Relationships Between Maternal Feeding Attitudes and Child Nutritional Problems

Childhood nutrition is critical for development however maternal feeding attitudes may influence feeding practices and subsequent outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate mothers' attitudes toward their children's feeding process and its relationship with characteristics and children's nutritional problems. One hundred thirty-five mother-child couples who attended the Social Pediatrics Outpatient Clinic of a hospital participated in the study. Researchers administered a survey form during face-to-face interviews. The form included demographic details about mother-child couples and two surveys. The first survey asked about child nutritional problems, and the second one comprised the Mother's Attitudes Towards the Feeding Process Scale (MATFPS). MATFPS provides five factors that including negative affect during meal, attitudes about insufficient/unbalanced feeding, negative feeding strategies, forced feeding, and reaction to the viewpoints of others. There was a negative correlation between mothers' "negative affect during meal" factor score and children's BMI (p < 0.05). The mean MATFPS scores of the mothers whose children had nutritional problems were statistically higher than others (p < 0.05). In conclusion, to ensure healthy nutrition for children, mothers may benefit from education to develop positive attitudes and proper feeding practices.