Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Child Feeding Practices Of Head Start Parents And Safeguarding The Oral Health Of Very Young Children, Elizabeth T. Powers

Elizabeth T Powers

Dentists serving children in a Head Start program attributed dental problems in preschoolers to parent feeding practices. In particular, parents' use of sippy cups and bottles promotes long exposure of teeth to sugars, causing cavities. This presentation reports the preliminary findings from a survey of feeding practices of parents whose children using a dental clinic. Holding constant child's age and other factors, Head Start parents' feeding practices differ from other parents' in several important respects. While Head Start parents report ending bottle use earlier in the child's life, their intensity of sippy cup use is high, and they more frequently …