Feeding Practices Used by Australian Parents of Young Children Living With Food Insecurity and Household Chaos.

Responsive feeding practices are crucial for developing healthy eating behaviours in children. However, chaotic households and financial stress may disrupt these practices. This cross-sectional study aimed to characterise feeding practices among Australian parents experiencing financial hardship.

Association Between Picky Eating, Weight Status, Vegetable, and Fruit Intake in Children and Adolescents: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Picky eating is a common appetitive trait reported among children and adolescents and may have detrimental effects on their weight, vegetable, and fruit intake, impacting health status. However, an updated systematic review of the literature and summary of effect estimates is required. This study aims to explore the association between picky eating with weight, vegetable and fruit intake, vegetable-only intake, and fruit-only intake.

Designing Child Nutrition Interventions to Engage Fathers: Qualitative Analysis of Interviews and Co-Design Workshops.

Background: Fathers play a pivotal role in parenting and child feeding, but they remain underrepresented in intervention studies, especially those focused on disadvantaged populations. A better understanding of fathers' experiences and needs regarding support access and child nutrition information in the context of disadvantage can inform future interventions engaging fathers.

Objective: This study aims to explore fathers' experiences; perceived enablers; and barriers to accessing support and information related to parenting, child feeding, and nutrition and to co-design principles for tailoring child nutrition interventions to engage fathers.

Reliability and validity of rapid assessment tools for measuring 24-hour movement behaviours in children aged 0-5 years: the Movement Behaviour Questionnaire Baby (MBQ-B) and child (MBQ-C).

Background: The development of validated "fit-for-purpose" rapid assessment tools to measure 24-hour movement behaviours in children aged 0-5 years is a research priority. This study evaluated the test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the open-ended and closed-ended versions of the Movement Behaviour Questionnaire for baby (MBQ-B) and child (MBQ-C).

Methods: 300 parent-child dyads completed the 10-day study protocol (MBQ-B: N = 85; MBQ-C: N = 215).

A design thinking-led approach to develop a responsive feeding intervention for Australian families vulnerable to food insecurity: Eat, Learn, Grow.

Background: Design thinking is an iterative process that innovates solutions through a person-centric approach and is increasingly used across health contexts. The person-centric approach lends itself to working with groups with complex needs. One such group is families experiencing economic hardship, who are vulnerable to food insecurity and face challenges with child feeding.

The feeding siblings questionnaire (FSQ): Development of a self-report tool for parents with children aged 2-5 years.

Over the last decade, there have been repeated calls to expand the operationalisation of food parenting practices. The conceptualisation and measurement of these practices has been based primarily on research with parent-child dyads. One unexplored dimension of food parenting pertains to the evaluation of practices specific to feeding siblings.

A great way to bring up health behaviour topics at playgroup: a qualitative evaluation of the Healthy Conversations @ Playgroup program.

Background: The early years is a critical stage to establish optimal nutrition and movement behaviours. Community playgroups are a relaxed environment for parents with a focus on social connection and supporting parents in their role as 'First Teachers'. Playgroups are therefore an opportunistic setting to promote health behaviours in the early years.

Food Insecurity and Feeding Experiences Among Parents of Young Children in Australia: An Exploratory Qualitative Study.

Background: Responsive feeding is a reciprocal process between caregiver and child that is primarily child-led. It is linked to the development of positive eating behaviors and food preferences. There is evidence that household chaos, family dynamics, the quality of mealtime routines, financial hardship, and food insecurity can impact the feeding relationship.

A Double-Blind Randomised Controlled Trial of Prebiotic Supplementation in Children with Autism: Effects on Parental Quality of Life, Child Behaviour, Gastrointestinal Symptoms, and the Microbiome.

Purpose: Modifying gut bacteria in children with autism may influence behaviour, with potential to improve family functioning. We conducted a randomised controlled trial to assess the effect of prebiotics on behaviour, gastrointestinal symptoms and downstream effects on parental quality of life.

Method: Children with autism (4-10yrs) were randomised to 2.

Dads at Mealtimes: Associations between Food Security, Household and Work Chaos, and Paternal Feeding Practices among Australian Fathers Living with Disadvantage.

Understanding how fathers engage in feeding while experiencing disadvantage is important for family-focused interventions. A cross-sectional online survey involving 264 Australian fathers was conducted to explore feeding involvement and the relationships between feeding practices, food insecurity, and household and work chaos. Practices related to coercive control, structure, and autonomy support were measured for two age groups (<2 years and 2-5 years).

Screening tools used in primary health care settings to identify health behaviours in children (birth-16 years); A systematic review of their effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability.

Background: Child health behaviour screening tools have potential to enhance the effectiveness of health promotion and early intervention. This systematic review aimed to examine the effectiveness, acceptability and feasibility of child health behaviour screening tools used in primary health care settings.

Methods: A systematic review of studies published in English in five databases (CINAHL, Medline, Scopus, PsycINFO and Web of Science) prior to July 2022 was undertaken.

Development and validation of a short dietary questionnaire for assessing obesity-related dietary behaviours in young children.

There are few short, validated tools to assess young children's obesity-related dietary behaviours, limiting the rapid screening of dietary behaviours in research and practice-based early obesity prevention. This study aimed to develop and assess the reliability and validity of a caregiver-reported short dietary questionnaire to rapidly assess obesity-related dietary behaviours in children aged 6 months to 5 years. The Early Prevention of Obesity in Childhood Dietary Questionnaire (EPOCH-DQ) was developed using a rigorous process to determine content and structural validity.

