Community Health Research Talk: Food Insecurity and Responsive Infant Feeding

How food insecurity shapes responsive feeding during infancy in the UK: Insights from parents and healthcare professionals

The SPROUT study (Supporting Parental Responsive feeding for Optimal Understanding of Thriving child development) explored food insecurity during infancy and responsive feeding, defined as feeding in response to infant hunger and fullness cues. Focus groups were conducted with UK parents (n=39) and healthcare professionals, including health visitors, infant feeding advisers, and nursery nurses (n=22). Themes revealed rising food costs that limited parents’ ability to feed responsively, and financial stress affected parents’ mental health, sometimes leading to nonresponsive practices such as using food to soothe infants. Parents reported high levels of trust with healthcare professionals who emphasized the need to involve the whole family. Findings are now informing co-developed, family-centered responsive feeding guidance that is context-relevant for food insecurity.

Cara Ruggiero is an assistant professor and Vice-Chancellor's Prize research fellow at Aston University and a visiting researcher at the University of Cambridge. Her research examines how family systems and psychosocial factors shape parent feeding practices, childhood obesity, and food insecurity, with a focus on early life. She completed her PhD in nutritional sciences at The Pennsylvania State University before postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and the University of Cambridge. Ruggiero leads an independent program of research, has secured competitive research funding, and has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers in leading nutrition and obesity journals.