Child, Caregiver, Family, and Social-Contextual Factors to Consider when Implementing Parent-Focused Child Feeding Interventions

Abstract

Purpose of Review: Interventions that aim to alter child eating behaviors often focus on parents as a proximal influence. Yet, parents can be difficult to engage. Therefore, intervention recommendations are often not implemented as designed. The goal of this review is to highlight factors at multiple contextual levels that are important to consider when developing interventions to address child eating, due to their implications for overcoming parent engagement challenges. Recent Findings: Intervention studies suggest that parents are often the key to successfully changing child eating behaviors, and many interventions focus on feeding. Factors such as child eating phenotypes; parent stress; family system dynamics; and sociodemographic constraints have also been identified as shaping food parenting. Summary Challenges at multiple contextual levels can affect the likelihood of parent engagement. addressing factors at the child-, parent-, family- and broader social-contextual levels of influence is essential in order to promote best practices for parent-focused feeding interventions.

Maternal perception of child weight and concern about child overweight mediates the relationship between child weight and non-responsive feeding practices

“…It is likely that weight perception and concern were not major contributing factors of maternal feeding practices. Another possible explanation is that important factors related to maternal feeding practices might have been missed [50]. Compared to mothers recruited in other studies [17,25,31], mothers in our study showed a relatively low level of weight concern.…”

Rehabilitation in Pediatric Heart Failure and Heart Transplant

“…Principles of motor learning should be kept in mind when treating both infants who are learning to swallow and in retraining swallowing with older children ( 109 ). Parent education and training are essential components of any feeding therapy provided to infants and young children ( 110 ). Patients with a history of congenital heart disease have increased incidence of baseline feeding and swallowing difficulties ( 111 , 112 ) and may require extensive feeding therapy, extending beyond the inpatient admission, to target acceptance of oral feeds and oral motor skills.…”

Precision Food Parenting: A Proposed Conceptual Model and Research Agenda

“…A large number of factors (e.g., child social/cultural, neighborhood) influence child dietary intake [39]. What are the most common categories of child perception of eating events?…”

“…Greater variability on the responsiveness and demandingness scales may have led to differences in the selection of FPP, especially among parents at the extremes of the distributions. Some children will be in the care of different caregivers, e.g., mother, grandparent, daycare provider, likely some of whom will vary in their feeding style and parenting practices [39]. Conflicts will likely arise in FPP across caregivers.…”