Recipe Components and Parents' Infant and Young Child Feeding Concerns: A Mixed-Methods Study of Recipe Posts Shared in Thai Facebook Groups for Parents.

Abhirat Supthanasup,Matthew Kelly,Vasoontara Sbirakos Yiengprugsawan,Cathy Banwell

doi:10.3390/nu13041186

Abstract

Social media is increasingly becoming a significant source of information for parents, including about feeding young children. However, little attention has been given to the characteristics of recipes for infants and young children and how they interact with parental perceptions regarding food decisions shared by users on social media. Building on findings related to shared recipe components and parental food choices, between December 2019 and July 2020, this study retrospectively collected 80 shared recipes each from five Thai Facebook groups. This extraction created 379 shared recipes with 1751 peers’ commentaries on the shared recipes’ posts. The shared recipes were classified and components quantified across child age groups, then the textual contents around the reasons behind the food choices were described qualitatively. The results showed that there were differences in meal types, food ingredients, and seasoning used across child age groups. Further analysis found that food allergy awareness was one driving concern behind parental perceptions on food choices in children’s diets. These concerns resulted in delays in the introduction of animal-source foods. Moreover, peers’ commentaries on shared recipes offered a venue for exchanging experiences with food products. Because of the potential influence on parental beliefs and perceptions, further studies are required to understand the impact of existing online communities on actual feeding practices.

Highlights

Published: 3 April 2021 infants’ and young children’s diets play a significant role in promoting good health, providing appropriate feeding can be fraught with many challenges for parents and caregivers
The interquartile range (IQR) of vegetable variety score (VegVS) was larger in shared recipes for the youngest children, which reflect that the vegetable variety seemed to vary more between each recipe in this group
The IQR of VegVS was smallest in shared recipes for the oldest group, with median VegVS of 1.0

Summary

Introduction

Infants’ and young children’s diets play a significant role in promoting good health, providing appropriate feeding can be fraught with many challenges for parents and caregivers. The transition from exclusive breastfeeding to a family diet is a period characterized by rapid growth and development, which is highly vulnerable to nutrient imbalance. This period plays an essential role in preventing malnutrition (both under- and overnutrition) and its long-term adverse consequences and promoting healthier growth and development [1]. Global estimates show that less than one in three children aged 6–23 months are eating at least 5 of 8 food groups [3], whereas in. Time constraints and convenience are found to influence parents’ food choices toward obesogenic dietary intakes, such as fast food, junk food, convenient food, Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations

Results

Discussion

Conclusion