Maternal feeding practices and its association with obesity in children: a cross-sectional study in Iran

Children's eating behaviors and their nutritional status could be affected by caregiver feeding practices. Thereby, this study aimed to assess the association between maternal feeding practices and body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) among 6 years old children in Shiraz, Iran.

In this cross-sectional study, 333 children aged 6 years were randomly selected from Shiraz healthcare centers by using a multi-stage stratified sampling method. Socio-demographic data gathering sheet, physical activity questionnaires, and comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire were completed by their mothers online. Moreover, dietary intakes and anthropometric parameters of the children were obtained through a call interview with mothers. Maternal feeding patterns were identified using a factor analysis approach. Then, association of maternal feeding patterns with children's BMI and WC, were assessed using multivariate linear regressions.

Healthy and unhealthy maternal feeding patterns were extracted as two main feeding patterns. Unhealthy maternal feeding pattern was positively associated with BMI in unadjusted model (β = 0.35; 95%CI: 0.04-0.67), however it was faded away after controlling for confounders. No significant association was found between healthy maternal feeding patterns and children's BMI. Both healthy and unhealthy maternal feeding patterns were not significantly associated with children's WC.

Our results showed that children's BMI or WC was not related to maternal feeding patterns. However, further studies with larger sample sizes and longitudinal design are needed to confirm it.