Maternal Technology Use During Feeding and Infant Self-Regulation and Growth
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
Summary
Maternal sensitivity and contingent responsiveness to infant behavioral cues is an important contributor to infants' developing capacities to self-regulate. During early infancy, feeding interactions comprise a significant portion of mother-infant dyadic interactions and high-quality feeding interactions provide both nutritive and socioemotional benefits; recent data suggest that, for many dyads, mothers' sensitive responsiveness during feeding interactions is routinely impacted by the omnipresence of portable technology. The objective of the proposed research is to better understand the development and possible impacts of maternal technology use on infant feeding interactions, emotion and intake regulation, and sociobehavioral and growth outcomes.
Description
The development of effective self-regulation is one of the most important achievements of early childhood and is associated with better stress reactivity, lower risk for internalizing and externalizing problems, and lower risk for obesity. During infancy, key interconnected domains of self-regulation include emotion (i.e., distress regulation) and feeding (i.e., caloric intake regulation). An important contributor to regulation across these domains is synchrony in caregiver-infant interactions, of which a critical component is caregiver sensitive responsiveness to infant cues. Feeding interact…
Eligibility
- Age range
- Not specified
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Eligibility Criteria At the time of recruitment, eligibility criteria for participants will include: * 18 years of age or older * In 3rd trimester of singleton pregnancy * History of healthy, low-risk pregnancy * Lives within 50 miles of the Cal Poly campus * Owns a mobile device After the child is born, eligibility criteria for participants will remain in the study will include: * Infant was born term (gestational age ≥37 weeks) Exclusion criteria include * Mother has an untreated medical or psychiatric condition (e.g. bipolar disorder) that could impede study participation or affect moth…
Interventions
- BehavioralTechnology Use during Feeding Conditions
At 1 month and 4 months, mother-infant dyads will be observed during 3 different feeding conditions counterbalanced across 3 days, with a 1-day wash-out period between conditions: TV Use condition: mothers will be asked to watch a 22-minute long TV show on a large tablet while they feed their infants. Mothers will choose from four preselected episodes of popular sitcoms. Mobile Device Use condition: mothers will be asked to use their mobile device in a way they find relaxing and pleasurable. Control condition: mothers will be asked to feed their infant in a room free of all potential technological distractions. During all conditions, mothers will feed their infants their typical milk (breast milk or formula) from their typical mode (breast or bottle).
Location
- California Polytechnic State UniversitySan Luis Obispo, California