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Background
Parents have some responsibility for children's dietary habits and they
are often the focus of public health interventions designed to improve
children's diets and thereby reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity.
The current UK interventions promote awareness of healthy food choices,
but offer little guidance for parents on child-feeding behaviours.
Methods
A review of recent literature regarding child-feeding behaviours and child
weight.
Results
Parents report using a wide range of child-feeding behaviours, including
monitoring, pressure to eat and restriction. Restriction of children's eating
has most frequently and consistently been associated with child weight
gain. Furthermore, there is substantial evidence for a causal relationship
between parental restriction and childhood overweight.
Conclusions
Parents may inadvertently promote excess weight gain in childhood by
using inappropriate child-feeding behaviours. We recommend the
development of interventions to increase awareness of the possible
consequences of inappropriate child-feeding behaviours. Parents who are
concerned about their child's weight will also require guidance and
support in order to adopt more appropriate child-feeding behaviours.
Introduction
Although many factors are thought to influence parental food choice, parents with good
dietary awareness (or nutrition knowledge) are more likely to make healthy food choices for
their children. Observational studies have shown that higher levels of maternal nutrition
knowledge are associated with higher fruit8 and fibre intakes8,9 and lower fat intakes9 by
children. The current UK dietary interventions reflect these knowledge–behaviour
associations by promoting healthy food choices, for example, the Healthy Start and 5-a-day
initiatives;10 and raising awareness of the nutrient content of foods, for example, the traffic
light labelling system.11These interventions assume that by improving knowledge and
awareness, behaviour change will follow.
Methods
A variety of methods have been used to explore parents’ child-feeding behaviours and their
effects. Table 1 summarises the 26 studies included in this review; of which, 11 are cross-
sectional, 6 longitudinal, 4 experimental, 2 observational studies, 2 qualitative and 1
retrospective. Most of this research was conducted in the United States on parents with pre-
school and primary age children, although some studies do include older children.
Qualitative studies provide valuable information from the parents' perspective on child-
feeding behaviours and reasons for using them. In two studies using focus groups, mothers
described a wide range of child-feeding behaviours, including control or restriction of
portion sizes or food eaten, encouragement or pressure to eat, using food as a reward or bribe
(e.g. for good behaviour), using food to pacify children, providing treats and accommodating
requests.12,13
An early observational study found that parental ‘monitoring’ influenced children's food
selection.2 When children (aged 4–7 years) were allowed to choose freely from a variety of
foods, they selected a large number of foods high in added sugar. When they were told that
their mothers would be monitoring the meal they selected, children's choices were
significantly lower in added sugar than before (P < 0.05). When mothers actually monitored
their children's selections, children's choices were significantly lower in total calories,
saturated fat and salt than the previous selection (P< 0.05).2 These results indicate that young
children may make healthier food choices when they know or suspect that their parents are
watching.
A cross-sectional study found that ‘pressuring’ behaviours, such as making children finish
everything on their plate and bribing them to eat healthy food, were reported less by parents
than other behaviours, such as sharing information, encouragement, setting a good example
and making healthy foods available.14 These pressuring behaviours predicted higher fruit and
vegetable intake (P = 0.02) and lower fat intake (not significant) by children, whereas setting
a good example and making healthy foods available predicted lower fat intake (P =
0.02).14 Although causal associations are not proved by cross-sectional studies, these results
also suggest that some child-feeding behaviours may have beneficial effects on dietary
intake.
However, other studies have shown negative effects of pressure to eat. In an experimental
study, pressure did not affect children's intake of soup significantly; but children who were
not accustomed to being pressured at home responded more to pressure in the experiment
(greater increase in soup intake) than children whose parents reported pressuring them
regularly (P < 0.05).15 The children (aged 3–5 years) made 157 negative comments during
the pressure sessions compared to 30 negative comments during the no pressure
sessions.15 In a retrospective analysis, college students recalled a childhood experience of
being pressured to eat and this was usually associated with negative feelings (predominantly
anger), memories of conflict and a current dislike for that food (72%).16Therefore, parents'
child-feeding behaviours may have long-term effects as well as immediate ones.
Another observational study found that girls who experienced parental ‘restriction’ to snack
foods (as reported by parents and girls) were more likely to consume them immediately after
a meal, when they claimed not to be hungry (P < 0.05).17 Girls were given free access to 10
snack foods (sweet and savoury) for 10 min. After 10 min, half of the girls felt that they had
eaten too many snacks and 44% felt bad about it.17 It is possible that parents who restrict
snack foods do so in response to their child's tendency to eat snacks in the absence of hunger
or conversely, that parental restriction promotes (unintentionally) this type of behaviour.
Further studies that support this bi-directional relationship will be discussed, in relation to
child weight, later in the review.
Some of these studies relied on parental reporting of child-feeding behaviours and, therefore,
may be subject to recall bias.12–14 Most also had predominantly White samples (some were
limited to two-parent families of high socio-economic status) and so their results may not be
generalisable to other groups.2,13,14,17 Cross-sectional studies do not determine causality, so it
is not clear whether parents child-feeding behaviours influence children's eating habits or
vice versa. For example, parents of children who are fussy eaters may adopt pressuring
behaviours or children who are pressured by their parents may become fussy eaters.
Nevertheless, they highlight a wide range of child-feeding behaviours used by parents, which
may influence children's dietary intake—sometimes in unintended ways—and possibly their
emotions also.
A US longitudinal study found that parental monitoring of fat intake at age 5 predicts lower
BMI at age 7, when BMI at age 3 was accounted for; but only among children with low
genetic risk of overweight (P < 0.05).19 This suggests that parental monitoring helps to
regulate children's fat intake.
In a UK longitudinal study, maternal control of solid food intake moderated infant weight
gain in the first year of life.20 High maternal control was associated with consistent weight
gain throughout the year, whereas low to moderate maternal control was associated with
either slow growth (first 6 months) followed by catch-up growth (second 6 months) or vice
versa.20 Therefore, it seems that infants have a natural ability to self-regulate their feeding
and weight gain, so maternal control at this age is unnecessary and may be
counterproductive.20 In older girls, paternal control has been linked to higher percentage
body fat.21 However, other studies found an inverse relationship between parental control
and child BMI.22,23
In cross-sectional studies, maternal pressure to eat has been positively correlated with
children's total fat mass (P < 0.001),24 but also inversely correlated with children's BMI (P <
0.001).25 In a longitudinal study, maternal pressure to eat was associated with high fat intake
in girls, even when BMI was adjusted for (P < 0.05); and high fat intake was associated with
greater increase in BMI between 5 and 7 years of age, even when BMI at age 5 was adjusted
for (P < 0.05).26 These associations suggest that pressure to eat influences both fat intake and
weight gain, but that if a child is already overweight, or has a higher than average BMI, this
may influence the behaviour in the opposite direction, reducing the incidence of maternal
pressure to eat. There is a need for further longitudinal studies to enable research to separate
the impact of parental behaviour on child weight from the impact of weight gain or perceived
overweight on parental behaviour.
In the context of childhood overweight and obesity, restriction has most frequently and
consistently been associated with child weight gain.27Indeed, we found four longitudinal
studies and three experimental studies whose results support this relationship. All of these
were US-based studies, with pre-school to primary age children. The term ‘restriction’ may
refer to general dietary intake or specific snack food intake, and this varies between studies.
Longitudinal studies demonstrate associations between parental restriction and child weight
over time. Lee et al. found that maternal restriction was associated with high fat intake in
girls, even when BMI was adjusted for (P < 0.05); and high fat intake was associated with
greater increase in BMI between 5 and 7 years of age, even when BMI at age 5 was adjusted
for (P < 0.05).26 Fisher and Birch found that girls who ate large amounts of snack food ‘in
the absence of hunger’ (i.e. immediately after a meal) were 4.6 times as likely to be
overweight at ages 5 and 7 years (P < 0.01).28 This eating behaviour was associated with
parental restriction at age 5. Faith et al. found that parental restriction of food intake at age
5 predicted higher BMI at age 7, even when BMI at age 3 was adjusted for; but only among
children with high genetic risk of overweight (P < 0.05).19They used mothers’ pre-pregnancy
weight to indicate genetic risk, but this has some associated problems, because mothers’
weight is affected by environmental as well as genetic factors. Francis and Birch compared
the effects of restriction by overweight and normal weight mothers.29 They found that
restriction at age 5 predicted daughters’ ‘eating in the absence of hunger’ from age 5 to 9
(P < 0.05), which predicted daughters’ BMI increase from age 5 to 9 (P < 0.05); for
overweight mothers only.29Therefore, it is possible that maternal weight may influence
mothers’ approach to using restriction and consequently the outcome.
The strongest evidence for a causal relationship between restriction and child weight comes
from experimental studies conducted by Fisher and Birch. They found that children made
more requests for, comments about and attempts to obtain a palatable snack food over a 5-
week period of restriction, compared with a similar snack food that was not restricted (P <
0.01).30 In other words, their behavioural response to the restricted food was greater.
