"What can I do when he/she doesn't want to eat?": Maternal strategies for ensure children's food consumption in early childhood

Abstract

This cross-sectional analysis aimed to analyze the strategies used by mothers of children aged 2-3 to ensure their food consumption as well as to investigate the maternal and family characteristics associated with using these strategies. Data of 463 mothers who use the public health care system in Porto Alegre, Brazil, were analyzed. Among these mothers, 58.5% (n = 271) used some type of strategy. However, 42.4% (n = 115) of mothers did not identify their behavior as a strategy to ensure their children's food consumption. In regard to the type of strategy used, 69% (n = 187) were classified as information strategies and 43.2% (n = 117) as trading strategies. Maternal age and educational level were inversely associated with the use of trading strategies (p < 0.05), indicating that the adolescent mothers and mothers with less schooling more often used strategies that have been shown by the literature not to be conducive to positive long-term results. In 46.9% (n = 123) of the cases, some types of food were involved in the mothers' strategies, generally ultra-processed foods (46.3% n = 57). We conclude that the use of strategies to promote children's food consumption considered appropriate by the mothers is a fairly common practice. Health care professionals should consider mothers' perceptions and attitudes about the subject in order to conseil them as to the best feeding practices for their children, as the use of these strategies can be detrimental to the formation of eating behaviors.

Keywords: Child nutrition; Feeding behavior; Food habits; Mothers; Perception; Strategies.