Breastfeeding During COVID-19 Stay-at-Home Orders: Implications for Future Maternal Work Policies and Health Equity.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated stay-at-home orders on the breastfeeding experiences of U.S. people a identify facilitators and barriers to breastfeeding during this period, and to assess the effects of maternal stress and misinformation on breastfeeding practices.

Responsive Feeding Practices to Promote Healthy Diets: A Mixed Method Study among Low-Income Caregivers with Toddlers.

Responsive feeding (RF), the reciprocal feeding approach between caregiver and child that promotes child health, is understudied among low-income caregivers. This mixed methods study with low-income caregivers of 12-to-36-month-olds aimed to (1) assess variability in RF and associations with children's dietary intake, and (2) explore caregivers' perceptions of RF. Caregivers ( = 134) completed an online survey with RF questions ( = 25), grouped into environmental (meal environment, caregiver modeling, caregiver beliefs) and child (self-regulation, hunger/satiety cues, food for reward, food acceptance) influences scores.

Healthy Snacks and Drinks for Toddlers: A Qualitative Study of Caregivers' Understanding of Expert Recommendations and Perceived Barriers to Adherence.

Background: Despite expert recommendations, most toddlers consume sugary drinks and more sweet and salty snack foods than fruits and vegetables as snacks. Studies have examined toddler caregivers' reasons for providing sugary drinks, but few have examined the reasons for providing nutritionally poor snack foods.

Methods: Researchers conducted focus groups in one low-income community to assess caregivers' familiarity, understanding and attitudes regarding healthy drink and snack recommendations for toddlers.

Exploring Infant Caregivers' Provision of Modified Formulas: Potential Demographic Differences and Reasons for Provisions.

Background: Formula brands have modified the ingredients in standard infant formulas and extensively market modified formulas, claiming benefits for infants that are not supported by scientific evidence. This exploratory study examined the proportion of infant caregivers who reported serving modified formula, demographic differences, and reasons for providing them.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional online survey of US caregivers of infants (6-11 months) who provided formula in the past month ( = 436).

Caregiver's Provision of Non-Recommended Commercially Prepared Milk-Based Drinks to Infants and Toddlers.

Objective: Assess milk type provision (commercially prepared infant and toddler formula, cow's milk, and plant milk) to infants and toddlers, accounting for sociodemographic characteristics and marketing claims.

Participants: Caregivers (N = 1,645) of children (aged 6-36 months) recruited through online panels in 2017.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey analysis (system of probit equations) estimated associations between sociodemographics and agreement with marketing claims (independent variables) with milk type provision in the past month (binary dependent variable).

Infant formula and toddler milk marketing and caregiver's provision to young children.

The World Health Organization International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes prohibits claims and other marketing that may confuse caregivers about benefits of formula and other milk-based drinks for infants and toddlers, but such marketing is common in the United States. This study assessed caregivers' provision of milk-based products to their infants and toddlers and potential confusion about product benefits and appropriate use. Online survey of 1,645 U.

Contribution of Beverage Selection to the Dietary Quality of the Packed Lunches Eaten by Preschool-Aged Children.

Background: Sweet drinks early in life could predispose to lifelong consumption, and the beverage industry does not clearly define fruit drinks as part of the sweet drink category.

Objectives: To ascertain the relationship between beverage selection and dietary quality of the lunches packed for preschool-aged children evaluated using the Healthy Eating Index-2010.

Methods: Foods packed by parents (n=607) were observed at 30 early care and education centers on two nonconsecutive days.

Toddler drinks, formulas, and milks: Labeling practices and policy implications.

Toddler drinks are a growing category of drinks marketed for young children 9-36 months old. Medical experts do not recommend them, and public health experts raise concerns about misleading labeling practices. In the U.

Parent packs, child eats: Surprising results of Lunch is in the Bag's efficacy trial.

Early care and education (ECE) centers that require lunch brought from home provide an uncluttered view of parent-child dietary interactions in early childhood. Children's eating from parent-provided bag lunches was observed at 30 ECE centers in Texas, with 15 randomly assigned to the Lunch is in the Bag intervention to improve the lunch meal and 15 to a wait-list control condition. Study participants were parent and child aged 3-5 years (N = 633 dyads).

Adequacy of Parent-Packed Lunches and Preschooler's Consumption Compared to Dietary Reference Intake Recommendations.

Background: U.S. preschool children consume inadequate amounts of key nutrients.

Structuring Process Evaluation to Forecast Use and Sustainability of an Intervention: Theory and Data From the Efficacy Trial for Lunch Is in the Bag.

Background: A cluster-randomized trial at 30 early care and education centers (Intervention = 15, waitlist Control = 15) showed the Lunch Is in the Bag intervention increased parents' packing of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in their preschool children's bag lunches (parent-child dyads = 351 Intervention, 282 Control).

Purpose: To examine the utility of structuring the trial's process evaluation to forecast use, sustainability, and readiness of the intervention for wider dissemination and implementation.

Method: Pretrial, the research team simulated user experience to forecast use of the intervention.

Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study of Factors Associated with the Healthfulness of Parental Responses to Child Food Purchasing Requests.

Objective The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between various factors (e.g., sociodemographic, child, and parental factors) and the healthfulness of parental responses to child in-store food purchasing requests.

Dietary Quality of Preschoolers' Sack Lunches as Measured by the Healthy Eating Index.

Background: Eating habits are developed during the preschool years and track into adulthood, but few studies have quantified dietary quality of meals packed by parents for preschool children enrolled in early care and education centers.

Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the dietary quality of preschoolers' sack lunches using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2010 to provide parents of preschool children with guidance to increase the healthfulness of their child's lunch.

Design: This study is a cross-sectional analysis of baseline dietary data from the Lunch Is in the Bag trial.

Development of a Method to Observe Preschoolers' Packed Lunches in Early Care and Education Centers.

Background: As early childhood education (ECE) centers become a more common setting for nutrition interventions, a variety of data collection methods are required, based on the center foodservice. ECE centers that require parents to send in meals and/or snacks from home present a unique challenge for accurate nutrition estimation and data collection. We present an observational methodology for recording the contents and temperature of preschool-aged children's lunchboxes and data to support a 2-day vs a 3-day collection period.

Method of assessing parent-child grocery store purchasing interactions using a micro-camcorder.

The purpose of this study was to assess the validity of using participant worn micro-camcorders (PWMC) to collect data on parent-child food and beverage purchasing interactions in the grocery store. Parent-child dyads (n = 32) were met at their usual grocery store and shopping time. Parents were mostly Caucasian (n = 27, 84.