Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Child Feeding Practices in Young Children: A Systematic Review of the Literature
Authors: Lindsay Ana Cristina , Mesa Tatiana , Greaney Mary 
Published: November 2023

Objective

Developing healthy child feeding and eating behaviors early in life is an important strategy in the prevention of childhood obesity. Parents, especially mothers, shape their children's early feeding and eating behaviors, and ultimately their weight status in many ways. Given the high prevalence of depression and elevated depressive symptoms among women of childbearing age, and the growing evidence linking maternal depressive symptoms to potentially detrimental maternal feeding practices related to the risk of childhood obesity, the current systematic literature review sought to identify and summarize studies focusing on the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and child feeding practices among preschool aged children.

Methods

Following guidelines by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analysis (PRISMA) we searched academic databases including PsycINFO, PscyARTICLES, Medline, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINHAIL) for studies examining the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and child feeding practices of mothers with preschoolers. Papers were limited to peer‐reviewed, published in English between January 2000 and November 2015. Only studies with normally developing children between the ages of 18 and 60 months of age were eligible for inclusion regardless of status (SES) or maternal nationality. Ten full‐text articles were selected for review from a total of 352 articles identified. Information on study aims, sample, measures of maternal depressive symptoms and child feeding practices, and findings was systematically abstracted from papers and summarized into tables.

Results

Overall results of this systematic review show that maternal depressive symptoms are related to detrimental feeding practices including more controlling feeding practices (pressure & restriction), especially among girls, and negative feeding behaviors (less involved and disorganized practices) such as lower control over child eating routines, lower maternal presence during child's meals, and negative mealtime practices such as child eating breakfast inconsistently, increased sweetened beverage intake, and the use of food as reward. In addition, findings suggest that the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and child feeding practices differ across child gender, with some studies showing that maternal depressive symptoms are related to more controlling feeding practices (i.e., pressure to and food restriction), especially among girls. Methodological inconsistencies across studies related to assessment of maternal depressive symptoms (exposure) and maternal feeding practices (outcome) emerged as main methodological issue limiting further comparison of findings across studies.

Conclusion

Given that both maternal depressive symptoms and child feeding practices are modifiable, understanding their relationships to child eating behaviors and weight status may represent an important strategy for preventing and reducing childhood obesity.