What’s the fuss about? Parent presentations of fussy eating to a parenting support helpline

Dados Bibliográficos

ID15095293
AutoresHermione Harris (0000-0002-8304-1064, Queensland University of Technology, autor correspondente), Holly A Harris, Bonnie Ria-Searle (Queensland University of Technology), Elena Jansen (0000-0002-6051-4148, Queensland University of Technology), Karen Thorpe (0000-0001-8927-4064, The University of Queensland)
Ano2018
Volume21
Fascículo8
Páginas1520-1528
Data de publicação2018-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoPublic Health Nutrition (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1368-9800 • E-ISSN: 1475-2727
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1368980017004049
PMID29386082
OpenAlexW2793270189
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas18
Referências citadas38

Objective To characterise parent presentations of fussy eating and mealtime interactions at a point of crisis, through analyses of real-time recordings of calls to a parenting helpline. Design Qualitative analysis included an inductive thematic approach to examine clinical parent presentations of fussy eating and derive underlying themes relating to mealtime interactions. Setting Calls made to the Child Health Line regarding feeding concerns were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Subjects From a corpus of 723 calls made during a 4-week period in 2009, twelve were from parents of children aged 6–48 months. Results Parents of infants (≤12 months, n 6) presented feeding concerns as learning challenges in the process of transitioning from a milk-based to a solid-based diet, while parents of toddlers (13–48 months, n 6) presented emotional accounts of feeding as an intractable problem. Parents presented their child’s eating behaviour as a battle (conflict), in which their children’s agency over limited intake and variety of foods (child control) was constructed as ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’. Escalating parent anxiety (parent concern) had evoked parent non-responsive feeding practices or provision of foods the child preferred. Conclusions Real-time descriptions of young children’s fussy eating at a time of crisis that initiated parents’ call for help have captured the highly charged emotional underpinnings of mealtime interactions associated with fussy eating. Importantly, they show the child’s emerging assertion of food autonomy can escalate parents’ emotional distress that, in the short term, initiates non-responsive feeding practices. The current study identifies the importance of educational and emotional support for parents across the period of introducing solids

Anxiety · Autonomy · Developmental psychology · Disordered eating · Distress · Eating disorders · Psychiatry · Qualitative research · Thematic analysis · Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues · Clinical Psychology · Eating Disorders and Behaviors · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet · Psychology