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Study By Central Coast College Finds Mothers Can Get Distracted While Feeding Their Babies

Photo by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

A new study by a Central Coast university finds that mothers can get distracted while feeding their babies.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Kinesiology assistant professor Alison Ventura asked 75 mothers who breast or bottle feed their infants to keep a diary of feeding patterns. She found that nearly half the time, the moms were distracted. And a quarter of the time, they were distracted by electronic devices like their cell phone, tablet or television.

“Distraction was similar for moms when they were breast feeding versus bottle feeding as well as if moms were lower or higher income. So, it was pretty prevalent across the board regardless of feeding mode and socioeconomic status,” she said.

Ventura is interested in understanding whether this distraction has any negative impacts on the child. Determining how often it happens is just the start. She’s conducting further research to find out.