Brooke Larson How do parents child feeding behaviors influence child weight?

Implications for childhood obesity policy Parents have some responsibility for childrens dietary habits and they are often the focus of public health interventions designed to improve childrens diets and thereby reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity. Interventions and research often have to deal with nutrition, and what parents should feed their children, but there is little guidance for parentchild feeding behaviors. Childhood obesity is a growing problem that we are dealing with today. Many researchers have looked into what is causing this, and have given advice. This article suggests that by looking into child feeding behaviors, we might find that this has a great influence on childrens weight. This could help change the childhood obesity policy, and help parents become more aware of what is causing weight issues in their children. The method that these researchers used was to review recent literature regarding childfeeding behaviors and child weight. They searched the electronic data bases MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHI, Web of Knowledge, Science Direct, and Chochrane Library from 1996-2006. Thereafter, papers were only included if they addressed specific questions of dietary intake and child weight gain in relation to child-feeding behaviors. They found much research, but a few points stood out among the reviewed articles. First, they found that young children make healthier choices when they know or feel that their parents are watching. This shows that parents do and can have influence on childrens food choices. Second, they found that parents childhood feeding behaviors may have long-term

effects as well as immediate ones. One specific study found that college students who recalled being pressured to eat were associated with negative feelings (mostly anger) and memories, as well as a current dislike of that food. Lastly, they found that it is possible that parents who restrict snack food do so in response to their childs tendency to eat snacks in that absence of hunger or conversely, that parental restriction promotes (unintentionally) this type of behavior. Overall, they found that the studies provided evidence for relationship between parents child-feeding behaviors, childrens dietary intake, and child weight. Two points they come out with are, first, There is evidence to suggest that certain child-feeding behaviors may have unintended consequences for child weight, and also that, A substantial body of evidence suggests that parental restriction of snack foods may be counterproductive. In conclusion, this article comes out with guidance from their research: Parents may inadvertently promote excess weight gain in childhood by using inappropriate child-feeding behaviors. We recommend the development of interventions to increase awareness of the possible consequences of inappropriate child-feeding behaviors. Parents who are concerned about their childs weight will also require guidance and support in order to adopt more appropriate child-feeding behaviors. Clark, H.R., Goyder, E., Bissell, P., Blank, L., and Peters, J. How do parents child-feeding behaviours influence child weight? Implications for childhood obesity policy. Journal of Public Health 29 (2007) : 132-141. Web. 4 Oct. 2013.