Parental feeding practices and parental involvement in child feeding in Denmark: Gender differences and predictors

Meat reduction meets family reality: Negotiating sustainable diets in households with adolescents

Limited research exists on how the transition towards more sustainable eating takes place at the meso-level of family decision-making, or how children and adolescents engage in and possibly influence the process towards more sustainable diets in families. In this paper, we study how public recommendations that encourage reducing the consumption of meat for the benefit of both health and climate are interpreted, negotiated, and acted upon in Danish families with adolescents (aged 15-20) residing at home. We use novel methodological stimuli, including vignettes and a visual sorting task, embedded in qualitative, in-depth interviews to elicit data on parents' and adolescents' everyday meat consumption/reduction behaviours. Findings reveal that a desire to uphold harmony and family cohesion serves as simultaneous drivers and barriers to reducing meat consumption. Further, we identify barriers to change in the gendered work hidden in the tasks of planning the integration of more sustainable, green dishes into the meal repertoires. Implications are drawn for social marketers, marketers, and public policymakers, encouraging these to use insights into family food decision-making processes as a lever to facilitate the needed green transition of diets in family households.

Dads at Mealtimes: Associations between Food Security, Household and Work Chaos, and Paternal Feeding Practices among Australian Fathers Living with Disadvantage

Understanding how fathers engage in feeding while experiencing disadvantage is important for family-focused interventions. A cross-sectional online survey involving 264 Australian fathers was conducted to explore feeding involvement and the relationships between feeding practices, food insecurity, and household and work chaos. Practices related to coercive control, structure, and autonomy support were measured for two age groups (<2 years and 2-5 years). Multivariable linear regression was used to examine the associations for each practice. Three-quarters of the sample were food insecure, impacting adults more than children, and correlated with household chaos. Food insecurity was associated with increased 'persuasive feeding' and 'parent-led feeding' in younger children. Household chaos was positively associated with coercive control practices in both younger and older child groups, with the strongest associations for 'using food to calm' and 'overt restriction', respectively. In older child groups, household chaos was negatively associated with 'offer new foods' and 'repeated presentation of new foods'. Structure practices had no significant relationships with any factors, and work chaos did not predict any feeding practices. These findings emphasize a need for societal and structural support to address food insecurity and household chaos. Tailored strategies are crucial to support fathers in responsive feeding.

Remembered childhood mealtime experiences influence on early childcare and education staff

Parent feeding styles, behaviors, beliefs, and practices are associated with developing children's eating behaviors. However, many children spend considerable time in childcare; thus, are exposed to child-feeding practices of other adults, e.g., early care and education (ECE) staff. Limited research exists on how and whether current classroom feeding practices of ECE staff associate with their own childhood experiences. The About Feeding Children survey, conducted in 2005, examined self-reported feeding practices and beliefs and personal characteristics of ECE staff in Western United States. An exploratory factor analysis of questions related to childhood experiences (N = 1189), revealed two Mealtime Factors: Remembered Adult Control and Remembered Child Autonomy Support. Structural equation modeling was conducted to examine the hypothesis that these remembered experiences would be associated with current feeding practices (Structural Mealtime Strategies, Verbal Mealtime Strategies, and Beliefs about Mealtimes). For each outcome, models had good to moderate fit. Across models, Remembered Autonomy Support was associated with less control, bribing, autonomy undermining, and concern-based control beliefs and greater support at meals and autonomy promoting beliefs in teachers' classroom feeding practices. More research is called for to consider whether reflection on remembered childhood experiences might be beneficial to consider during ECE staff training related to feeding young children.

[Typologies of fathers and mothers according to their parental feeding practices: a latent profile analysis in dual-income families with adolescent children]

BACKGROUND

this research sought to identify profiles of parents according to their food parenting practices (FPFP) (monitoring, restriction, modeling and child control) and to determine whether the profiles differed according to their satisfaction with food-related life (SWFoL), work-family interface, diet quality of parents and adolescent children, type of work and sociodemographic characteristics (socioeconomic level, gender and age).

