“Mommy, what are you eating?” Examining the links between the maternal and child diet in the context of the household food environment

Beyond how mother and child interact in a feeding episode or how maternal food preferences affects food selection or food exposures, the mother‐child (M‐C) food relationship has been given little systematic research. Dietary recall data, interview transcripts, and home‐observations from an ethnographic study of mothers (n=29) with children 6–18 mo in Morelos, Mexico were used to examine the links between the maternal and child diets, including food items and meal composition, what the family was eating, and factors that influenced these practices. There was substantial variability between M‐C pairs in the frequency of shared meals and foods, which is attributable to the age of the child, time of the day, the child's sleep patterns, maternal food preferences, and presence of other family members. Maternal conceptualization of child‐appropriate foods (e.g., without chile , soft, semi‐solid, or liquid consistency) was a key factor for sharing foods. During the day mothers consumed child‐appropriate items (soups or broths), but in the evening, 48% of the mothers reported a meal consisting of adult foods (e.g., meat or eggs in sauce), while the child received what the mother judged to be appropriate. The degree of sharing and the factors that influence them are captured by the concept of “food space,” which provides a new lens through which to view the M‐C food relationship and suggests a need for holistic approaches to complementary feeding research. Funding sources, DNS Small Grants, Human Ecology Alumni Assoc., Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell Univ.