Eating independently is one of the most significant developmental milestones in every child's growth. It is generally a skill that is acquired by the age of two and a half, and its onset can be observed when the child begins to show curiosity about food and wants to eat on their own, with their hands or with cutlery. The latest scientific evidence suggests that involving children in family meals from the start of weaning, according to the complementary feeding on demand model, can play an important role in an area of development that is only apparently distant, namely communication and language. This is the main focus of a study recently published in the prestigious journal Child Development by a group of researchers from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Sapienza University of Rome and the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies of the National Research Council (CNR-IST), in collaboration with the National Institute of Health, Appalachian State University (USA), Aston University (UK) and conducted on a group of almost 200 boys and girls.

‘Mealtimes are not just an opportunity to satisfy the need to eat, but also a context in which multiple developmental processes are activated, involving the child's motor, cognitive and socio-emotional development,’ says Giulia Pecora of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. ‘When children can share meals with the rest of the family, they have the opportunity to observe the behaviour of others, imitate them and take an active role in social interactions.’

The research, which also involved the children's mothers, found that children who, at the age of one, eat more frequently without adult assistance also produce significantly more vocalisations and gestures during meals.

‘What is particularly surprising is that this relationship between independence in eating and communicative development persists even over time,’ continues Pecora. ‘As of a matter of fact, children who most often eat on their own at one year of age are about twice as likely to produce sentences at 24 months.’

‘In line with the latest scientific evidence, according to which language acquisition and motor skills influence each other during the first two years of life, children who learn to eat independently at an early age have more opportunities to manipulate food and refine their motor skills through fine hand movements. This also has an impact on their ability to communicate through gestures, which is crucial at this age,’ says Francesca Bellagamba of Sapienza University of Rome. ‘These motor skills are closely linked to other relevant cognitive processes that contribute to language development, such as shared attention, imitation, tool use, self-regulation, visual recognition and learning the names of objects.’

‘The results of this study show that encouraging independent feeding in the early stages of life can stimulate the development of motor and communication skills in a reciprocal and dynamic way,’ concludes Elsa Addessi of the CNR-ISTc. ‘Paediatricians, healthcare professionals and parents can take advantage of this evidence to integrate strategies for promoting independent feeding into their daily routines and intervention programmes.’

 https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacaf003

For further information:

Giulia Pecora, University of Rome Tor Vergata, email giulia.pecora@uniroma2.it

Francesca Bellagamba, Sapienza University of Rome, email francesca.bellagamba@uniroma1.it

Elsa Addessi, Cnr-Istc, email elsa.addessi@istc.cnr.it