METHODS

the sample consisted of 430 two-parent dual-income families with adolescent children in Santiago, Chile. The Comprehensive Questionnaire of Parental Eating Practices, Satisfaction with Food-related Life scale (SWFoL), Adapted Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) and Work-Family Interface Scale (work-family conflict and work-family enrichment) were used.

RESULTS

latent profile analysis showed five profiles of fathers and mothers: a) mothers and fathers with high control and restraint (32.1 %); b) mothers and fathers with high control and very low monitoring, restriction and modeling (29.5 %); c) mothers with high monitoring and fathers with low control and restriction (18.8 %); d) mothers and fathers with high monitoring (14.9 %); and e) mothers and fathers with high restraint and modeling (4.7 %).

CONCLUSIONS

the profiles differed in fathers' and mothers' SWFoL scores, fathers' work-family conflict, fathers' work-family enrichment, diet quality of all three family members, and mothers' body mass index. The results suggest that fathers and mothers use different combinations of FPP according to the characteristics of their families and workplaces.

Spicing up food interactions: Development of a healthy food education activity targeting fathers and their young children

BACKGROUND

Childhood obesity rates have been rapidly increasing worldwide. Several actions to reduce this trend have addressed maternal feeding practices. However, research reports an unwillingness to taste healthful foods expressed by children and fathers, which represents a major obstacle to a healthy diet in the family household. The present study aims to propose and qualitatively evaluate an intervention to increase fathers' involvement with their families' healthy eating through exposure to new/disliked healthy foods.

METHODS

Fifteen Danish families took part in a 4-week online intervention involving picture book reading, a sensory experience session and the cooking of four recipes with four targeted vegetables (celeriac, Brussels sprouts, spinach and kale) and two spices (turmeric and ginger). Interviews were conducted with the families and the content was analysed through a blended or abductive approach.

RESULTS

Participating in the activities motivated children and fathers to try new vegetables and spices, and increased fathers' sense of self-efficacy toward cooking, tasting new foods and healthy feeding. For the family, the intervention acted as a trigger to consume a higher variety of vegetables and spices and prompted feelings of "food joy". The outcomes observed are of importance considering the relatively low cost and the remote approach of the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

The results highlight the fact that fathers play an important role in the home food environment. We conclude that fathers should be included to a higher extent in food and nutrition strategies aimed at promoting healthy weight development in their children.

Child food portion sizes in the home environment: how do parents decide?

The consumption of larger portion sizes (PS) of food has been implicated in the increased prevalence of childhood obesity. The home is usually the first place children learn about food, however, little is known about how parents determine child PS in the home environment. This narrative review aimed to explore parental beliefs, decisions, strategies and barriers to the provision of appropriate food PS for children in the home environment. Results indicate that parental decisions on child food PS are based on the amounts they serve themselves, personal intuition and knowledge of child appetite. Owing to the habitual nature of food provision, parental decisions on child PS may be taken without conscious thought and/or could be part of a complex decision-making process influenced by several interlinked factors, including parental childhood mealtime experiences, other family members and child weight status. Strategies to determine child-appropriate PS include modelling the desired PS behaviour, use of unit-based food packaging and PS estimation aids, and providing the child with a degree of autonomy to rely on their own appetite cues. A lack of knowledge/awareness of PS guidance is a key barrier identified by parents to the provision of age-appropriate PS, warranting the inclusion of salient child-appropriate PS guidance within national dietary recommendations. Further home-based interventions to improve the provision of appropriate child PS are required, leveraged on parental strategies already in use, as outlined in this review.

