Observations of feeding practices of US parents of young children with Down syndrome.

Parental behaviours influence food acceptance in young children, but few studies have measured these behaviours using observational methods, especially among children with Down syndrome (CWDS). The overall goal of this study was to understand parent feeding practices used during snack time with young CWDS (N = 111, aged 11-58 months). A coding scheme was developed to focus on feeding practices used by parents of CWDS from a structured home-use test involving tasting variously textured snack products. Behavioural coding was used to categorise parental feeding practices and quantify their frequencies (N = 212 video feeding sessions). A feeding prompt was coded as successful if the child ate the target food product or completed the prompt within 20 s of the prompt being given without a refusal behaviour. CWDS more frequently consumed the test foods and completed tasks in response to Autonomy-Supportive Prompts to Eat (49.3%), than to Coercive-Controlling Prompts to Eat (24.2%). By exploring the parent-CWDS relationship during feeding, we can identify potentially desirable parent practices to encourage successful feeding for CWDS. Future research should build upon the knowledge gained from this study to confirm longitudinal associations of parent practices with child behaviours during feeding.

Development and application of specific questions to classify a child as food texture sensitive.

Understanding food texture sensitivity in children is important in guiding food selection. The objective of this work was to develop a short questionnaire that could be completed by parents in nonclinical settings to provide a categorization for food texture sensitivity in children. This study evaluated the distribution of children as texture sensitive (TS) or non-texture sensitive (NTS) and the predictive validity of these questions to explain rejection of specific food textures. Three sets of survey data were examined, including data from a home-use test (HUT) in children with and without Down syndrome (DS), and lingual tactile sensitivity measured by grating orientation task (GOT). From three parent-completed surveys, the use of the questionnaire yielded a similar distribution of children in the TS category (16-22%) as previously reported. TS children (4-36 months) were more likely to reject specific food textures, including chewy, hard, lumpy, and "tough meat" (p < .05). A higher percentage of children with a diagnosis of DS were TS (36.9%). Children who were TS showed increased negative behaviors to foods and ate less than NTS children. In older children (5-12 years), TS children were fussier than NTS children (p < .001). Lingual tactile sensitivity was not significantly different by TS/NTS categorization (p = .458). This study demonstrated that the use of these five questions specific to food texture provides a useful tool in categorizing a child as TS/NTS, with this information being useful in selecting preferred food textures. Future studies involving these TS questions should perform psychometric assessments and measures of criterion validity using other questionnaires.

Food texture experiences across age groups in 4- to 36-month-old children in the United States.

The question of what to feed becomes a new challenge as an infant reaches the transition to complementary foods. Limited information is available that provides a texture progression map for complementary food introduction. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the relationship between age and food texture experiences (FTE) in young children aged 4-36 months in the United States. A parent-reported survey was fielded with 328 children categorized into five age groups (AGs): 4-8 months (AG1), 9-12 months (AG2), 13-18 months (AG3), 19-24 months (AG4), and 25-36 months (AG5). The present study analyzed four questions focused on FTE, with statistical analyses including probit and logit models, and analysis of variance. Results showed that all 16 food textures were tried at least once (>50%) by AG3. The question answered by participants, "How well does your child manage a specific texture," showed that significant differences existed among AGs for the management of 10 food textures (including chewy, hard, soft), whereas teething alone had no effect. The most refused textures by the children were AG1-crispy (27%), AG2-leafy (23%), AG3-leafy (40%), AG4-tough meat (52%), and AG5-leafy (51%). With increasing AG, the refusal probability of nine food textures, including chewy, leafy, and rubbery, also increased (p < .05). The refusal probability of cold food temperatures decreased with increasing age (p < .05). This study observed FTE in children across AGs and provides useful information to parents and practitioners as they introduce food textures into children's diets.

Development of a home-use method for the evaluation of food products by children with and without Down syndrome.

This article describes the development of a method to evaluate the acceptance of different snack food textures by children with food texture sensitivities, including children with and without Down syndrome (DS). An in-home use test (HUT) was developed to reflect recent taste study and allow greater recruitment. In this study, parents with children (ages 11-60 months) with DS (CWDS) and without (typically developing, CTD) were recruited and based on responses to several questions, children were categorized as food texture sensitive (TS) or nontexture sensitive (NTS). In total, 111 CWDS (49 TS and 62 NTS) and 107 CTD (42 TS and 65 NTS) participated. To select the food products for assessment, a trained panel profiled commercially available infant and toddler solid snack foods (n = 41), from which 16 products were selected and sorted into four flavor groupings. For the HUT, participating children evaluated each food product once per day for 6 days. Parents recorded their children's reactions to each food product; a panel of trained coders coded each video for verbal and nonverbal behaviors using a novel coding scheme. Parent prompts were also coded. Several challenges were experienced during this study, including poor-quality videos, and standardization of the home environment during the feeding sessions. However, the high degree of successful completion of the HUT (96%) was attributed to the high motivation of the parents involved, as well as the close interaction between the experimenters and the participants on an individual family level.