Associations between feeding practices and child dietary quality, and the moderating effect of child eating behaviours on these associations.

Background: Parents' feeding practices are associated with children's food intake. Little is known about how children's eating behaviours (fussiness, enjoyment of food, food responsiveness, satiety responsiveness) moderate these associations. This study examines the relationships between feeding practices and pre-school children's dietary quality and whether children's eating behaviours moderate these relationships.

Methods: In 2018, 1349 Australian mothers of children aged 2-5 years completed an online survey including validated measures of feeding practices (n = 9), child eating behaviours (n = 4) and dietary quality. Thirteen items from a food frequency questionnaire were summed as a measure of dietary quality. Linear regression assessed associations between feeding practices and dietary quality, including interactions between feeding practices and child eating behaviours.

Results: The feeding practices positively associated with dietary quality were structured meal timing, monitoring, covert restriction, modelling healthy eating and structured meal setting (B coefficients: 0.63 to 2.70). The feeding practices inversely associated with dietary quality were overt restriction, persuasive feeding, reward for eating and reward for behaviour (B coefficients: -0.88 to -1.85). Child eating behaviours moderated associations between three feeding practices and dietary quality.

Conclusions: This exploratory study showed that some associations between feeding practices and child dietary quality were moderated by children's eating behaviours. The potential for tailoring nutrition promotion strategies for parents of children with differing eating behaviours should be further investigated.