Relationships between Fathers' Feeding Practices and Preschool Children's Beverage Intake

Abstract

Paternal feeding practices and child beverage intake have seldom been examined together. Low‐income fathers (n=92; median age=34 yrs; 53% African‐American, 47% Hispanic) provided demographics, responded to Preschooler Feeding and the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaires, and completed a quantitative child beverage intake questionnaire. Analyses of variance, the Kruskal‐Wallis test, and Pearson's correlation were used for comparisons. Child's median age was 4 years; 88% lived with fathers. Feeding practices scores (1=never, 5=always) were: Difficulty in child feeding 2.5±0.8, concern about child being overweight 1.7±0.8, use of food to calm child 1.8±0.8, concern about child being underweight 2.0±0.9; and use of food as reward 2.9±1.0. Average daily intake (fl. oz) of total sugar‐sweetened beverages (SSB) was 11.9±15.6, fruit juice 8.4±6.7, juice drinks 4.8±6.1, soda 2.3±3.3, sports drinks 1.6±4.4. Difficulty in child feeding was negatively correlated with child water intake (r=–0.21) and positively correlated with flavored milk intake (r=0.25). Use of food to calm child was positively correlated with child juice drink intake (r=0.24). Use of food as reward was positively correlated with total child SSB (r=0.26), juice drinks (r=0.23), and flavored milk (r=0.28). Identifying links between minority fathers' feeding practices and children's SSB intake provides needed information on the influence of this understudied group of parents.