Estimating and differentiating maternal feeding practices in a country ranked first in childhood obesity

Abstract

Objective:Mexico ranks first in childhood obesity worldwide. However, little is known about the factors influencing maternal feeding practices. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of feeding practices and explore associations between weight concern, weight perception, sociodemographic characteristics and those feeding practices.Design:Cross-sectional.Setting:North-eastern Mexico.Participants:Mothers aged ≥18 years who were in charge of feeding a singleton child aged 2–6 years with no endocrine disease or visible genetic malformations (n 507). Information on six maternal feeding practices, concern and perception of the child’s weight and demographics were collected by interview. The mother’s and child’s height and weight were measured. The feeding practices questionnaire was subject to content, construct and convergent validity analysis. Then, mean feeding scores were obtained and prevalence and 95 % CI were determined for scores ≥3; multivariate logistic regression was performed.Results:Not modelling (63·5 %; 95 % CI 59·2, 67·8 %) and pressuring to eat (55·6 %; 95 % CI 51·2, 60·0 %) were the most frequent feeding practices, followed by easy access to unhealthy foods (45·4 %; 95 % CI 40·9, 49·8 %) and child control (43·2 %; 95 % CI 38·8, 47·6 %). They prevailed despite concern about the child’s excess weight or a perception of the child as overweight/obese. Education was associated with the highest number of practices (educated mothers used more pressuring to eat, less regulation and less easy access; or monitoring was less absent).Conclusions:The frequency of certain feeding practices needs to be improved. Emphasis on the child’s weight concern, obesity perception and maternal education is essential for optimizing intervention planning.

The Relationships between Caregivers’ Concern about Child Weight and Their Non-Responsive Feeding Practices: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Characteristics of the included studies are shown in Table 1 . The studies were published between 2001 and 2022, conducted in the US ( n = 12) [ 21 , 24 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 ], Australia ( n = 6) [ 26 , 27 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 ], Brazil ( n = 4) [ 28 , 30 , 50 , 79 ], Sweden ( n = 4) [ 22 , 80 , 81 , 82 ], China ( n = 2) [ 83 , 84 ], the Netherlands ( n = 1) [ 85 ], Ethiopia ( n = 1) [ 29 ], the UK ( n = 1) [ 86 ], Mexico ( n = 1) [ 87 ], South Korea ( n = 1) [ 88 ], Portugal ( n = 1) [ 23 ], India ( n = 1) [ 25 ], and France ( n = 1) [ 74 ]. The study designs were a cross-sectional study ( n = 32) and a cohort study ( n = 3) [ 23 , 26 , 85 ].…”

“… Effects of concern about child overweight on restrictive feeding (evaluated using OR) [ 30 , 71 , 79 , 87 , 88 ]. …”

“… Pooled ORs for restrictive feeding of the concern about overweight group vs. non-concern about overweight group in leave-one-out analysis [ 30 , 71 , 79 , 87 , 88 ]. …”

Urinary MMP-9/UCr association with albumin concentration and albumin-creatinine-ratio in Mexican patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

“…The strengths of this study are the well-defined population and robust statistical analysis. We consider this study is particularly relevant, since CKD prevalence and mortality rate have doubled in Mexico over the last 20 years (Dávila-Torres, González-Izquierdo & Barrera-Cruz, 2015;Salinas Martínez et al, 2020). For this reason, larger-scale studies are required in the Mexican population in order to determine the predictive values of urinary MMP-9/UCr, including sensitivity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, probability ratio for positive test, probability ratio for negative test and area under the ROC curve.…”

Association between Parents’ Perceptions of Preschool Children’s Weight, Feeding Practices and Children’s Dietary Patterns: A Cross-Sectional Study in China

“…Parents' feeding practices have shown to be associated with various types of parental perceptions of children's weight status. Parents who perceived their children as overweight/obese are more likely to monitor and restrict children's food intake [17][18][19], while parents who perceived their children as underweight are more likely to pressure their children to eat more [17,20]. Parental concern and dissatisfaction regarding children's weight status have also found to be associated with the feeding practices of restriction and pressure to eat [21,22].…”