Objective: Characterize feeding guidance mothers recall receiving from their child's health care provider (HCP).
Design: Cross-sectional study of mothers participating in the 2017-2019 National Survey of Family Growth.
Participants: US mothers reporting (n = 1,302) information about their youngest child (aged 6 months to 5 years).
Variables measured: Weighted percentage of mothers who recalled their child's HCP discussing 6 different feeding topics by demographic characteristics.
Analysis: Logistic regression assessing the relationship between recall of feeding guidance and demographics.
Results: In this sample, 36.9% of mothers (95% confidence interval, 32.3-41.4) recalled HCPs recommending solid food before 6 months old (34.6% at 4-5 months, and 2.3% before 4 months). Mothers who were older or had a higher education level were more likely than their counterparts to recall their HCP discussing several of the feeding topics examined.
Conclusion and implications: Mothers reported high recollection of early childhood nutrition guidance from their HCP; however, certain topics (eg, appropriate timing of solid food introduction) could be prioritized, and some subpopulations may need additional focus to improve receipt of messages. A better understanding of variability in recall of feeding guidance could provide information for interventions to address barriers to receiving and retaining guidance.
Keywords: child guidance; child nutrition sciences; feeding behavior; pediatricians.
Published by Elsevier Inc.