Association between maternal eating and young child feeding in a community sample

Simar Singh; Alana Cordeiro; Elissa Epel; Michael Coccia; Barbara Laraia; Nancy Adler; Nicole R Bush

doi:10.1186/s12884-023-05786-0

Association between maternal eating and young child feeding in a community sample

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2023 Jun 24;23(1):470. doi: 10.1186/s12884-023-05786-0.

Authors

Simar Singh^{1

2}, Alana Cordeiro³, Elissa Epel³, Michael Coccia³, Barbara Laraia⁴, Nancy Adler³, Nicole R Bush^{3

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut St., Stratton Building, Suite 285, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA. ss4776@drexel.edu.
² Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. ss4776@drexel.edu.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁴ School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Abstract

Background: Early childhood is a pivotal period for the development of healthy eating practices. One way to promote child health is to identify early modifiable factors that affect child eating and weight. Given the intergenerational transmission of eating behaviors, this study examined how mothers' eating behaviors were associated with child feeding practices, and whether child weight-for-length (z-WFL) moderated this relation, in a community sample.

Methods: Participants were 72 mother-child dyads. Maternal eating behaviors-emotional, external and restrained-were assessed 9-months postpartum, using the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Child feeding-restrictive, pressure, and concern about overeating/overweight or undereating/underweight-was measured using the Infant Feeding Questionnaire, and child z-WFL were assessed 18-months postpartum. Linear regressions were used to test the main effect of maternal eating and the interaction effect of maternal eating and child z-WFL, on child feeding practices.

Results: Maternal restrained eating was associated with child pressure feeding, and contrarily with concerns about overeating/overweight. However, a significant interaction between child z-WFL and both maternal emotional and external eating were found with regard to concern about child undereating/underweight. Paradoxically, among children who weighed more, greater maternal emotional and greater external eating were associated with greater concern about child undereating/underweight.

Conclusions: In this community sample, mothers were more likely to report contradictory feeding practices and concerns, suggesting complicated relations among a mother's own eating behavior, her child's weight, and her perceptions of child eating and weight. This may indicate a need for better communication and support of infant feeding practices.

Trial registration: Data was collected as part of two grants (MAMAS Grant ID: HL097973-01; SEED Grant ID: HL116511-02) conducted at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by institutional review board at UCSF.

Keywords: Child feeding; Child weight; Maternal nutrition; Postpartum; Public health.

MeSH terms

Body Mass Index
Child
Child Behavior / psychology
Child, Preschool
Eating / psychology
Feeding Behavior / psychology
Female
Humans
Hyperphagia
Infant
Mother-Child Relations / psychology
Mothers / psychology
Overweight* / psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Thinness*

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding