Information seeking of French parents regarding infant and young child feeding: practices, needs and determinants
Sofia De Rosso1, Sophie Nicklaus1, Pauline Ducrot2
1Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, INRAE, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000Dijon, France.
Insights
Parents seek infant and young child feeding (IYCF) advice from multiple sources, often finding conflicting information. An effective communication strategy must address these diverse information channels to support parents.
Area of Science:
- Public Health Nutrition
- Health Communication
- Parental Education
Background:
- Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) benchmarks require updated communication strategies.
- Parental perceptions and information-seeking behaviors are crucial for effective IYCF guidance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore parental perceptions, information-seeking practices, and needs regarding IYCF.
- To inform the design of an efficient communication strategy for IYCF.
Main Methods:
- Online survey administered to a nationally representative sample of 1001 parents in France.
- Quota sampling used for participant recruitment.
- Analysis of responses considering parity, child age, prematurity, parental education, and financial situation, with separate consideration for parents of children with medical conditions (CMC).
Main Results:
- Most parents recognize IYCF importance, but one-third find advice contradictory.
- Top information sources include healthcare professionals (HCPs), internet, and parental networks.
- HCPs, childcare professionals, and parental networks are the most influential sources.
Conclusions:
- Conflicting information from multiple sources can confuse parents.
- Public health communication strategies should be adapted to current parental needs and target diverse information sources.
Objective:
As part of an update of feeding benchmarks targeting children aged 0-3 years, this study aimed to explore parental perceptions, information-seeking practices and needs concerning infant and young child feeding (IYCF) to design an efficient communication strategy.
Design:
Participants were recruited using the quota sampling to complete an online survey. Effects of parity, child age, prematurity, parental education and financial situation on parents' responses were evaluated separately.
Setting:
France.
Participants:
A nationally representative sample of 1001 parents of children <4 years.
Results:
Parents whose child had any medical condition affecting feeding (children with medical condition (CMC), 17 %) were considered separately from healthy children's parents. All the healthy children's parents recognised the importance of IYCF for children's health and growth; however, one-third considered the available advice contradictory and not guilt-free. The most used information sources were healthcare professionals (HCP, 81 %), internet (72 %) and parental networks (63 %). The most influential sources (mean influence ± sd) included HCP (7·7 ± 1·7/10), childcare professionals (7·3 ± 1·8/10) and parental networks (6·9 ± 1·8/10). Parents searched for practical tips for implementing IYCF starting when their child was 5 months old. Differences regarding the type of source used by parents with higher v. lower educations were small. Search strategies differed according to parity or child age but not to prematurity. The CMC parents reported slightly different practices and needs.
Conclusions:
Parents receive information from multiple sources, which can lead to confusion when deciding which advice to follow. A public health communication strategy adapted to the current parental needs should target these various sources.
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