Paternal involvement in feeding and its association with nutritional status of children in an urban slum in a low resource setting: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background : In India, childhood malnutrition continues to be a major public health problem, especially in slums. Research mostly focuses on the role of the mother in child feeding, as she spends significantly more time with children. However, the role of fathers, their parenting skills and child feeding practices may also impact child development and eating behavior, independent of maternal factors. There is limited research on the role of the father in child undernutrition, especially in the Indian context. Thus this study was undertaken to address this knowledge gap as well as explore paternal child feeding patterns, their involvement and its association with malnutrition, in the slums. Materials & Methods : This community-based cross-sectional study was done in an urban slum in Bangalore. Two hundred and ten father-child dyads were included. Caregiver's Feeding Styles Questionnaire (CFSQ) was used to assess paternal involvement in parenting and feeding. Anthropometry measurements were taken using standardized methods. Their nutritional status was classified according to WHO growth standards. Logistic regression was used test the association between paternal parenting style and malnutrition. Results : We recruited 116 boys and 94 girls and their fathers. The mean age of the children was 15.94 months (SD – 4.85). One fourth of the fathers were illiterate and most of the families belonged to the middle class. Almost half of the fathers fed their children once a day (57.1%) and engaged them by telling stories as they fed their children (47.1%). The most common paternal feeding style was uninvolved (36%) followed by authoritative (29.5%). Prevalence of undernutrition, stunting, and wasting was 44.3%, 42.8%, and 9.5% respectively. Religion, type of family and per capita income were independently associated with uninvolved feeding style. There was no association between paternal child feeding style malnutrition (p >0.05). Conclusion : Current study explored the dimensions of paternal involvement in child feeding in a slum setting and its impact on child nutrition. A good proportion of fathers were actively involved in child feeding and involvement or paternal feeding styles was not associated with nutritional status of children.