Maternal sensitivity during mealtime and free play: Differences and explanatory factors.

Mealtime is a parent-toddler interaction that occurs multiple times a day. This study examined whether observed maternal sensitivity differed between a mealtime and free-play setting, aiming to explain differences between the two situations by studying moderating effects of children's eating behavior. The sample consisted of 103 first-time mothers and their 18-month-old children.

The Baby's First Bites RCT: Evaluating a Vegetable-Exposure and a Sensitive-Feeding Intervention in Terms of Child Health Outcomes and Maternal Feeding Behavior During Toddlerhood.

Background: Parenting interventions during the first years of life on what and/or how to feed infants during complementary feeding can promote healthy eating habits.

Objectives: An intervention promoting repeated exposure to a variety of vegetables [repeated vegetable exposure (RVE); what] and an intervention promoting responding sensitively to child signals during mealtime [video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting-feeding infants (VIPP-FI); how] were compared, separately and combined (COMBI), with an attention control condition (AC). Primary outcomes were vegetable consumption and self-regulation of energy intake; secondary outcomes were child anthropometrics and maternal feeding practices (sensitive feeding, pressure to eat).

Baby's first bites: Association between observed maternal feeding behavior and infant vegetable intake and liking.

Positive experiences with the introduction of solid food in infancy may lead to positive associations with feeding in both parent and infant. During this transitional period, parental feeding behavior and infant eating behavior might mutually reinforce each other. A feeding style that is found to be associated with positive child eating behavior, is sensitive feeding.

Eating in the absence of hunger in 18-month-old children in a home setting.

Background: Eating in the absence of hunger (EAH), the susceptibility to eat despite satiety, may increase overweight. While EAH has been established in school-aged children, less is known about it during toddlerhood.

Objectives: This study assessed to what extent 18-month-old children eat in the absence of hunger, the stability of this behaviour at 24 months and the association of child eating behaviours with EAH.