Preschool Children who were Bottle-Fed during Infancy Consume Larger Portions of Food and Exhibit Greater Plate-Clearing Tendencies

Introduction: Research suggests that breastfeeding is associated with a reduced risk of obesity in childhood, while formula-fed infants are more likely to experience rapid infant weight gain. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations remain unclear. One proposition is that caregivers who breastfeed are more responsive to their infant’s cues of hunger and fullness, thereby increasing satiety responsiveness (the ability of the infant to self-regulate their intake). To date, research has predominantly focused on the relationship between feeding practices and satiety responsiveness in infants. This study investigated whether preschool children demonstrate differences in satiety responsiveness based on early infant feeding practices.
Methods: An online survey was distributed to UK caregivers (N=564), who reported retrospectively how they fed their infant (e.g., exclusively breastfed). Caregivers also completed three measures assessing their child’s current satiety responsiveness; a. Child’s typical portion size (Potter et al., 2018); b. Habitual plate-clearing (Robinson et al., 2015); and c. Satiety Responsiveness subscale from the Child Eating and Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ; Wardle et al., 2001).
Results: Breast-fed (M=289.09, SD=89.24) and mixed-fed children (M=294.61, SD=101.97) typically consumed smaller portions of food compared to formula-fed children (M=326.11, SD=92.42). Children who were formula-fed (M=2.99, SD=1.07) demonstrated greater tendencies to plate-clear than those who were mixed-fed (M= 2.69, SD=1.04). However, there were no significant differences in plate-clearing tendencies between breast-fed children (M=2.75, SD=1.07) and those who were formula-fed or mixed-fed. No reliable differences were observed between formula-fed (M =1.63, SD = .81), mixed-fed (M =1.76, SD = .76), and breast-fed children (M =1.74, SD = .71) on the satiety responsiveness subscale of the CEBQ.
Conclusions: Preschool children who were formula-fed during infancy consumed larger portions of food and exhibited greater plate-clearing tendencies. Research suggests that caregivers who formula-feed might encourage bottle emptying, which in turn reduces infants’ satiety responsiveness and normalises plate-clearing. Our data suggest that these differences in satiety responsiveness might persist from infancy to preschool. Future research should aim to replicate this observation and, since bottle feeding is extremely common, investigate how to support caregivers to bottle-feed responsively.
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose