Nov. Question 2
In the main research study about the determinants of
childcare providers use of controlling feeding practices (CFP), barriers,
motivators, and facilitators to avoiding using CFP were identified. The
facilitators to promote avoidance of CFP use included adherence to policies
that restrict CFP use, prior nutrition training related to child feeding
practices, and using healthful feeding practices as an alternative to CFP. The
article’s conclusion included a recommendations about specific topics to cover
in training childcare providers about feeding practices.
What do you think a RD’s role in these types of trainings
should be? If you were an RD in charge of creating a curriculum for training
childcare providers about CFP, how would you use the study’s results about the
barriers and motivators to avoiding CFP use in your curriculum?
posted by Kirsten @ 3:18 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
A dietitian is the expert on healthy eating. This is part of an even bigger picture of mindful eating that has other factors to consider such as the psychological side. Based off the article, I think the idea of exposing children at a young age to many different foods and using their senses to taste, see, smell, and feel different foods can help them start off with a healthy relationship with food. Using those practices along with asking questions about hunger before/after meals is definitely something an RD should consider when developing a curriculum. Giving them the chance to think about if they feel hungry/satisfied/or full and maybe a scale such as 1 being "so hungry" and 5 being "stuffed" can help them focus more on their bodies' cues.
I agree with Nikki that the RD should focus on more mindful eating practices. Learning to identify and evaluate hunger and fullness status would be key. It feels trivial, but as Americans we tend to lose sight of these sensations early on and eat for all sorts of reasons regardless of hunger. Fostering an environment where children are used to thinking about hunger and fullness may decrease overeating episodes and create a more positive relationship with food as an energy source.
The RD may also want to create a menu template that involved a variety of familiar and unfamiliar foods available for children to choose and try. Instead of more rigid CFPs, I think encouraging trying a bite of a new vegetable or food and asking the child to evaluate how they liked or disliked the food would be appropriate. The child would not be pressured to finish the food, just taste it. This may open the kids' minds about different types of foods and encourage well-balance meals. I can envision a group of RDs creating a training like this involving mindful eating, diverse menu templates, more time allotted to eating, and taste testing to use with pre-school children and I think it could be successful in changing the way children approach food and eating.
As an RD trying to prevent the use of CFP, I would first focus on education of what CFP are. The article stated that several parents were unknowingly using CFP, thinking they were not. I would then focus on teaching childcare providers skills needed for having children try new food items. I think focusing on variety, versus the amount of food is more important for a child’s development (as long as weight is not a concern). I also believe peer modeling is very important for children. Having parents and childcare providers try new foods with them may also help promote HFP.
I agree with both Nikki and Justine, focusing on mindful eating practices at a young age will set children up for success in the future. Building and emphasizing habits that promote recognition of hunger and satiety cues will be crucial for preventing weight gain as they develop into adults.
Tessa, you made a really great point that modeling behaviors is important for the development of a child's habits. Having the adults try new foods with the children may motivate the children to want to try these new foods just as their teacher/parent is. Education as you mentioned should be that first step, so the parents are actually aware of what they are doing and taking a second look at the positives/negatives of how they approach feeding their children.
I agree with Tessa, that it is important to define CFP for parents, who may not be aware of the messages they are expressing about meals. Additionally Justine provides a valuable segment in providing menu templates to increase ease of implementation for parents.
An RD may further make alternative food messages including mindfulness easier to implement through discussion of food preparation and storage methods as well as product types which are conducive to travel. Families have hectic schedules, with far flung activities. The request of families to sit down to a complete meal as a unit is often scoffed as impractical. The recommendation to further slow this meal and create barriers, by allowing options for the child to refuse the provided healthy options, creates obstacles for parents. As we hope, the child will recognize hunger following a poor meal, however, later providing food for that child may not be within the time constraint's of parents. These unintended consequences of mindful eating techniques may hinder parental adoption of these practices.
RD education must include practical applications of how to reasonably supply foods at different times and locations dependent on child's hunger/satiety signals.
Definitely I believe and RDN should be a member of the training group. They should be the members of the interdisciplinary team promoting overall healthy eating and balance. I believe they should contribute in educating parents on standard child portion sizes, as they are not the same as adults, as well as providing education on how children often model adult behavior. Parent's eating habits often become reflective upon children's eating habits. By stressing family meal times and positive eating environments is key in assuring children have a positive relationship with food from an early age on. I believe this article would be a great way to demonstrate the food practices that may hinder their child's future relationship with food and form unhealthy habits.
As everyone else mentioned and as I mentioned in my previous comment on question one I think that as RD's it is our job to educate parents and educate children. As Nikki mentioned, we are the experts and I think it is important that we educate on parental feeding practices and promote positive eating. I think family meal times as Noel mentioned is also something I would address. There are many topics I would discuss with parents including portion sizes, trying a variety of foods, having positive food choices laying around the house, and keeping a positive relationship with food at an early age as Noel mentioned.
In these situations as RDs we should develop training that provides education on how children have the ability to self-regulate their energy intake, what CFPs are and strategies to replace CFP with HFP. From the study’s results, many caregivers are not fully aware of CFP, thus training on recognizing all the various forms of CFP is necessary. Once individuals are aware of CFPs we need to educate on replacing them with HFP. In many instances, I believe, acting out the scenarios and providing specific examples for modifying their behaviors would be an effective curriculum.
The RD's role, as always, is to provide the public with evidenced-based information to better the health of the individual (in this case, the children). The RD would be in charge of gathering research on CFP vs. HFP and to provide strategies for helping children to eat in a positive, healthful way. When setting up my curriculum, I would focus on this information in order to define and provide examples of CFP and HFP as well as the rationale behind the preference for HFP. However, hands-on experience is really what will help childcare providers to successfully implement HFP. In order to address motivators and barriers of implementing HFP, I would include role playing in my curriculum to give childcare providers (and parents too) the opportunity to utilize HFP and increase their comfort using these tactics, which Kandice has also suggested a similar idea.
I agree with Tessa, Justine, and Nikki in regards to implementing Mindful Eating as part of the curriculum. Nikki, I think providing the satiety scale would be extremely helpful as a visual aid!
Nikki and Justine, I agree with your points on focusing on mindful eating practices during these early years. Learning to recognize hunger and satiety cues will help the children develop healthy eating habits that should last a lifetime. Justine, I like your idea about creating a menu template with familiar and unfamiliar foods allowing for choice. As RDs we should provide education on what healthy food choices are, that way care providers can insure that when children eat they are consuming something healthy and nutritious.
Kandice, I believe you bring up a good point with not only defining CFP's to parents but providing amble examples for HFP. Indeed, not many parents are even aware they partake in CFP's; thus, bringing overall awareness to the topic is a great starting point. By then counteracting CFP's with HFP's, I believe this would provide parents with enough information and support to practice healthful feeding practices with their children at home.
RD’s could have a positive influence on teaching parents and childcare providers about the negative effects of CFP as well as healthy alternative strategies to CFP. The study revealed that there is a communication barrier between parents and childcare providers, as the childcare providers believe that parents will not be happy if their children do not eat well while in their care. To overcome this, both parents and childcare providers must be educated on the topic. I understand that both parents and childcare providers are likely coming from a place of love and care when they use CFP. That is why using evidence-based research such as this study to develop educational strategies to combat CFP is crucial.
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