Behavior of appetite-satiety and nutritional status in infants under 6 months of age

The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased alarmingly worldwide. In infants, the etiology is multi-causal, highlighting the intake as a determinant for weight gain. The alimentary behavior of the infant and the poor perception of hunger and satiety signals of their children perceived by some mothers difficult the self-regulation of the appetite-satiety behavior and may favor the development of obesity. However, research is still limited. The objective of this study was to identify how the mother perceives the eating behavior of her child and how it relates to the nutritional status of the infant. The design was descriptive correlational. 40 dyads were studied (mother-son under the age of 6 months) who attended the Healthy Child Control program of a public health institution. The sociodemographic characteristics of the dyad and anthropometric measurements of height and weight were explored. The Baby Eating Behavior Questionnaire was used to measure the feeding behavior of the infant through four scales. The mean age of the infants was 4.03 months. (DE = 1.16). The 37.5 % were overweight and the 62.5 % were males. The mother's most often perceived feeding behavior was "enjoyment of food" ((X) over bar = 4.85; DE = 0.34), and the least frequently perceived was "satiety responsiveness" ((X) over bar = 2.06; DE = 0.83). The "My baby has a good appetite" perception was correlated to the BMI of the infant (rs = 0.299, P < 0.05). Mothers were more sensitive to perceive their child's hunger signals, but not with satiety signals, which may favor the rapid weight gain in infants and thus the obesity development at early age.