Infant and Toddler Feeding and Development
A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Pediatric Nutrition".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 December 2025 | Viewed by 51
Special Issue Editors
Interests: nutrition and child development; early child development; parenting interventions; nurturing care; food insecurity; obesity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: food and nutrition security; infant feeding; health disparities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Childhood overweight and obesity are global concerns that can amplify low productivity and increase healthcare expenditure by raising children’s risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular problems, including poor psychosocial health. Obesity prevention and treatment trials introduced during school age have had limited sustainable impacts, leading to recommendations that health promotion and obesity prevention be initiated during infancy and toddlerhood.
Growth patterns established during infancy and toddlerhood are foundational in children’s subsequent growth and development. Children who experience rapid weight gain during their first two years are at an elevated risk of facing lifelong overweight and obesity. Recommendations for feeding practices for infants based on the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans include breast milk for the first six months, followed by complementary feeding at approximately six months, and the continuation of breast milk in a nurturant context that is responsive to infants’ hunger and satiety cues. Recommendations for toddlers include providing a variety of nutrient-rich foods in a daily routine of three meals and two to three snacks, listening to toddlers’ hunger and fullness cues, making mealtime pleasant by eating together, and avoiding pressuring toddlers to eat or using food as a reward or punishment. Across the world, modifiable conditions, including political, environmental, economic, and family factors may either challenge or promote optimal infant and toddler feeding. For this Special Issue exploring infant and toddler feeding practices, we welcome a wide variety of papers that incorporate the contextual aspects of feeding related to growth and development outcomes, addressing both food and feeding, including, but not limited to, the following topics:
- Determinants of early weight gain;
- Observational or interventional designs;
- Quantitative or qualitative methods;
- Breast milk from the breast vs. from the bottle;
- Breast milk vs. formula;
- Infant and toddler feeding and policy implications;
- Infant and toddler feeding and child care centers;
- National and global studies;
- Well-designed implementation studies, regardless of impact;
- Cross-sectional and longitudinal designs;
- Social and cultural aspects of infant food and feeding practices;
- Feeding practices, appetite, development and growth;
- Responsive feeding in the context of nurturing care;
- Infant feeding and father perspectives and influences;
- Infant and toddler feeding decisions and food companies;
- Infant and toddler feeding and maternal health and well-being;
- Infant and toddler feeding, health and development.
Prof. Dr. Maureen M. Black
Dr. Jigna M. Dharod
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- milk-feeding
- complementary foods
- feeding styles
- self-regulation
- growth
- development
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