Childhood Obesity & Child Development

Biography

Biography: Chunmei Shi

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of children’s eating behaviors and mother’s feeding practice and to explore relationships between mother feeding practice/children’s eating problems and child body mass index.

Methods: In this study, 2458 children met the criteria, 2458 caregivers (mothers) of 1- to 7-year-old children who completed the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) and Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) about their feeding practices, their child’s eating behaviors and children’s’ socio-demographic data (height and weight) and the morbidity of children eating problems. Using Chi-square test and multiple regression analysis to explore the correlation between children’s body mass index (BMI) with children’s eating problems.

Results: The highly prevalence of eating behavior problems were detected at 25-36 month. For 1 to 7 year of age, eating problems of inattention and eating at non-permanent locations that have the highest detection rate are, respectively 64.7% and 50.5%; prevalence of preference to junk food is the lowest, at 19.3%. Maternal feeding behavior problems will increase the risk of children's eating behavior problems. The children’s eating problems and maternal feed practice have a high association with the children’s BMI. Regression analysis revealed that children with eating problems, such as accepting the new food difficultly and eating at non-permanent locations are prone to be wasting; children with eating problems, such as preference to junk food, eat vegetables/fruit rarely and inattention are prone to be overweight and obese.

Conclusion: The findings provide a useful understanding of the impact of maternal feeding practices on child eating behaviors and child body mass index. The high prevalence of children’s eating problems and maternal feed practice problems among children suggest prevention interventions targeting unhealthy weights should start early in life.