Weaning Practices on the Island of Ireland

Project start date: 1 March 2016
Project status: Completed
Project type: Food safety
Discipline: Nutrition
Principal researcher/s: Dr Colette Kelly, NUI Galway
Collaborator/s: Prof Patricia Kearney, UCC, Prof Jayne Woodside, Queens University Belfast, Dr Janas Harrington, UCC, Dr Sheena McHugh, UCC, Dr Molly Byrne, NUI Galway, Dr Caroline Heary, NUI Galway, Prof Catherine Hayes, Trinity College Centre for Health Sciences, Dr Seamus Morrissey, Galway City Partnership

Research objective

To investigate the knowledge, attitudes and practices of parents with children between 3 months and 14 months of age in relation to weaning their children
To gain insight into the key barriers and facilitators that parents face when (or if) they are following weaning guidelines with their own children
To investigate the key sources of information and guidance that parents are using which are viewed as both practical and helpful
To identify with parents the mechanisms through which support can be provided for families who are weaning their children
To make recommendations on the ways in which guidelines which offer support for parents around weaning can be improved, based on the feedback from parents.

Outputs

Research report

Title: What parents think about weaning
Publication date: 30 November 2018
Summary: It has been reported that weaning can be both an enjoyable experience and a challenging transition for parents. This research seeks to provide insights into parents’ actual experiences and perceptions.
Findings:
In Ireland, the mean infant age was 8.0 months and the age of weaning ranged from 3 months to 7 months. In Northern Ireland, the mean infant age was 7.6 months and the age of weaning ranged from 2 months to 6 months. Approximately 20% of infants in both regions had not yet been introduced to solid foods. The most common first foods offered to infants included baby rice/cereal, fruit and/or vegetables.
- Parents faced challenges in selecting appropriate foods, influenced by varying levels of knowledge and fears of allergies, underfeeding, overfeeding and choking. Misconceptions and reliance on commercial baby food labels, especially in NI, were evident.
- Parental decisions were influenced by a plethora of reliable and unreliable advice from family, friends, peers and commercial sources. Grandparents’ advice was both valued and dismissed, often seen as “outdated”. Peer influence acted as a barrier and as a facilitator to compliance with weaning recommendations.
- ROI parents felt the absence of health professional visits at weaning time. When formal guidance was given, it was often received too early to be useful and misplaced. Some parents felt that health professionals’ advice should be strictly adhered to, whilst others mistrusted it for reasons which varied.
- Formal recommendations on weaning were seen as insufficient to address the practical challenges that parents face, resulting in participants undertaking practices that are contrary to recommendations. Parents particularly noted this in relation to the timing of food introduction and supplement needs.
- Weaning was a stressful process for many parents, leading to feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment and guilt. These feelings often acted as a barrier to seeking advice from professionals. First-time mothers often lacked confidence and feared judgement from others.
- Parent based weaning decisions on personal circumstances and infant cues, such as perceived hunger and developmental milestones. Myths and parents returning to work also influenced weaning times.
Recommendations:
1. Provide information to parents at the time of weaning
2. Provide parents with best-practice guidelines and the rationale for such guidelines
3. Provide, or signpost, recipe suggestions to parents
4. Provide guidance to parents of different nationalities about local foods to use during weaning
5. Provide specific information about continuing to breastfeed whilst weaning
6. Provide clear guidance on lumps and textures of foods for specific ages, and how to distinguish between gagging from choking
7. Provide parents with information relating to developmental stages, growth spurts, hunger cues and other reasons for disturbed sleep or distress/upset.
8. Face-to-face interaction between parents and healthcare professionals
9. Publicise advice and resources for parents
10. Make weaning guidance for parents available through multiple media channels
11. Provide opportunities for parents to ask questions through multimedia forums
12. Explore the use of multimedia channels to provide weaning guidance to the wider family and community.
13. Relevant healthcare professionals should be provided with weaning training as part of their continual professional development
14. Health professionals should be supported to promote best practice in the timing of weaning, choice of foods, home-cooking and continuation of breastfeeding
15. Parents and professionals should discuss the role of commercial baby foods in the weaning process and the likely impact of food labelling and marketing strategies.
You can download the report below.

