Caloric compensation ability around the age of 1 year: Interplay with the caregiver-infant mealtime interaction and infant appetitive traits

Previously, we demonstrated that infants' caloric compensation ability decreases between 11 and 15 months old. Here, we explored whether the inter-individual variation in infants' caloric compensation ability is associated with caregiver-infant interaction during laboratory test meals or with infant appetitive traits. To describe caregiver-infant interaction, we recorded feeding in laboratory ad libitum meals when the infants were 11 and 15 months old by using a connected weighing scale. We extracted the weight of each offered spoonful and the time interval between two spoonfuls. The caloric compensation score (COMPX) was assessed during the same meals. At 11 and 15 months old, the caregiver rated their infant's appetitive traits by completing the CEBQ-T. Student's t tests were applied to test the relationships between the variables describing the caregiver-infant interaction and the COMPX score. The relationships between the COMPX score or its change and the infants' appetitive traits were assessed with Kendall correlations. Regarding appetitive traits, the more the caloric compensation ability decreased between 11 and 15 months old, the more the infants were perceived as food responsive between these ages (t=-0.36, p= 0.01, n=28). At 11 months old, when the time interval between two spoonfuls was positively associated with the previous spoonful weight (i.e., a longer time interval after a larger spoonful weight), the infants exhibited a better caloric compensation ability (t=-2.1, p=0.04, n=38). Moreover, this study provides new evidence regarding the importance of a responsive feeding style by suggesting that adapting the feeding pace to the spoonful weight could be a favourable practice associated with better caloric compensation ability by the end of the first year.