Is Feeding the New Play?

Let's chat about a cool language study! We often talk about play as the gold standard for language stimulation, but research suggests feeding may be an underused powerhouse. 💪🏼

A study found that in a group of 12 babies:

• Infant-directed speech (i.e., "parentese" — exaggerated pitch and prosody that support language learning) and other intentional language strategies were strongest during play. They were not used as often during milk feeding and solid feeding.

• Feeding routines offered greater lexical diversity (i.e., greater range and variety of vocabulary) than play.

📌 Key takeaway:

Feeding is an obligatory routine that happens multiple times a day. With small, intentional shifts, mealtimes (including milk feeding) can become powerful, repeatable opportunities to support early language development!

💡Try using a strategy from our "caregiver tip" series next mealtime!

🧾 Zimmerman et al., 2019. Infant Behavior & Development.