What parents think about weaning [PDF]

Other outputs

Conference presentations and seminars

Kelly, C. (2016) Healthy Eating in the Early Years. Oral presentation at the Galway City Early Years Health and Wellbeing Plan 2016-2020 Launch. National University of Ireland Galway, 28th June, 2016.

Kelly, C. (2017). Weaning among disadvantaged parents: Healthy Weight for Ireland group. September 2017, Dublin.

Tully, L., Allen-Walker, V., Spyreli, E., Kearney, P.M., Woodside, J.V., McKinley, M.C., Dean, M. & Kelly, C. (2017). Weaning infants to solid foods among disadvantaged parents: an allIreland study. Oral presentation for Galway and Roscommon HSE Nutrition and Dietetic Service CPD day. Roscommon, 9th September 2017

Tully, L., Kearney, P.M., Woodside, J.V., McKinley, M.C., Dean, M., Spyreli, E., Allen-Walker, V. & Kelly, C. (2017). Complementary feeding among parents from disadvantaged backgrounds: design and recruitment. Oral presentation at the Maternal and Infant Nutrition and Nurture Conference 2017: Nutrition and Nurture in Infancy and Childhood: Bio-Cultural Perspectives. Cumbria, 6th -8 th June 2017.

Tully, L., Kearney, P.M., Woodside, J.V., Allen-Walker, V., McKinley, M.C., Dean, M., Spyreli, E., Allen-Walker, V. & Kelly, C. (2017). Weaning among disadvantaged parents on the island of Ireland: the influence of returning to work. Poster presentation at the Health Promotion Annual Conference 2017: Promoting Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace. National University of Ireland Galway, 15th June 2017.

Tully, L., Allen-Walker, V., Spyreli, E., Woodside, J.V., Kearney, P.M., McKinley, M.C., Dean, M., & Kelly, C. (2017). Weaning infants to solid foods among disadvantaged parents on the island of Ireland: emerging influences on practices. Seminar; University College Cork, 25th July 2017.

Kelly, C., Tully, L., Kearney, P.M., McKinley, M.C., Dean, M., Spyreli, E. & Woodside, J.V. (2017). Complementary feeding among disadvantaged parents on the island of Ireland: Emerging influences on practices. Oral presentation at the British Feeding and Drinking Group Annual Meeting 2017. Reading, 7th April 2017.

Tully, L., Kearney, P.M., Woodside, J.V., McKinley, MC., Dean, M., Spyreli, E., Allen-Walker, V. & Kelly, C. (2017). Weaning to solid infant foods among disadvantaged parents on the island of Ireland: Emerging influences on practices. Poster presentation at the Association for the Study of Obesity in Ireland (ASOI) Annual Conference 2017: Preventing and Treating Childhood Obesity. Dublin, 4th and 5th May 2017. Best poster award.

Tully, L., Allen-Walker, V., Spyreli, E., Woodside, J.V., Kearney, P.M., McHugh, S., McKinley, M.C., Dean, M. & Kelly C. (2018). Perspectives on complementary feeding among parents from disadvantaged backgrounds: a qualitative study. Poster presentation at the European Congress on Obesity. Vienna, 23rd -26th May 2018.

Kelly, C. (2018). Parental experiences of weaning. Healthy Futures Group, Public Health Agency, Health and Social Care Northern Ireland. May 11th 2018. Belfast.

Dissemination related to a weaning study in Northern Ireland by PhD candidate

E. Spyreli. Spyreli, E., McKinley, M. & Dean, M. (2018). The importance of food variety in weaning: A qualitative exploration of mothers’ perceptions in Northern Ireland. Oral Presentation at The Nutrition Society Irish Section 27th Annual Postgraduate Meeting, 14-16 Feb 2018, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Spyreli, E., McKinley, M. & Dean, M (2018). Taste experiences and food exposure in weaning age: a qualitative exploration of maternal perceptions, attitudes and practices. Poster Presentation for the ESPGHAN 51st Annual Meeting, 9-12 May 2018, Geneva, Switzerland