Association between Caregivers’ Responsive Feeding Practices and Eating Behaviors of Children Aged 6-35 Months
35 Pages Posted: 16 Oct 2024
Abstract
Background: Studies on responsive feeding are mainly conducted among preschool and school-aged children, and from developed countries. This study aims to examine the associations between caregivers’ responsive and non-responsive feeding practices and eating behaviors of children aged 6-35 months in China.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 409 caregivers in Shijiazhuang City, China in 2020. The Infant and Young Child Feeding Behavior Scale with adjustment was used to assess caregivers’ feeding practices. The Children’s Eating Behavior Questionnaire was used to assess the outcomes. Multiple linear regression was performed to examine the associations between caregivers’ feeding practices and children’s eating behaviors.Results: Children’s eating behavior score for enjoyment of food was relatively high. Caregivers’ overall responsive feeding score was positively associated with children’s enjoyment of food (β:0.56, 95%CI: 0.35, 0.78), and negatively associated with children’s emotional overeating (β: -0.53, 95%CI: -0.71, -0.34) and food responsiveness (β:-0.38, 95%CI: -0.63, -0.13). Regarding individual feeding behavior, children’s enjoyment of food was positively related to responsive feeding of responsiveness to cues (β: 0.16, 05%CI: 0.05, 0.26), modeling (β: 0.10, 95%CI: 0.01, 0.20), and active communication and interaction, while negatively related to non-responsive feeding of pressure to eat. Children’s food fussiness was positively related to caregivers’ pressure to eat practice. Children’s emotional overeating, emotional undereating, slowness in eating, food responsiveness, and satiety responsiveness were positively associated with non-responsive feeding practices (P<0.05).Conclusion: Caregivers should adopt responsive and avoid non-responsive feeding practices, in order to promote healthy eating behaviors of infants and toddlers.
Note:
Funding Information: This study was funded by the Peking University Research Initiation Fund (grant number: BMU2018YJ005) in China.
Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no potential commercial or financial interest in this study.
Ethics Approval Statement: This study was performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Peking University (IRB00001052-20047; obtained date: 2020/8/1). The privacy rights of human subjects have been observed and consent was obtained from all the participants included in the study.
Keywords: Keywords: responsive feeding, eating behavior, infant and toddler, China
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation