Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT9 5DL, UK.
Nutrition Research Group, Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT12 6BJ, UK.
Nutrients. 2019 Mar 6;11(3):562. doi: 10.3390/nu11030562.
Weaning marks the transition from a milk-only diet to the consumption of solid foods. It is a time period where nutrition holds an undeniable importance and taste experiences have a long-lasting effect on food preferences. The factors and conditions that form parental feeding practices are yet to be fully understood; doing so can help target problematic behaviours and develop interventions aiming to modify them.
This study used a qualitative methodology to gain a better understanding of parental experiences of weaning a child. Particular emphasis was placed on exploring the factors and conditions that favour the establishment of a healthy relationship with food in infancy and those that impede it.
Thirty-seven mothers of healthy infants 3⁻14 months with no previous history of allergies or food-related disorders were recruited. Eight semi-structured focus group discussions were conducted, transcribed and analysed thematically.
Discussions revealed a number of opportunities to establish healthy eating habits during weaning, as well as relevant challenges. Important opportunities included: acting as a role model for healthy foods; giving multiple opportunities to try a food; food variety "so you don't have a fussy eater"; and without food variety "things aren't going to work properly". Additionally, some of the challenges identified were: misconceptions about the definition of food variety; and distractions occurring during feeding.
Mothers were mindful of the need to provide their children with appropriate nutritional stimuli during weaning. They were aware of their role in influencing their infants' likes and used strategies such as modelling and repeated food exposure. The importance of a diverse diet in infancy was acknowledged, although knowledge gaps exist in relation to its definition. Distractions were tactfully employed by mothers to assist feeding. Findings of this study have applications in developing interventions for nutritional education in the complementary feeding period.
断奶标志着从仅食用母乳到食用固体食物的转变。这是一个营养至关重要且味觉体验对食物偏好产生持久影响的时期。形成父母喂养行为的因素和条件尚未被充分理解；了解这些因素和条件有助于针对有问题的行为，并开发旨在改变这些行为的干预措施。
本研究采用定性方法更好地了解父母为孩子断奶的经验。特别强调探索有利于在婴儿期建立健康食物关系的因素和条件，以及阻碍其建立健康食物关系的因素和条件。
招募了 37 名健康婴儿（3-14 个月）的母亲，这些婴儿没有过敏或与食物相关的疾病史。进行了 8 次半结构化焦点小组讨论，对讨论内容进行了转录和主题分析。
讨论揭示了在断奶期间建立健康饮食习惯的许多机会，以及相关的挑战。重要的机会包括：作为健康食物的榜样；多次尝试一种食物；食物种类多样“这样你就不会有挑食的孩子”；食物种类单一“这样事情就不会顺利进行”。此外，还确定了一些挑战，包括对食物多样性定义的误解；以及喂养过程中的干扰。
母亲们意识到在断奶期间为孩子提供适当营养刺激的必要性。她们意识到自己在影响婴儿喜好方面的作用，并使用了榜样作用和反复食物暴露等策略。她们承认在婴儿期饮食多样化的重要性，尽管在其定义方面存在知识差距。母亲们巧妙地利用干扰来协助喂养。本研究的结果可应用于开发补充喂养期营养教育干预措施。
