A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PARENT-CHILD MEALTIME INTERACTIONS IN TYPICALLY DEVELOPING CHILDREN AND CHILDREN WITH PERSISTENT FEEDING DIFFICULTIES

Abstract

This research explored how parent-child feeding interactions differed between children attending routine general paediatric outpatient clinics (i.e. typically developing children) and children attending multi-disciplinary feeding clinics (i.e. children with persistent feeding difficulties) and examined the factors that predict the frequency of child problem eating behaviours. A secondary data analysis was conducted on prior data surveying parental feeding styles and practices and child eating behaviours as measured by parental reports on the Behavioural Paediatrics Feeding Assessment Scale (BPFAS) and Caregiver’s Feeding Styles Questionnaire (CFSQ). Factor analysis on the BPFAS and CFSQ yielded a three-factor and two-factor solution respectively. Children with persistent feeding difficulties exhibited a greater number of problem eating behaviours and at a significantly higher frequency. Picky eating was common across both groups, although typically developing children also displayed disruptive behaviours while children with persistent feeding difficulties displayed oral sensory and motor feeding problems and negotiation behaviours. Parents of typically developing children tended to adopt an indulgent feeding style and less high control feeding practices whereas parents of children with persistent feeding difficulties tended to adopt an authoritarian feeding style and high control feeding practices. Parents’ perception of their child’s feeding difficulty, parental feeding styles and the child’s treatment group predicted the frequency of child problem eating behaviours in the total sample. Parental feeding styles thus represent a central target for intervention in managing problem eating behaviours in children.