"You just have to spread it thin": Perceptions and feeding experiences of Australian fathers of young children living with disadvantage.

The role of fathers in feeding is an emerging field within child feeding literature. Fathers have unique contributions to make to family mealtimes and child eating behaviours. However, qualitative research on fathers' experiences is limited, especially in the context of disadvantage.

Cognitive Testing of Items Measuring Movement Behaviours in Young Children Aged Zero to Five Years: Development of the Movement Behaviour Questionnaires for -Baby (MBQ-B) and -Child (MBQ-C).

This paper describes the cognitive interview phase of the development of two brief surveys, the Movement Behaviour Questionnaire-Baby (MBQ-B) and Movement Behaviour Questionnaire-Child (MBQ-C), which measure the duration of physical activity, screen time, and sleep of children aged 0-5 years. The aims were (1) review the format, content, and clarity of questionnaire items and response options, (2) understand how parents retrieve, encode, and formulate responses when asked about their child's movement behaviours, and (3) identify potential sources of response error and make appropriate modifications. Interviews with parents of children aged 0-5 years were conducted using concurrent think-aloud techniques and probing questions.

Food Parenting Practices and Child Eating Behaviors in Australian Families: A Cross-Sectional Sibling Design.

Background: Research on feeding in early childhood has focused primarily on parent-child dyadic interactions, despite parents enacting these practices within the complex dynamic of the family system.

Objective: Using a sibling design, this study aimed to assess how parents may adapt their food parenting practices for siblings in response to differences in their eating behaviors.

Design: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between October and December 2022.

Understanding the pathways between prenatal and postnatal factors and overweight outcomes in early childhood: a pooled analysis of seven cohorts.

Background/objectives: Childhood overweight and obesity are influenced by a range of prenatal and postnatal factors. Few studies have explored the integrative pathways linking these factors and childhood overweight. This study aimed to elucidate the integrative pathways through which maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), infant birth weight, breastfeeding duration, and rapid weight gain (RWG) during infancy are associated with overweight outcomes in early childhood from ages 3 to 5 years.

Barriers and enablers to a healthy food environment in Australian childcare services: Exploring directors' perspectives.

Issue Addressed: Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings are ideal environments to optimise nutrition and positively influence children's food behaviours. However, recent research has identified the need to improve nutrition policies, food provision, and mealtime environments in Australian ECEC settings. This study explored the perceptions of ECEC directors regarding barriers and enablers to a health-promoting food environment within ECEC services.

Adherence to 24-hour movement guidelines among rural Brazalian preschool children: associations with parenting practices.

Background: Young children residing in rural areas of low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) such as Brazil are at greater risk of obesity and related chronic health conditions. Yet, the extent to which rural preschool children from Brazil aged 3- to 6-years meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) 24-hour movement guidelines is unknown. Parents play a central role in the development of children's movement behaviors with logistic support, co-participation, modelling, and setting rules and limits recognized as influential parenting practices.

Development, validation and item reduction of a food literacy questionnaire (IFLQ-19) with Australian adults.

Background: Food literacy is theorised to improve diet quality, nutrition behaviours, social connectedness and food security. The definition and conceptualisation by Vidgen & Gallegos, consisting of 11 theoretical components within the four domains of planning and managing, selecting, preparing and eating, is currently the most highly cited framework. However, a valid and reliable questionnaire is needed to comprehensively measure this conceptualisation.

Core outcome set for early intervention trials to prevent obesity in childhood (COS-EPOCH): Agreement on "what" to measure.

Background: Heterogeneity in the outcomes collected and reported in trials of interventions to prevent obesity in the first five years of life highlights the need for a core outcome set to streamline intervention evaluation and synthesis of effects. This study aimed to develop a core outcome set for use in early childhood obesity prevention intervention studies in children from birth to five years of age (COS-EPOCH).

Methods: The development of the core outcome set followed published guidelines and consisted of three stages: (1) systematic scoping review of outcomes collected and reported in early childhood obesity prevention trials; (2) e-Delphi study with stakeholders to prioritise outcomes; (3) meeting with stakeholders to reach consensus on outcomes.

Parental Influences on Physical Activity and Screen Time among Preschool Children from Low-Income Families in Brazil.

Children from low-middle income countries (LMIC) are disproportionately affected by obesity, and low physical activity (PA) and high screen time (ST) are major contributors. Parents are key influencers on children's PA and ST, yet, no study has investigated relationships between parenting practices and children's PA and ST in LMIC families. This study examined parental influences on PA and ST among preschool-aged children from low-income families in Brazil.

Parental Feeding Practices in Families Experiencing Food Insecurity: A Scoping Review.

Parental feeding practices and styles influence child diet quality and growth. The extent to which these factors have been assessed in the context of disadvantage, particularly household food insecurity (HFI), is unknown. This is important, as interventions designed to increase responsive practices and styles may not consider the unique needs of families with HFI.

Determinants of rapid infant weight gain: A pooled analysis of seven cohorts.

Objective: Rapid weight gain (RWG) in infancy is strongly associated with subsequent obesity risk, but little is known about the factors driving RWG. This study explored the child and maternal factors associated with infant RWG.

Methods: Data from seven Australian and New Zealand cohorts were used (n = 4542).