Maternal Concern for Child Undereating

Brown, Callie L.; Pesch, Megan H.; Perrin, Eliana M.; Appugliese, Danielle P.; Miller, Alison L.; Rosenblum, Katherine L.; Lumeng, Julie C.

doi:10.1016/j.acap.2016.06.004

Cited by 33 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Picky eating, defined as eating a limited amount of foods, rejection of novel foods, and strong food preferences, is common during childhood 1,2 and often concerning to parents. 3 Current estimates of picky eating prevalence vary widely. 4 Limited work has examined pickyeating trajectories in individual children, with some studies suggesting that children "grow out of it" 5,6 and others suggesting that it persists as a stable trait.…”

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confidence: 99%

Trajectories of Picky Eating in Low-Income US Children

Fernandez¹,

McCaffery

Miller

et al. 2020

Pediatrics

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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Picky eating is common, yet little is known about trajectories of picky eating in childhood. Our objectives were to examine trajectories of child picky eating in lowincome US children from ages 4 to 9 years and associations of those trajectories with participant characteristics, including child BMI z score (BMIz) and maternal feeding-behavior trajectories.METHODS: Mother-child dyads (N = 317) provided anthropometry and reported on picky eating and maternal feeding behaviors via questionnaires at child ages 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9 years. At baseline, mothers reported on demographics and child emotional regulation. Trajectories of picky eating and maternal feeding behaviors were identified by using latent class analysis. Bivariate analyses examined associations of picky-eating trajectory membership with baseline characteristics and maternal feeding-behavior trajectory memberships. A linear mixed model was used to examine the association of BMIz with picky-eating trajectories.RESULTS: Three trajectories of picky eating emerged: persistently low (n = 92; 29%), persistently medium (n = 181; 57%), and persistently high (n = 44; 14%). Membership in the high pickyeating trajectory was associated with higher child emotional lability and lower child emotional regulation. Picky eating was associated with restriction (P = .01) and demandingness (P , .001) trajectory memberships, such that low picky eating was associated with low restriction and high picky eating was associated with high demandingness. Medium and high picky-eating trajectories were associated with lower BMIz.CONCLUSIONS: Picky eating appears to be traitlike in childhood and may be protective against higher BMIz.WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Picky eating is common during childhood. Certain child characteristics (eg, sex, birth order, and socioeconomic status) have been associated with persistence of picky eating. It remains unclear how picky eating is related to child weight and maternal feeding behaviors.WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: Picky eating is a stable trait that is established in children by age 4 and may be protective against overweight and obesity. Picky eating is also associated with maternal feeding behaviors, such as restriction and demandingness.

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confidence: 99%

Trajectories of Picky Eating in Low-Income US Children

Fernandez¹,

McCaffery

Miller

et al. 2020

Pediatrics

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“…Parental worry about feeding their child has not been widely studied especially in toddlerhood. A cross-sectional study of 4–8-year-olds by Brown et al in the USA [ 6 ] has shown that maternal worry about a child under-eating was associated with more pressure to eat and the greater use of bribery to persuade the child to eat. Greater food fussiness but not neophobia in the child was associated with increased odds of the mother being worried about the child under-eating.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The parent being worried by their child being choosy with regard to foods in toddlerhood has been shown to be highly associated with the child being perceived as a picky eater at age 3 years [ 3 ] and this has been associated with a diet low in dietary fibre [ 4 ], fruit, vegetables and meat [ 5 ]. In other studies, parental worry has been investigated only in relation to the perception that the child is under-eating [ 6 ] or underweight [ 7 ], not in relation to child choosiness or picky eating. It is important to understand how the parent-child relationship around feeding develops during the early years because this is likely to determine whether the child eats a balanced diet during childhood and beyond [ 1 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Associated with Maternal Worry about Her Young Child Exhibiting Choosy Feeding Behaviour

Emmett

Hays

Taylor

2018

IJERPH

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Choosiness in young children is a normal behaviour that sometimes worries parents. The study aimed to investigate factors that are associated with a mother being worried about her child’s choosy feeding behaviour. Parents of singleton children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (n = 5710) completed a questionnaire assessing perception of their child’s choosy feeding behaviour at 15 months of age and whether this choosiness worried them. Feeding behaviours and practices throughout the first 15 months were captured. Multinomial logistic regression models with three levels of worry (not at all, a bit and greatly) as the dependent variables tested associations with variables from pregnancy and infancy. Half of the children (56%) were described as choosy at 15 months; of these 27% had mothers who were a bit worried and 5% greatly worried. Mothers showed greater odds of being worried if the child was first born, difficult to feed or refused solids by 6 months of age. Worried mothers had shown greater odds of introducing lumpy foods late (after 9 months). Feeding vegetables regularly by 6 months was associated with lower odds of worry at 15 months. Support and advice to parents at the start of complementary feeding could help to alleviate worry. Parents should be reassured that choosiness is a normal part of child development.

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“…Weight misconceptions seem to be common by parents of overweight children, as stated in a systematic review [43]. However, mothers of children with a lower BMI are more likely to show concern for undereating, pressuring their children to eat [44]. Misconceptions about child's weight status, either underestimating or overestimating, may misguide parents' health-related behaviour and impact their children weight status [22,45], keeping children away from early detection, preventive actions or even treatment [45][46][47].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association of problematic eating behaviours with food quality and body mass index at 7 years of age

2018

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Background/objectives There is scarce evidence of how certain eating behaviours compromise the compliance with dietary guidelines and weight status in school-aged children. This study aims to evaluate the association of children's problematic eating behaviours with food quality and body mass index at 7 years of age. Subjects/methods Participants were children aged 7 years old from a population-based cohort study from Porto, PortugalGeneration XXI. Children's quantity and speed of ingestion, food refusal at the table and food rewards requesting were evaluated by caregiver's perception. Food consumption was evaluated by a food frequency questionnaire and compared with age-appropriate guidelines. Children's weight status was assessed by objective measurements and parent's perceptions. Associations were estimated by logistic regressions (odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence intervals (95% CI)) adjusted for maternal age, education, smoking during pregnancy, birth type, child's sex, weight-for-gestational age and sports (n = 3801). Results Children eating small amounts of food, refusing to eat at the table with the rest of the family during meals and asking for food rewards showed a higher consumption of energy-dense foods (OR = 1.51; 95% CI:1.23-1.86; OR = 1.58; 95% CI:1.16-2.16; OR = 1.56; 95% CI:1.14-2.12) and presented higher odds of consuming fruit and vegetables below recommendations (OR = 1.41; 95% CI:1.22-1.64; OR = 1.20; 95% CI:1.00-1.45; OR = 1.28; 95% CI:1.05-1.55). Children displaying these eating behaviours were less likely to be overweight/obese, hence their parents were less likely to show concern with their weight. Including food quality as covariate in the final models with obesity status did not change the associations. Conclusions Problematic eating behaviours were associated with poorer food quality (more energy-dense foods and low fruit and vegetables), but food quality does not seem to explain the association with obesity status. Parents were less likely to be concerned about their child's weight if the child ate slowly or poorly, and accordingly the odds of them being overweight or obese were lower.

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Maternal Concern for Child Undereating

Cited by 33 publications

References 35 publications

Trajectories of Picky Eating in Low-Income US Children

Trajectories of Picky Eating in Low-Income US Children

Factors Associated with Maternal Worry about Her Young Child Exhibiting Choosy Feeding Behaviour

The association of problematic eating behaviours with food quality and body mass index at 7 years of age

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