Experts are frightened that a number of kids are increasing in weight because their mothers are multi-tasking while feeding them, according to a recent post on The Daily Mail.
The Californian researchers conducted an experiment which was participated by 41 mothers with infants. Each woman was asked about what they do during bottle feeding. 83 percent of them confessed doing other things such as watching TV (being the most frequent answer), playing on computers and mobile devices, listening to music, eating and sleeping. Some even revealed multi-tasking every time they feed their children.
Though Early Human Development journal stated that most mothers who multi-tasked were old mothers with many kids, researchers still fear that the 'technology trap' is diverting the mothers' attention from their babies and might hinder them from discerning if they are being over fed.
Doing other things while feeding their children is also keeping them from bonding with their kids. Technology might not only be causing kids to be overweight but also affecting the relationship of babies with their mothers. Researchers emphasized on this fact by explaining, "Because feeding interactions make up a large proportion of all mother-infant interactions, it would follow that to promote secure attachment, these interactions should have synchrony, making maternal attention important."
Another study was conducted by the researchers which proved that more milk was drunk by infants when mothers are preoccupied, though this varies depending on the child's behavior. Mothers with many children have greater chance to be unfocused due to all sorts of gadgets and social sites. The California Polytechnic University experts recommended that they should be informed about the effects of lacking guidance on children while feeding them. Most mothers disagreed by explaining how the quantity of milk in the bottle was measured and that most babies stop drinking once they are full.
At the end of the study, researchers expressed their opinion by stating "Previous research with older children and adults suggests that eating while distracted, "mindless eating", increases risk for overeating. Thus it is possible that mothers who engage in "mindless feeding" are similarly placing their infants at higher risk for overfeeding than mothers who are not distracted."
