Hungry for Love: The Feeding Relationship in the Psychological Development of Young Children

At a time of increasing concern about childhood obesity, health care practitioners can exert pressure on parents and other caregivers to view meals and snacks primarily as opportunities to control children's caloric intake and thus prevent or control childhood obesity. Yet feeding is about much more than the amount and kinds of food offered: Feeding can have a powerful influence not only on the physical health of children but also on their social and emotional health. The feeding interactions used by parents can support or hinder their children's healthy development and can affect parental satisfaction with parenting. By incorporating basic knowledge of child development into the feeding interactions used by parents, health care practitioners can have an even greater impact on the health of children and parents.