Parenting style on feeding practices and growth status of preschool children within 3-5 years old / Dalia Mohamed Gaber Ahmed Gaber ; Supervised Hanna Aboulghar , Maha Abdelrahman Mowafy , Eman Elsayed Sedik

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Family Medicine

Background: Children all over the world are suffering the burden of malnutrition with its different aspects which threatens their normal growth and development. To combat this inflating problem, researchers have focused on the parental feeding practices and parenting styles as important factors influencing the child{u2019}s growth status and dietary habits. Aim of work: This study aimed to assess the maternal feeding practices and parenting styles and their association and explore their influence on the children{u2019}s growth status. Materials and Methods: This is a cross sectional study that included 389 healthy preschool (3-5 yr.) children and their mothers who attended at AbouElrish Nutrition clinics. Data about Socio-demographic characteristics, adopted feeding practices and parenting styles were collected and anthropometric measures (weight, height, BMI) of the included children were taken. Results: The commonest feeding practice was Child control and the least was Emotional regulation. The adopted feeding practices affected the children{u2019}s growth status where Restriction for weight was associated with high BMI for age and pressure to eat was associated with low BMI for age. Also the feeding practices changed along the parenting domains where Authoritarian mothers who were the majority in this study reported more negative practices such as emotional regulation and less healthy practices such as involvement and teaching nutrition

Issued also as CD