Young children have an innate ability to self-regulate their energy intake( Reference Birch and Deysher 1 ) but evidence suggests that children as young as 1-year may be susceptible to environmental triggers which can promote overeating( Reference Fox, Devaney and Reidy 2 – Reference Fisher, Liu and Birch 3 ). The aim of this qualitative study was to assess current parental practices in the provision of appropriate food portion sizes (PS) for children aged 6–36 months.
Parents/carers of at least one child aged 6–36 months were recruited within local community groups/churches and crèches (male and female, ⩾18 years) and invited to attend one of eight focus groups (~2hrs each; n 3–9 per group; total n 46 parent/carers). A discussion guide was developed for the focus groups to ensure that key themes were covered, but at the same time flexible enough to facilitate broader discussion as issues arose. Discussion topics included: healthy eating; the importance of PS; awareness of existing advice/guidance and its usefulness; opinions on new guidance needed (if any). Focus groups were transcribed verbatim and analysed using an inductive thematic procedure (4) using NVivo 10 (QSR International).
In the majority, parent/carers were female (94 %), normal-weight (53 %), from urban locations (80 %), married (54 %) and were either employed part-time (35 %) or were full-time home-makers (35 %). The table outlines typical quotes from parents under each main theme. Parents did not recognise the importance of PS during the discussions on healthy eating or concerns about their child/children's diets. Parents commonly trust their own children to self-regulate their PS, although some were unsure the age at which children gained or lost this in-built control mechanism.
Faced with a lack of guidance, many parents relied on and trusted their own judgements to determine an appropriate PS for their children, and this was typically based on habits ingrained from their own parents/family, or their own past experiences. When prompted, however, most would welcome additional advice from their healthcare professional on appropriate PS for children aged 6–36 months, albeit this may be difficult to implement owing to the wide number of factors that can influence a child's PS from meal-to-meal and day-to-day.
Future public health initiatives in this area are warranted. PS guidance should clearly highlight the role of early life eating patterns for the maintenance of a healthy weight and establishing future dietary habits, as well as being cognisant of the wide range of factors that can influence a child's food intake.
Ethical approval was obtained from the Biomedical Sciences Ethics Filter Committee, Ulster University (FCBMS-14–032). The study was funded by Nutricia Ltd and conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki.
