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Maternal feeding roles associated with childhood obesity
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Allowing children to choose what and how much to eat from a meal structured and provided by parents or caregivers reduced the likelihood of obesity, according to a recent study.
“The feeding dynamic between caregivers and their toddlers as a factor in childhood obesity is truly underestimated,” Ihuoma Eneli, MD, medical director of the center for healthy weight and nutrition as Nationwide Children’s Hospital, said in a press release. “We’re finding that if mealtime becomes a battleground or filled with tension, it could establish a relationship with food that leads kids to unhealthy eating behaviors later.”
Eneli and colleagues set out to gather data on the feeding dynamics of 297 mothers and their children (aged 2 to 5 years) from different socioeconomic backgrounds for a childhood obesity intervention that is under development. Sixty-three percent of the mothers responded to a Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) and Caregiver Feeding Responsibility Scale (CFRS). Researchers utilized a CFQ Perceived Child Overweight subscale to determine children’s weight.
On average, mothers often provided a variety of nutritious meals and snacks, ate together as a family, conserved a pleasant environment during meal-time and allowed their children to stop eating when full. However, they frequently demonstrated unhealthy feeding behaviors by allowing their children to eat where they wanted, only preparing foods the children were likely to eat and deciding how much their children ate.
While mothers sometimes pressured children to eat, those with children who were overweight were more susceptible to pressuring and restricting them.
“When parents are excessively restrictive about eating, two things happen. One, kids learn to eat when they are not hungry. Two, the struggle gives food more power than it should really have – and kids are very intuitive about how they can use that as leverage,” Eneli said in the release. “The long term result could be dysfunctional thinking about the role that food has in a person’s life.”
After analyzing maternal characteristics, researchers found that maternal BMI was associated with a concern for children’s weight (P < .01) and those with a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m² were the most concerned (P < .001).
Mothers who did not live with a partner (P = .011) and those who were Asian (P = .002) or black (P < .001) tended to pressure their children more compared with mothers who were married or living with a partner and those who were white (P = .012).
In terms of maternal feeding practices, mothers without personal diet limitations were less likely to restrict their children’s food intake (P < .05) whereas those who intuitively ate to satisfy physical rather than emotional reasons were more likely to allow their children to do the same (P < .05). The researchers wrote that these findings will need to be addressed in any future feeding dynamic intervention.
In the press release, Eneli suggested that parents guide their children into responsible eating habits with the following tips:
- frequently offer deserts to reduce their appeal;
- serve smaller portions to give children the opportunity to want more;
- allow children to choose snack time;
- avoid negative reactions towards negative eating-related behavior and reintroduce foods with different flavors;
- confine eating to the kitchen;
- limit discussions about food to reduce anxiety; and
- serve at least one food the child will eat.
“Once your child realizes that feeding time isn’t going to be a battle of wills, they will eventually start eating what you give them,” Eneli said in the release. “Stay positive and firm, and remember that children have the ability to learn healthy eating if you will just let them.” – by Stephanie Viguers
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