Feeding Infants and Toddlers: A Qualitative Study to Determine Parental Education Needs

Child feeding practices and concerns: Thematic content analysis of Thai virtual communities

“…Making homemade baby food and avoiding processed food, sugar and salt, especially for children under 1‐year‐old, is a focus in social groups to encourage what is perceived as healthy feeding practices among online members. This confirms previous findings that parents are concerned about processed foods and are interested in learning how to make homemade foods for their young child (Heller et al, 2019). As many members seek age‐appropriate recipes, online groups could be used to promoted healthier baby foods to parents by addressing key issues, such as dietary diversity and iron deficiency.…”

“…The transition from breastfeeding to the introduction of complementary food can be challenging, encouraging parents to seek nutrition knowledge and social support. Our findings from the content analysis align with a previous study which suggested that parents need more knowledge and skills in age‐appropriate meal preparation for their young child (Heller, Chiero, Puglisi, & Mobley, 2019). The shift beyond a typical network of influence, such as their kin, to a virtual community could be a primary factor in the adoption of nontraditional foods into complementary feeding practices.…”

“…Our findings support previous literature that food fussiness is a common parenting experience which creates tensions and anxiety (Daniels, 2019). Many parents are concerned with learning strategies to increase their child's food consumption (Heller et al, 2019). As child feeding involves complex bidirectional interactions, parental feeding can be both influenced by and respond to child eating behaviour (Daniels, 2019).…”

A qualitative study of providers’ perceptions of parental feeding practices of infants and toddlers to prevent childhood obesity

“…Within observed feeding practices, providers reported parental overfeeding of young children due to a lack of knowledge and misconception of healthy portion sizes and nutritional requirements for young children. The overall findings of providers’ perceptions intersect and parallel actual concerns and needs of parents as reported in prior research [ 26 ]. Previous studies found that mothers from diverse populations primarily associated crying and distress with hunger [ 32 , 33 ] and the belief that infants should finish the entire bottle at feeding times, increasing obesity risk [ 32 – 34 ].…”

“…To parallel with interviews with parents as part of a simultaneous project [ 26 ], the interview questions for this study were based on personal beliefs and behaviors grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior and the interpersonal factors and dynamic interactions of the Social Cognitive Theory [ 27 ]. Questions were reviewed by the study team and project advisory committee for face validity.…”