Where is the father? Challenges and solutions to the inclusion of fathers in child feeding and nutrition research

Despite an increasing acknowledgement of fathers' involvement in and impact on children's lives, fathers remain underrepresented in child feeding and childhood obesity prevention research, interventions, and actions. Built on our own experiences with conducting research with fathers and recent evidence on this topic, this Research in Practice article has three aims. It will first substantiate the importance of including and studying fathers in the field of child feeding and childhood obesity prevention based on recent study results. Secondly, the article will present and discuss barriers to fathers' inclusion and participation (why isn't it happening?), among other issues, by drawing on sociological and gender ideological insights. Finally, it will provide recommendations and suggestions related to recruitment, focus and methods that can facilitate fathers' involvement in future research, interventions, and practice. Taken together, this article aims to provide tools for giving fathers a voice in the field of child nutrition and by doing so, to decrease maternal-only "burden" of care. We hope our experiences and theoretical reflections will inspire and support researchers and practitioners to be as successful as possible in the realm of family care.

Examining the associations between mothers' motivation to regulate their own eating behaviors, food parenting practices and perceptions of their child's food responsiveness

Based on the Self-Determination Theory, this study examined: 1) how mothers' autonomous and controlled motivation to regulate their own eating behaviors relate to their food parenting practices, and 2) whether and how child food responsiveness (i.e., reactivity and attraction to food) interact with mothers' motivation to predict maternal food parenting practices. Participants were 296 French Canadian mothers of at least one child aged between 2 and 8 years old. Results of partial correlation analyses (controlling for demographics and controlled motivation) showed that maternal autonomous motivation to regulate their own eating behaviors was positively related to autonomy-promoting (i.e., child involvement) and structure-based (i.e., modeling, creating a healthy environment, monitoring) food parenting practices. In contrast, controlling for demographics and autonomous motivation, maternal controlled motivation was positively associated with food-related practices based on coercive control (i.e., the use of food to regulate the child's emotions, the use of food as a reward, pressure to eat, restriction for weight reasons, and restriction for health reasons). Furthermore, the child's food responsiveness was found to interact with mothers' motivation to regulate their own eating behaviors in the prediction of maternal food parenting practices such that mothers with high autonomous motivation or low controlled motivation were found to react with more structure-based (i.e., creating a healthy environment) and autonomy-based (i.e., child involvement) practices, as well as less controlling practices (i.e., the use of food to regulate the child's emotions), to a child who is highly responsive to food. In conclusion, findings suggest that guiding mothers toward developing a more autonomous and less controlled motivation to regulate their own eating behaviors might help them adopt more autonomy-promoting and structure-based and less controlling feeding practices, especially with children who are highly responsive to food.

Oral feeding skills in premature infants: A concept analysis

Background

The delay in developing oral feeding skills becomes a problem experienced by premature infants. One of the reasons for the delay may be related to inconsistent definitions of oral feeding skills, which can cause discrepancies in the provision of nursing care.

Objective

This study aimed to clarify the concept of oral feeding skills in premature infants.

Methods

The Walker and Avant concept analysis method was used. A literature search was also conducted from five databases: CINAHL, PubMed, ProQuest, EMBASE, and Google Scholar, to find articles between January 2020 and December 2022.

Results

The literature search obtained 20 articles on oral feeding skills from various disciplines. Five attributes were developed from the concept analysis, including (1) coordination ability to suck, swallow, and breathe, (2) the ability to regulate oral-motor functions, (3) the ability to regulate sensory functions, (4) the ability to maintain the stability of physiology function, and (5) the ability to regulate feeding behavior. Antecedents to oral feeding skills include immaturity of the nervous system, gestational age, feeding intolerance, increased length of stay and cost of care, increased rehospitalization, stress on parents, and increased morbidity and mortality. Consequences include optimization of growth and development, reduction of length of stay and cost of hospitalization, increased bonding attachment, increased self-efficacy of parents in caring for premature infants, and improvement of the quality of life of premature infants.

Conclusion

The concept analysis provides five comprehensive attributes and their antecedents and consequences. However, this concept can be used to provide nursing care to premature infants, assess the criteria for discharge, and optimize nutrition for the growth and development of premature infants.