from journal Child Development Perspectives
Most infants have a sense of self-regulation when it comes to hunger, but that sense can be messed up when infants are fed when they are not hungry or beyond fullness. A review of studies on infant self-regulation by researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Nursing suggests feeding infants when not hungry or beyond fullness may cause them to develop skewed perceptions of hunger and fullness that could increase risk of obesity and related health problems later in life. Infants differ in how they communicate hunger or fullness, and researchers wrote in the journal Child Development Perspectives that caregivers need to learn traits related to appetite, such as perceived enjoyment of eating, pace of eating and response to fullness.