Satiety and Criteria for Nutritional Adequacy in Infants
A. Satiety

Looking for signs of satiety in infants (defined in ‘Nutrition in Health & Disease’ in 1968 by H. Mitchell and her colleagues as “the mechanism by which the infant is made aware that he has had enough”) is important because overfeeding in infancy may establish an undesirable feeding pattern in later life.

Unfortunately satiety (‘its expression’) varies widely among infants.
For example:
1) In some, it is sharp and is accompanied by an active resistance to further feeding attempts.

2) In some, it is less sharply defined and interest in feeding wanes gradually (after a period of playfulness).

3) Others appear not to know they have had enough and will vomit the ‘excess’.

[Note:
a) Parents, nurses, carers, etc. should be able to assess after a period of observation which category the infant they are responsible for falls under and take appropriate action.

b) In all cases feeding which includes some degree of force (compulsion, 'persuasion') should be avoided.

c) It is better to rely on the Criteria of Nutritional Adequacy (B, below) to assess that the infant is being properly fed].

B. Criteria for Nutritional Adequacy in Infants

In the publication mentioned above the following criteria for assessing adequate nutrition are mentioned:
1) A steady gain in weight
2) A moderate increase in subcutaneous (‘under the skin’) fat
3) Development of firm muscles
4) Good elimination
5) A happy infant
6) Sleeps well
7) Shows normal curiosity about surroundings