day
3-6 months	Males: 13.2 – 17.4 lbs	Males: 572 – 645 kcal/day
	Females: 12.1 – 15.9 lbs	Females: 521 – 593 kcal/day
6-9 months	Males: 17.4 – 20.5 lbs	Males: 645 – 746 kcal/day
	Females: 15.9 – 18.7 lbs	Females: 746 – 678 kcal/day
9-12 months	Males: 20.5 – 22.7 lbs	Males: 746 – 844 kcal/day
	Females: 18.7 – 20.9 lbs	Females: 678 – 768 kcal/day

Approximation of intakes (AI) of several nutrients is described below:

NUTRIENTS	0 TO 6 MONTHS	7 TO 12 MONTHS
Carbohydrates	60 g/day	95 g/day
Proteins	9.1 g/day	11 g/day
n-6 Polyunsaturated fatty acids	4.4 g/day	4.6 g/day
Lipids	31 g/day	30 g/day
Vitamin A	400 µg Retinol Active Equivalent/day	500 µg Retinol Active Equivalent/day
Vitamin K	2 µg /day	2.5 µg/day
Vitamin E	4 mg/day	5 mg/day
Vitamin C	40 mg/day	50 mg/day
Vitamin B12	0.4 µg/day	0.5 µg/day
Folate	65 µg/day	80 µg/day
Vitamin B6	0.1 mg/day	0.3 mg/day
Riboflavin	0.3 mg/day	0.4 mg/day
Thiamine	0.2 mg/day	0.3 mg/day
Niacin	2 mg/day	4 mg/day
Calcium	210 mg/day	270 mg/day
Iron	0.27 mg/day	11 mg/day