Observational scales of mother-infant feeding: A catalogue and review

Mother-infant interactions during feeding have been viewed as a useful tool for measuring the psychosocial health of their relationship since the 1950s. Therefore, the development of valid and reliable observational feeding scales represents an important step in advancing our understanding of mother-infant interaction. In this chapter, instruments which have prescribed behavioral coding schemes for use by clinicians or scientists that have been successfully employed in numerous investigations, and are currently available, are described and discussed. For purposes of clarity, the instruments are grouped by their coding format, that is, whether pre-determined behaviors are counted, rated on an attribute, or simply credited as being present or absent. While the array of these observational scales may vary in their length, number of items, applicable age range, and extent of their use, all have demonstrated reliability by their authors, and for most of them have demonstrated evidence of their validity.