Feeding characteristics of healthy infants without reported feeding impairments throughout the first month of life.

Objective: Elucidate characteristics of feeding performance in healthy infants without reported feeding problems throughout the first month of life.

Study Design: Feeding was monitored in 61 healthy infants by caregiver report for 48 h a week from birth to 4 weeks old. Outcomes included feeding modality, how much they consumed, how long the feed lasted, and how many coughing episodes the infant exhibited. Data were analyzed with descriptive and non-parametric statistics.

Result: The majority of infants (68%) exhibited at least one problematic feeding behavior. Infants consumed 68 ml/feed over 20 min, though the milk volumes and feed durations were highly variable. Coughing occurred an average of 2 feeds per day. No significant change in coughing was observed throughout the first month of life (p = 0.64). Infants coughed significantly less during breast feeds than bottle feeds (p = 0.02).

Conclusion: Healthy term infants exhibit what appear to be normal developmental imperfections in feeding performance throughout the first month of life.