Research On Feeding Behavior Of Infants And Toddlers In Shanghai And Initial Analysis On The Application Of The Schedule For Oral Motor Assessment(SOMA)

Part One Survey and research on feeding behavior of infants and toddlers aged between 2 months and 36 months in ShanghaiObjectives:The study was aimed at obtaining a systematic insight into feeding behavior of infants and toddlers in Shanghai via large-scale epidemiological research. Main indicators included feeding behaviors, feeding activities by feeders and development of feeding skills of infants and toddlers.Methods:The research adopted a cluster sampling method to conduct the questionnaire survey on 960 healthy infants and toddlers aged between 2 months and 36 months at several neighborhoods in six districts. The study recouped 873 completely-filled-in and effective questionnaires and used the SPSS 11.5 software for analysis.Results:42.7% of responding parents believed that their children had feeding problems. The main feeding problems of infants included eating too little (38%), picky eating and finicky eating (21.4%) as well as nausea and vomiting (19.8%). The main feeding problems of children included picky eating and finicky eating (39.5%), eating too little (34.3%) and eating too slowly (32.8%). The main feeding problems included longer mealtimes, high frequency of meals, inappropriate feeding position as well as feeders'poor feeding techniques. Meanwhile, the research also found out that infants and toddlers of all ages lagged in acquiring feeding skills than those listed on the textbook. In terms of skills such as finger feeding, feeding self with help, drinking from cup with help, drinking from cup without assistance, infants and toddlers admitted in this study apparently lagged their counterparts listed on the textbook. The differences featured statistical significance (P<0.05).Conclusions:Changing the unreasonable frequency of meals, duration of meals and feeding behaviors while promoting development of feeding skills of infants and toddlers in a proper manner will help reduce the occurrence of feeding problems and boost normal development of feeding behavior of infants and toddlers. Part Two Research on the relationship between temperament of infants and toddlers and their feeding behaviorObjectives:The study targeted at obtaining knowledge about different types of temperaments and characteristics of different dimensions of temperaments with an aim to discuss the role of temperaments in incurring feeding problems among infants and toddlers so as to provide the theoretical foundation for intervention measures to deal with feeding problems.Methods:The research adopted a cluster sampling method to conduct the questionnaire survey on feeding behaviors as well as temperament scale on 960 healthy infants and toddlers aged between 2 months and 36 months at several neighborhoods in six districts. The study recouped 873 completely-filled-in and effective questionnaires and used the SPSS 11.5 software for analysis.Results:Among infants and toddlers with feeding problems,43% belonged to the Easy Child and intermediate Easy Child type while 57% belonged to intermediate Difficult Child, Difficult Child and Slow-up-to-Warm Child type. Among infants and toddlers without feeding problems,67.4% belonged to the Easy Child and intermediate Easy Child type while 32.6% belonged to intermediate Difficult Child, Difficult Child and Slow-up-to-Warm Child type. Meanwhile, the difference of the constitution of temperament types among the two groups of infants and toddlers featured statistical significance (x2=19.1, P< 0.05). Compared with the normal healthy group, infants and toddlers with feeding problems were responding poorly to rhythms, low adaptability, high intensity of reaction, high attention dispersion. The differences featured statistical significance (P<0.05).Conclusions:Infants and toddlers with feeding problems have unique temperaments and relevant measures should be adopted accordingly to feed them based on their temperament types so as to reduce the occurrence of feeding problems and help them grow in the suitable environment. Part Three Initial analysis on the clinical application of Schedule for Oral Motor Assessment (SOMA) in ChinaObjectives:The research was aimed at studying the feasibility of domestic applications of Schedule for Oral Motor Assessment (SOMA).Methods:The study selected 130 children and divided them into the Nonorganic failure to thrive group, Normal healthy group and cerebral palsy group. It used SOMA to evaluate their oral-motor functions. All data were analyzed by SPSS 11.5 software.Results:The reliability of the schedule was 0.917-0.987 (P<0.001). The proportions of those with abnormal oral-motor functions in the cerebral palsy and nonorganic failure to thrive groups were 100% and 35% respectively, apparently higher than 5% for the normal healthy group. The average SOMA score of the nonorganic failure to thrive group was 2.93 while those of the normal healthy group and cerebral palsy group were 1.12 and 5.33, respectively. (F=72.01, df=2, P<0.001). Based on the Scheffe's test, the differences among the three averages featured statistical significance (P<0.05).Conclusions:The SOMA is simple to administer and quick to score, the evaluation items are objective. There are feasibility and necessity to introduce it to China for clinical application.