Furthermore, in a series of 15-min snack sessions, children's behavioural response to,
selection of and intake of a well-liked snack food were greater during restricted sessions
(free access for 5 min only) than during unrestricted sessions (free access for the full 15
min), compared with a similar snack food that was available throughout the sessions (P <
0.001, <0.001, <0.01, respectively).30 For girls only maternal restriction was associated with
greater snack food intake immediately after a meal, despite claiming to be full after the meal
(r = 0.59, P < 0.01).31 Finally, they found that maternal restriction predicted daughters’
inability to regulate snack food intake (β = 0.26). This eating behaviour was associated with
daughters’ energy intake (β = 0.19), which itself predicted daughters’ weight (β = 0.24).32
It has been acknowledged that the relationship is likely to be bi-directional; that is, parents
may adopt child-feeding behaviours in response to child weight, or perceived child
weight.19,26,28,29,31,32,34–36However, results from the longitudinal and experimental studies
show that restriction may precede child weight gain and furthermore may cause children to
put on weight. Restriction has also been linked to various maternal characteristics, including
dietary restraint, concern about own weight, concern about child's weight, perception of
daughter's risk of overweight and level of education (all positive associations at the 5 or 1%
significance level).24,30–32,37,38 Therefore, it is likely that other factors, as well as child weight,
may lead parents to adopt this particular child-feeding behaviour—consciously or
unconsciously. Similarly, other child-feeding behaviours have been associated with parent
and child factors, including maternal weight, breastfeeding, child temperament and
income.20,39
Many of the studies reviewed used samples of girls only, or found more significant
associations for girls.17,21,23,26,28,29,31,32 For example, in a sample of 36 boys and 35 girls,
maternal restriction of snack foods predicted greater intake of snack foods immediately after
a meal (i.e. in the absence of hunger) for girls only.31 These gender differences may reflect
generic differences between boys and girls, or may reflect gender bias in parents’ child-
feeding behaviours.21 Parents may need to be aware that their child-feeding behaviours could
have a greater impact on girls.
Discussion
These studies provide evidence for a relationship between parents’ child-feeding behaviours,
children's dietary intake and child weight. The evidence is inconsistent for some behaviours
and bi-directionality is likely for all behaviours. Restrictive behaviours are best represented
in the literature; nine studies found a positive association between parental restriction (of
dietary intake or specific snack food intake) and dietary intake, child weight or both.17,19,26,28–
32,37
Four of these studies provide evidence for a causal relationship, where restrictive
behaviour preceded weight gain.19,26,28,29
Although parents may use child-feeding behaviours with the intention of modifying
children's dietary intake,2 and possibly even their weight, there is evidence to suggest that
certain child-feeding behaviours may have unintended consequences for child weight. In the
case of overweight children, or children perceived as overweight, parents who attempt to
restrict dietary intake in order to manage their child's weight may in fact make matters
worse.
In the White Paper ‘Choosing Health’ (2004), the UK government stated its objective ‘to
halt, by 2010, the year-on-year increase in obesity among children under 11’ by providing
‘information, guidance and practical support for parents’.40 Various health campaigns have
been launched and initiatives implemented, most of which focus on improving nutrition
knowledge and awareness of healthy eating guidelines.10,11 While there is support for a link
between parents’ nutrition knowledge and child weight,8,9 longitudinal studies are needed, as
causality has not been established. Nutrition knowledge has also been associated with socio-
economic variables, including level of education.41,42 Therefore, current interventions may be
more effective in some families, where parents are well educated and information may be
better understood and applied, but less effective in less well-educated groups.
This review draws together previous research on parents’ child-feeding behaviours and how
they influence children's dietary intake and child weight. The main focus of the review is
behaviours associated with child weight gain, given the increasing prevalence of childhood
overweight and obesity. Child-feeding behaviours have not been addressed in UK childhood
obesity policy. A substantial body of evidence suggests that parental restriction of snack
foods may be counterproductive; leading to uninhibited eating and weight gain, particularly
for girls.17,19,26,28–32,37 Other parental behaviours may also interfere with children's ability to
self-regulate their weight.20–23
Conclusions
Given the considerable evidence for adverse effects of restriction, we believe that parents’
child-feeding behaviours should receive more attention in childhood obesity policy. We
recommend that parents should be provided with information and guidance on how, as well
as what, to feed their children, particularly aimed at parents who are concerned about their
child's weight. Practical support may also be necessary in some cases.
We propose that the next step is to find ways of communicating messages about child-
feeding behaviours to parents. We acknowledge that child-feeding behaviours, like nutrition
knowledge and obesity, may be associated with socio-economic status and
ethnicity.34 Therefore, intervention studies are needed to identify approaches that are
effective across socio-economic and ethnic groups or indeed different approaches for
different groups.
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