Feeding cues for responsive feeding
These selections of short videos have been created to support you in your practice as you help parents or caregivers understand how to feed babies responsively.
Responsive feeding helps to promote attentiveness to internal cues of hunger and satiety and successful progression to independent feeding throughout childhood. It has been shown to be protective against obesity in children later in life.1,2
Please use the buttons in the banner above to view the cues in different babies.
Related article
- Black M and Aboud F. 2011. Responsive feeding is embedded in a theoretical framework of responsive parenting. J Nutr;141(3):490-4.
- Ramirez-Silva I, et al. 2021. Infant feeding, appetite and satiety regulation, and adiposity during infancy: a study design and protocol of the 'MAS-Lactancia' birth cohort. BMJ Open;11(10):e051400. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051400.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
We believe that breastfeeding is the ideal nutritional start for babies, and we fully support the World Health Organization’s recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life followed by the introduction of adequate nutritious complementary foods along with continued breastfeeding up to two years of age. We also recognise that breastfeeding is not always an option for parents. We recommend that healthcare professionals inform parents about the advantages of breastfeeding. If parents choose not to breastfeed, healthcare professionals should inform parents that such a decision can be difficult to reverse and that the introduction of partial bottle-feeding will reduce the supply of breast milk. Parents should consider the social and financial implications of the use of infant formula. As babies grow at different rates, healthcare professionals should advise on the appropriate time for a baby to begin eating complementary foods. Infant formula and complementary foods should always be prepared, used and stored as instructed on the label in order to avoid risks to a baby’s health.