3.5: Parent and Family Influences on Infants and Toddlers food.

Parent and Family Influences on Infants and Toddlers food.

The first years of life are marked by tremendous physical and psychological developments, gradually allowing infants to become less helpless and more independent. During this period, infants undergo significant developments in the eating domain, with the transition from a complete reliance on milk, underpinned by the newborn infant's well-organized sucking reflex, to the omnivore eating behavior of the toddler. This transition starts with the onset of weaning when the infant is first introduced to solid foods. Complementary feeding is usually recommended at around six months (World Health Organization, 2009; British Dietetic Association, 2016. At first, children do not make their own food choices but rely on their caregivers to provide them with appropriate foods. The “food learning” journey is characterized by a gradual change from total dependence on caregivers before weaning to the child becoming an accomplished eater, making independent food choices albeit limited by the context of what is available (Vereijken et al., 2011). The eating behaviors established during this early period track into adolescence and adulthood and, when they are healthy behaviors, may have a positive influence in combatting non-communicable diseases (Skinner et al., 2002; Vereecken et al., 2004; Coulthard et al., 2010).

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): "Tired and grumpy Isaac, Friday night at Chadstone food court" by avlxyz is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.)

The environment—and the family home in particular—plays a crucial role in shaping children's eating behaviors (Kral and Faith, 2007). It has been suggested that the introduction of complementary feeding is the most critical time for learning about new foods, as it is during this period that the child's senses are suddenly exposed to a variety of new types of stimulation (Lipsitt et al., 1985). Cashdan (1994) found that children younger than 24 months were more receptive to new foods than older children and recommended that parents introduce new foods now. These suggestions support Kolb's (1984) view of the first three years of life as a sensitive period for developing “perception, cognition, behaviors and experiences” about food.

If the period from weaning to around 3 years of age is indeed of major importance for learning about food and developing lifelong preferences, the practical promotion of healthy eating habits in this age group would be facilitated by a better understanding of the mechanisms that support children's learning. 

Several studies have shown similarities in the food preferences of children aged 24–36 months of age and their family members, and Pliner and Pelchat (1986) found that these relationships remain stable until at least six years of age. In a recent survey of 550 families of young children, parents' fruit and vegetable consumption was the strongest predictor of children's fruit and vegetable intake (Wardle and Cooke, 2008). The literature relating to observational learning shows that, by the second year of life, infants pay attention to the foods eaten by their parents, peers, and other role models; they are more willing to taste and accept into their diets the foods they have seen others eating (Harper and Sanders, 1975 Given the stability of the young child's eating environment and companions, the effects of social learning are likely to be cumulative in shaping the child's diet over many years. Moreover, such effects may be due not to the child's modeling of their parents' or peers'  food choices but to the child's repeated exposure to the same foods eaten by their family members. . 

Attributions

Mura Paroche M, Caton SJ, Vereijken CMJL, Weenen H and Houston-Price C (2017) How Infants and Young Children Learn About Food: A Systematic Review. Front. Psychol. 8:1046. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01046 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).