Role of Grandparents in Childhood Obesity during First Two Years of Life

Abstract

Introduction: Childhood obesity is a public health problem in the United States. One consideration that remains relatively unexplored is the influence of the grandparent on weight status of the grandchild in ages 0-2 years. The aim of this paper is to synthesize the literature on a) influence of grandparents’ involvement on child weight gain; b) influence of grandparents’ involvement on breastfeeding behaviors and associated obesity risk; c) effects of grandparents’ support about nutrition, cooperative co-parenting, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and body mass index on feeding practices and weight gain; d) impact of child temperament and weight status on grandparent feeding practices; e) contribution of cultural norms and acculturation on child weight gain in ages 0-2 years. Method: A literature search of Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Library and Web of Science databases was conducted. A total of 64 studies published between January 1980 and January 2017 met the inclusion criteria. Results: At present, only few studies have investigated whether grandparent involvement is related to feeding practices and subsequent weight outcomes in children aged 0-2 years, with the actual inclusion of the grandparents. Most of these studies suggest a negative association between grandparent characteristics and child weight gain. Challenges exist in studying this topic, which include, defining a “good diet” for young children, measurement of infant diet, confounding, reporting bias, reverse causality and the difficulties of randomized intervention designs in infant feeding. Conclusion: Identification of grandparent characteristics associated with lower obesity risk may provide health professionals the tools to create effective interventions for obesity prevention.