Abstract
Appropriate complementary feeding (CoF) is the key to preventing childhood obesity and promoting long-term health. Parents must be properly informed through the CoF process. Pediatricians have opportunities to interact with parents during the CoF transition and influence parental feeding decisions. They can convey public health nutrition messages to parents. With the release of new CoF recommendations in France in 2019, and from the perspective of their conversion into official public health communication material, the aim of this study was to explore parents’ and pediatricians’ perceptions and needs regarding information on CoF. Two online surveys were disseminated to gather information on CoF communication and guidance: one for parents (n = 1001, January 2020); one for pediatricians (n = 301, October 2019). The results showed that the importance of CoF for children’s healthy growth was well recognized by both parents and pediatricians. Parents acknowledged pediatricians as the most influential source of advice; and pediatricians were aware of their responsibility in counselling parents on CoF. However, pediatricians neglected the fact that parents gave high trust to their personal network when looking for advice. The Internet was a well-recognized source of information according to all. Diverging from what pediatricians considered useful, parents were interested in practical advice for implementing CoF. This study highlights common expectations and points of divergence between parents’ needs and pediatricians’ perceptions of those needs with regard to CoF information.
Highlights
During the first few months of life, an infant faces a phase of rapid growth, which is largely determined by early childhood and complementary feeding (CoF) practices
The questionnaire was divided into five sections: characteristics of the youngest child, the parents and the household; parents’ perceptions on CoF; parents’ perceptions on available CoF information; sources of information used by parents and type of CoF information sought by parents
The main findings reported in this paper provide an overview of perceptions and needs regarding information on CoF, accounting for the points of view of French parents and pediatricians
Summary
During the first few months of life, an infant faces a phase of rapid growth, which is largely determined by early childhood and complementary feeding (CoF) practices. Proper infant feeding gives the right footprint to a healthy process of development for the child, reducing the risks for non-communicable chronic diseases later in life [3,4]. During this period, parents are the key players in shaping the eating behaviors of their children [5], but they have to deal with a phase of learning and upheaval at the emotional and physical level. High levels of parenting stress have been associated with more authoritarian parenting styles, which in the feeding context emerges in a decreased ability to interpret the child’s satiety cues, the use of more controlling childfeeding practices (e.g., pressure to eat) and offering less healthy foods to the child [7,8]
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