{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/115714"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/115714","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Filling the gap: Understanding complementary feeding practices in early care and education settings","abstract":"Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2024-05-01","abstract_html":"Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled &#x27;Closed Access&#x27;, the embargo will last until 2024-05-01","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Lundquist, Alexandra"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Nutritional Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Donovan, Sharon M","McBride, Brent A","Chapman-Novakofski, Karen","Fiese, Barbara H"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-05","date_published":"2022-05","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:55Z","subjects":["Nutrition","Infant feeding","Complementary feeding","Transition to solids","Childcare","Early care and education","Responsive feeding","Feeding practices"],"languages":["en","eng"],"rights":["Copyright 2022 Alexandra Lundquist"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115714","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Donovan, Sharon M","McBride, Brent A","Chapman-Novakofski, Karen","Fiese, Barbara H"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Lundquist, Alexandra"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2022-05","2022-04-21"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Nutritional Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Nutrition","Infant feeding","Complementary feeding","Transition to solids","Childcare","Early care and education","Responsive feeding","Feeding practices"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2022 Alexandra Lundquist"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115714"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2024-05-01","The student, Alexandra Lundquist, accepted the attached license on 2022-04-18 at 13:36.","The student, Alexandra Lundquist, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2022-04-18 at 13:50.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2022-04-21 at 08:01.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #17753 on 2022-11-11 at 12:47:13","The transition to complementary foods beginning around 6 months of age represents a sensitive period in the development of human eating habits and preferences, and associations with food and eating (Mura-Paroche, Caton, Vereijken, Weenen, & Houston-Price, 2017). This period is a key opportunity to address childhood health and nutrition (UNICEF, 2020) as established dietary behaviors appear to track into adulthood (Saavedra, Deming, Dattilo, & Reidy, 2013). Early care and education (ECE) settings are influential environments for children during this period (Benjamin-Neelon, 2018) as 30% of infants < 1 year of age attend center-based childcare arrangements (U.S. Department of Education, 2021), where they spend, on average, 31 hours per week (U.S. Department of Education, 2019). Yet, there is a critical gap in understanding of teacher feeding practices with infants during the complementary feeding, as no instruments have been developed to capture and assess teacher feeding practices during this key developmental period. Therefore, the first aim of this research included development and validation of a questionnaire to understand how teachers navigate infants’ transition to complementary feeding. Validity was established by expert review (N=3) and cognitive interviews (N=2). N=126 teachers completed the online questionnaire. Test-retest reliability (n=24) was not established for most questionnaire items. Most teachers reported taking the lead on guiding infants’ transition to CF often (43.7%) or always (31.7%). Teachers differed in agreement on the use of developmental readiness cues to introduce complementary food based on the ECE policy context they worked in (χ2(2) = 6.820, p = .033). The second aim was to develop an observational measure to define and capture responsive feeding practices of infant teachers during the transition to complementary foods. Responsive feeding refers broadly to the support of children’s hunger and satiety cues (Satter, 2016). A coding scheme was developed using an iterative observational design. N=18 pilot mealtime observations were coded. Novel operational definitions of 5 responsive feeding practices were refined through the iterative coding process. There were many aspects of teachers’ responsive feeding practices that appear specific to the ECE context or transition to complementary feeding period. Teachers used more responsive practices (79.7%) than non-responsive practices (20.3%) during mealtimes with infants. Overall, this research offers unique insight into complementary feeding practices and represents an important first step in better understanding feeding practices within ECE settings during a critical period in the development of eating behaviors."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Filling the gap: Understanding complementary feeding practices in early care and education settings"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Donovan, Sharon M","McBride, Brent A","Chapman-Novakofski, Karen","Fiese, Barbara H"],"dc:creator":["Lundquist, Alexandra"],"dc:date":["2022-05","2022-04-21"],"dc:description":["Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2024-05-01","The student, Alexandra Lundquist, accepted the attached license on 2022-04-18 at 13:36.","The student, Alexandra Lundquist, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2022-04-18 at 13:50.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2022-04-21 at 08:01.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #17753 on 2022-11-11 at 12:47:13","The transition to complementary foods beginning around 6 months of age represents a sensitive period in the development of human eating habits and preferences, and associations with food and eating (Mura-Paroche, Caton, Vereijken, Weenen, & Houston-Price, 2017). This period is a key opportunity to address childhood health and nutrition (UNICEF, 2020) as established dietary behaviors appear to track into adulthood (Saavedra, Deming, Dattilo, & Reidy, 2013). Early care and education (ECE) settings are influential environments for children during this period (Benjamin-Neelon, 2018) as 30% of infants < 1 year of age attend center-based childcare arrangements (U.S. Department of Education, 2021), where they spend, on average, 31 hours per week (U.S. Department of Education, 2019). Yet, there is a critical gap in understanding of teacher feeding practices with infants during the complementary feeding, as no instruments have been developed to capture and assess teacher feeding practices during this key developmental period. Therefore, the first aim of this research included development and validation of a questionnaire to understand how teachers navigate infants’ transition to complementary feeding. Validity was established by expert review (N=3) and cognitive interviews (N=2). N=126 teachers completed the online questionnaire. Test-retest reliability (n=24) was not established for most questionnaire items. Most teachers reported taking the lead on guiding infants’ transition to CF often (43.7%) or always (31.7%). Teachers differed in agreement on the use of developmental readiness cues to introduce complementary food based on the ECE policy context they worked in (χ2(2) = 6.820, p = .033). The second aim was to develop an observational measure to define and capture responsive feeding practices of infant teachers during the transition to complementary foods. Responsive feeding refers broadly to the support of children’s hunger and satiety cues (Satter, 2016). A coding scheme was developed using an iterative observational design. N=18 pilot mealtime observations were coded. Novel operational definitions of 5 responsive feeding practices were refined through the iterative coding process. There were many aspects of teachers’ responsive feeding practices that appear specific to the ECE context or transition to complementary feeding period. Teachers used more responsive practices (79.7%) than non-responsive practices (20.3%) during mealtimes with infants. Overall, this research offers unique insight into complementary feeding practices and represents an important first step in better understanding feeding practices within ECE settings during a critical period in the development of eating behaviors."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115714"],"dc:language":["en","eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2022 Alexandra Lundquist"],"dc:subject":["Nutrition","Infant feeding","Complementary feeding","Transition to solids","Childcare","Early care and education","Responsive feeding","Feeding practices"],"dc:title":["Filling the gap: Understanding complementary feeding practices in early care and education settings"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Nutritional Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:55Z"}