Elsevier

Appetite

Volume 56, Issue 3, June 2011, Pages 629-632
Appetite

Short communication
Toddler-feeding practices among Mexican American mothers. A qualitative study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2011.02.015Get rights and content

Abstract

Little is known about toddler feeding practices, particularly among Mexican American mothers. A convenience sample of 18 Mexican-American mothers with toddlers participated in individual in-depth interviews. In determining what to feed her child, mothers tended to cater to the child's preferences rather than exposing the child to different foods or repeating attempts to feed previously unaccepted foods. In deciding when to feed food or beverage, more than half said the child's cue was primary. Findings indicate that an indulgent feeding style may dominate compared to other styles in the toddler developmental stage in Mexican-American mothers.

Introduction

The prevalence of obesity has become alarmingly high among young Latino and Native American children in the US (Anderson & Whitaker, 2009). More research is needed to guide culturally appropriate interventions because differences in child-feeding practices and styles (authoritarian, authoritative, indulgent, or neglectful) have been observed among diverse ethnic groups (Hughes, Power, Orlet Fisher, Mueller, & Nicklas, 2005). Controlling and restrictive maternal practices appear to increase the risk of overweight in white, middle-class children (Faith, Scanlon, Birch, Francis, & Sherry, 2004). However, permissive, indulgent feeding styles and practices, such as frequent child-led snacking, may precede the development of overweight in Latino children (Kaiser et al., 2001, Larios et al., 2009, Olvera and Power, 2009).

The above studies were conducted among preschool and school-age children, not toddlers. Relatively little research on dietary intake and feeding practices has been conducted in toddlers. The Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS) was a cross-sectional dietary intake survey of eating patterns in a random national sample of over 3000 infants and toddlers (Briefel, Ziegler, Novak, & Ponza, 2006). Although FITS describes many aspects of infant and toddler feeding, neither FITS nor have other studies investigated toddler feeding styles. To help fill the gap, this formative research was conducted to identify relevant behaviors, influences and attitudes that may reflect feeding styles in Latino parents with young children.

Section snippets

Methods

The University of California at Davis Institutional Review Board reviewed and approved this study. Mothers gave informed, written consent before interviews took place.

Participant characteristics

The median age of mothers was 26 years with a range of 21–36 years. Toddlers had a median age of 20 months with a range of 12–46 months (only one was not in the 12–36 month range). The median years of residency in the United States was 7 (range 1–25 years). Fourteen mothers were born in Mexico and the remaining four, in the U.S. Median maternal education was 9.7 years (range 5–14 years). Most women (83%) had breastfed their infants. Mothers reported introducing solid foods at the median age of 5 months.

Discussion

The pattern of responses to the ‘what’, ‘when’, and ‘how much’ to feed their toddlers may be related to an overall indulgent or permissive feeding style. Even when the food was perceived to be ‘bad’, mothers in our sample used strategies to avoid an outright refusal. Soda was an example where mothers offered alternative sweet beverage such as juice or allowed in small amounts to appease the child, particularly in cases where consumption was initiated by an adult.

The themes reported here are

References (23)

  • J.D. Skinner et al.

    A longitudinal study of children's juice intake and growth. The juice controversy revisited

    Journal of the American Dietetic Association

    (2001)
  • Cited by (27)

    • A qualitative study of cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences on Hispanic mothers’ early childhood feeding practices

      2021, Appetite
      Citation Excerpt :

      Because diets, cultures, and practices are different across Hispanic subgroups, gathering information from a more diverse population of Hispanics can aid with obesity prevention and intervention efforts. There have been very few qualitative studies done with Hispanic mothers to understand their food choices and feeding practices for their young children (Chaidez, Townsend, & Kaiser, 2011; Lindsay et al., 2012; Mena, Gorman, Dickin, Greene, & Tovar, 2015; Waldrop, 2013; Woo Baidal et al., 2015) and none have covered the transitions associated with feeding starting with infanthood to toddlerhood to preschool age. The Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) provides a framework for understanding how individuals develop behavioral skills, habits, and norms (Bandura & Walters, 1977).

    • Child Feeding Style and Dietary Outcomes in a Cohort of Latino Farmworker Families

      2018, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
    • Mothers’ perceptions of the influences on their child feeding practices – A qualitative study

      2016, Appetite
      Citation Excerpt :

      However, there has been little investigation of the influences on parents’ choice or use of these feeding practices, why parents use particular feeding practices, or why some practices might be more amenable to change through interventions than others. The few previous qualitative studies of influences on feeding in early childhood have focussed more on what, when or how much to feed (Chaidez, Townsend, & Kaiser, 2011; Johnson, Goodell, Williams, Power, & Hughes, 2015; Synnott et al., 2007), rather than feeding practices. Other studies have focussed primarily on one or two pre-determined influences on feeding practices, such as the influence of ‘positive (healthy) feeding goals’ (Kiefner-Burmeister, Hoffmann, Meers, Koball, & Musher-Eizenman, 2014), parental beliefs (Redsell et al., 2010), motivations (Carnell, Cooke, Cheng, Robbins, & Wardle, 2011), or aspirations and challenges (Herman, Malhotra, Wright, Fisher, & Whitaker, 2012), rather than exploring a wider variety of potential influences.

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    The authors would like to thank the Gustavus and Louise Pfeiffer Research Foundation for financial support, Luz ElviaVera Becerra for help in Spanish translation, and the women who participated in this research.

    View full text