Mothers' Assessment of Hunger in Relation to Meal Size in Breastfed Infants

Abstract

When their infants were approximately eight weeks old, breastfeeding mothers attending local postnatal clinics were asked a series of questions about their perception of hunger in their infants and about variations in their own milk supply. A further sample of 40 mothers agreed to keep a detailed diary of the timing and amount taken at each breastfeed over a four-day period. After each feed the mothers rated the infants' hunger using visual analogue scales. Female infants are more likely to be described as showing variations in hunger across the day than are male infants, but there were no corresponding sex differences for mothers' awareness of a time of, day when they have less breast milk available. Meal size and rated hunger do decline significantly across the day for both groups. and there were differences in the distribution of meals between males and females. Possible explanations for these differences and implications for advice by health visitors are discussed.