Parents struggle with ‘just right’ feeding style

With more than one quarter of Queensland children obese or overweight, scientists have found many parents struggle to find the Goldilocks “just right” feeding style. Here’s the guide to what to feed your kids.

PARENTS are often blamed when their kids put on weight but scientists have found they struggle to find the Goldilocks “just right” feeding style.

Mums and dads gauge what they feed their kids based on their natural weight and size. If a child is bigger than average, they restrict calories and if they are smaller they are urged to clean their plates. Both of these approaches can backfire and result in secret overeating.

The study by researchers at King’s College London and University College London (UCL) focused on looking for environmental factors which could explain the global obesity crisis.

WHAT SHOULD A THREE-YEAR-OLD EAT PER DAY?

- 2.5 serves: vegetables (75g), legumes (half a cup), potato (half a cup)

- 1.5 serves: milk (one cup), yoghurt (three quarters of a cup), cheese (two slices)

- 1 serve: fruit (ie: one apple, one banana, two plums)

- 4 serves: bread (one slice), rice or pasta (half a cup), wheat cereal (two thirds of a cup)

- 1 serve: meat (65g), chicken (80g), eggs (two large), nuts (30g)

Twins Annelise and Jordan have very different appetites. Picture: Adam Head

In Queensland more than one quarter of children are obese or overweight and the chief of the Australian Medical Association Queensland says that while genetic make-up plays a significant role in body shape and size, parents also have a powerful influence in what gets dished up for dinner in most Australian households.

President Dr Dilip Dhupelia said recent research by the Queensland Chief Health Officer revealed that regional areas had some of the worst rates of obese and overweight people, reflecting environmental factors at play.

“How easy it is to access affordable, fresh produce versus fast food plays a role in the public debate about overweight children and obesity. It’s absolutely alarming to note that in our state only 0.6 per cent of children meet daily recommended vegetable consumption, according to the Chief Health Officer report,” Dr Dhupelia told The Courier-Mail.

The US researchers say that all the blame does not lie at the feet of parents.

‘These results show that parents are not the full story when it comes to a child’s weight and blaming parents for being too controlling about feeding may be unfair. Large-scale randomised controlled trials which follow children from early life to later childhood are needed to test if a parent’s feeding practices can influence their child’s eating behaviour and weight,” senior author Dr Clare Llewellyn said.

The study, published in the journal PLOS Genetics, included 4500 twin pairs and it was found that parents fed the twins according to their size.

Gold Coast mum Joanne McClellan says her three year old twins Annelise and Jordan have very different appetites.

“Annelise has a bigger appetite but I try to feed them both the same and offer a healthy fruit or vegetable snacks if she is hungry,” she said.