Eating and feeding are skills learned in early childhood that are important to human survival. These activities are complex and require physical, sensory, cognitive, and behavioral skills. Understanding the nature of picky eating and addressing it in this essential developmental period is critical to establishing healthy eating habits that persist into adulthood. Educating and equipping parents and caregivers with the tools they need to support their child will create healthy, sustainable eating habits.
Picky eating is a concern for parents of children at all developmental stages that is frequently associated with parent stress and mealtime disruptions. Researchers often refer to picky eating as a passing childhood phase; however, clinical studies and longitudinal results indicate that picky eating could persist into adulthood and cause obesity, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and respiratory problems. Three main factors cause picky eating: the child, the caregiver, and the mealtime climate.
Together in Every Bite is a virtual hands-on parent education program that aims to educate parents and caregivers to establish healthy habits around mealtime and decrease picky eating behavior in children in their early developmental stages (6-24 months) and decrease mealtime stress and anxiety. Caregivers will engage in problem-solving and plan-building activities coinciding with the learned material, developing their self-efficacy and confidence while reducing stress and anxiety. The program director will also distribute valuable information provided through this platform to health professionals who work with parents of infants. This paper outlines the relevant literature and theory, and the evaluation, funding, and dissemination plans for Together in Every Bite.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/45032 |
| Date | 23 August 2022 |
| Creators | Dunay, Nadya Goldman |
| Contributors | Wheeler, Bradford D. |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
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