Self feeding and intentional communication during the meal in 12-month-old infants

Infants who are exposed - between 6 and 12 months of age - to a baby-led weaning approach (BLW) have the opportunity to manipulate, grasp, chew and independently eat earlier than children who are exposed to a parent-led weaning approach (PLW) – in which they are fed purée food on a spoon. Eating independently creates more opportunities to practice fine-motor skills involved in self-feeding compared to the experience of being spoon-fed by the caregiver. We tested the hypothesis that 12-month-old infants with more independent eating skills are also more advanced in their gestural and vocal communication, as both self-feeding and intentional communication involve the use of goal-directed actions. Naturalistic interactions occurring during a typical meal between 58 mothers and their one-year-old infants were recorded. Mothers also completed the Italian short form of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (Word and Gestures) to assess comprehension, productive vocabulary and gestures (Caselli et al., 2015). From the observational sessions we coded: (i) the frequency of self-feeding episodes, in which the infant picked up and chewed food using hands or cutlery (ii) the frequency of infant’s deictic and referential gestures as well as the frequency of simple vocalizations, protowords and words (iii) the frequency of maternal child-directed utterances. The infant’s use of deictic gestures (pointing, showing, offering, requesting and taking) during the meal was associated with the frequency of self-feeding, with the number of maternal child-directed utterances, and with the duration of breastfeeding. Moreover, the frequency of deictic gestures was higher in girls and in infants with siblings. The infant’s production of protowords and words was associated with the number of maternal child-directed utterances and with a self-reported measure of fine-motor skill. Finally, self-reported productive vocabulary was associated with the frequency of self-feeding, with the number of maternal child-directed utterances and with a self-reported measure of fine-motor skill. These findings have relevant implications for promoting the dissemination of infant feeding practices alternative to parent-led spoon-feeding.