DEVELOPMENT OF FOOD HABITS AND BEHAVIOR IN CHILDREN

Biological and behavioural processes are geared towards meeting the requirements of an infant’s health and growth during the first few years of life. The first five years of life is a crucial period because during this time eating behaviour take shape which ultimately forms the foundation for the development of future eating patterns. They learn from their parents and siblings that what when and how to eat along with cultural/familial beliefs, attitudes and practices.

Mechanism implicated in the Development of Flavour Preferences

• The sense of taste and smell is already functional during fetal life.
• Flavour transmission via amniotic fluid and breast feeding- so food choices of a mother may set the stage for the infants later acceptance of solid foods.
• Infant’s preferences for the basic taste are innately developed. i.e.  Positive response for sweet and umami   response for bitter and sour taste.
• Neonatal feeding regimen (breast feeding and formula feed).
• Repeated exposure to foods.
• Parental strategies, cultural beliefs, socio-economic status.
• Food management of school meals.
• Food availability and accessibility.

Children’s feeding habits have been known to be influenced by

• Education level of the parents and the care givers.
• Knowledge about the food and nutrients.
• Social and cultural beliefs.
• Domestic workload of the parents and caregiver’s.
• Time availability.
• Health and nutritional status of the mother and the caregiver.
• Parents and the caregiver’s level of satisfaction with life.
• Parental attention to hunger and satiety cues.
• Parents strongly mould children’s early experiences with food and eating habits. They provide genes as well as the environment that influence food habit in children.
• Adequate parental care in terms of providing time, attention and support affects the nutrient intake of a child and ensures that the physical, mental and social needs of the growing child are meet.

Tips for Introducing New Foods to Children's

• New foods should be introduced one at a time and parents should wait for 3-5 days before starting another new food.
• New food should be stopped in the event of diarrhoea vomiting rashes as these symptoms may signal a food allergy.
• During complementary feeding, softer and smoother textured foods are preferred by babies. These should be gradually replaced by thicker foods.
• Parents should not prematurely draw conclusion about their child’s preference for foods after a few exposure because new foods may have to be offered 10-16 times to children before they accept them.
• Child’s choice of food keeps changing. What they hated last month might be their favourite food this month.

Parental feeding style putting them at risk for obesity or nutrient deficiency

• Parent practices and parent-child interaction during feeding differ in the degree to which children are allowed autonomy in eating.
• Parental attitudes such as :Controlling child feeding practices, restriction, pressure to eat and a promise of rewards have been known to cause negative effects on the child’s acceptance of food.
• Parental inattention to the child’s hunger and satiety cues has been associated with infant overfeeding.
• TV watching during meal time has been shown to be a strong predictor of toddler’s unhealthy food. consumption, primarily mediated through their mother’s TV viewing which affects her own food intake.
• TV watching puts them at the risk of preference to unhealthy diets through advertisement that promote unhealthy diets and snacks as substitutes for meals.
• Parents approach to feeding mirrors their goal for their children’s eating and health and these goals are dependent on cultural and socio-economic aspects. 
• Parents who consider a child large for their age as healthy are generally not concerned about the child being overweight and hence they do not use restrictive feeding practices. Furthermore parents of low income group may interpret non-specific behaviours such as frequent crying as signs of hunger and may follow feeding practice such as concentrating formula, addition of cereal to formula, or introducing solid foods before 4 months of age that are not recommended and thus putting them at risk of obesity.