ABSTRACT
The human infant, like other infant mammals, depends completely upon a social relationship for its nutritional requirements and for the maintenance of life and its physical well-being (Lipsett et al., 1985). The earliest relationship between the infant and caregiver may serve a number of different purposes quite apart from the importance of that interaction for the supply of adequate and appropriate nutrition. The relationship may serve as a basis of social dialogue, and the quality of action during feeding may reflect the nature and quality of parent-infant interaction in other settings as well (Wolke, 1994, 1996). The style of the interpersonal relationship during feeding will be influenced by the individual characteristics of both the infant and the caregiver, and if problems develop during the course of that feeding interaction there may be implications for the style and quality of their relationship in other (non-feeding) contexts, as well as for subsequent feeding behaviours, including preferences and aversions (Lindberg, 1994).
