Child adiposity and maternal feeding practices: a longitudinal analysis

Abstract

Background: Parental control has been hypothesized to cause weight gain in children by weakening self-regulatory processes. However, most studies that link control with weight have been cross-sectional, and therefore causation is uncertain. It remains possible that parental control is a response to child overweight rather than a cause. Objective: We investigated the direction of the association between parental feeding practices and children's adiposity in a longitudinal study. Design: Three subscales of the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) that measure "pressure," "restriction," and "monitoring" were completed by 213 mothers of 7-9-y-old children as part of the Physical Exercise and Appetite in CHildren Study (PEACHES) and repeated by 113 mothers 3 y later. Baseline and follow-up anthropometric measurements [body mass index (BMI); fat mass index (FMI), and waist circumference (WC)] were made by researchers when the children were aged 7-9 y and 10-11 y. Results: Regression analyses showed no association between any of the CFQ scales at baseline and change in child adiposity. In contrast, higher child BMI at baseline predicted a smaller decrease in followup CFQ "monitoring" (P = 0.003) and a larger decrease in "pressure to eat" (P = 0.04) after baseline scores were controlled for. Similar results were observed for FMI and WC, although they did not reach significance for WC. There were no significant longitudinal associations between child adiposity and the CFQ "restriction" subscale. Conclusion:The results were more consistent with a "child-responsive" model whereby a mother's choice of feeding practice is influenced by her child's weight status rather than her feeding practices influencing the child's weight gain.

Bottle-Feeding Practices During Early Infancy and Eating Behaviors at 6 Years of Age

“…High BFI during early infancy also increased the odds of mothers being especially careful to ensure that their 6-year-old child eats enough. Because maternal overcontrol of feeding practices and children' s lack of self-regulation of energy intake have been associated with childhood obesity, 2,[33][34][35] it is possible that 1 of the pathways linking breastfeeding and obesity involves behavioral mechanisms related to bottle feeding. It is important for health professionals to emphasize infant-led feeding and following infant appetite cues when advising new parents, particularly when parents are bottle feeding.…”

Bidirectional Associations Between Mothers’ and Fathers’ Parenting Consistency and Child BMI

“…In fact, some recent studies found that children' s weight status acts as an antecedent to parent's food-related restrictions. 36,37 Together, our and previous findings suggest that domain-specific parenting may be partly context driven, whereas more general parenting is a quite stable construct that typically influences child development, but not the reverse.…”

Food Parenting Measurement Issues: Working Group Consensus Report

“…12,23 Thus, it is not clear whether food parenting practices impact child weight, child weight status impacts food parenting practices, or the relationship is reciprocal. 56,57 In longitudinal/intervention research, there are a number of key measurement considerations, including the need for measures that are developmentally appropriate, show stability over time (in the absence of intervention), and are sensitive to the effects of intervention. In addition, longitudinal studies need to control for the child's baseline weight status, because parents' food parenting practices may be in response to their weight perceptions of their child.…”