High Priority? Examining How Mothers of Young Children Prioritize Children's Healthy Diet and Its Associations with Child Feeding.

BACKGROUND

This cross-sectional study examined how mothers of young children ranked their children's consumption of a healthy diet relative to other social, health, and academic priorities and assessed the associations between these rankings and mothers' engagement in specific food parenting practices.

METHODS

Predominantly highly resourced, highly educated mothers (N = 328) ranked "My child eats a healthy diet" among 13 common parenting goals (1 = highest priority; 13 = lowest priority). Sociodemographic and food parenting practices were assessed via questionnaires. Logistic and linear regression models were used to estimate the associations between prioritization of a healthy diet and food parenting practices.

RESULTS

In this sample, mothers ranked "My child eats a healthy diet" as the fifth most important parenting priority. Older mothers and mothers without a co-parent ranked children's healthy diets as a higher parenting priority. Adjusting for potential confounders, mothers who rated children's healthy diets as a higher priority were more likely to provide their child with guidance for healthy eating [B (95% confidence interval) = -0.03 (-0.06, -0.01), p = 0.009] and monitor their child's dietary intake [-0.06 (-0.10, -0.02), p = 0.008] and provide their child with more fruits and vegetables [-0.02 (-0.04, -0.0002), p = 0.048] and fewer snacks and sweets at home [0.03 (0.001, 0.06), p = 0.04].

CONCLUSIONS

Mothers who prioritize children's healthy diets are more likely to use supportive food parenting practices and shape the home food environment. Public health efforts should move beyond deficit-based narratives and empower parents by reinforcing their priorities.