Feeding Children

Given a supportive feeding context, children develop Eating Competence-consistent eating attitudes and behaviors: They feel good about eating, push themselves along to eat the food their trusted grownups eat, eat as much as they need to grow predictably, and join in comfortably with family meals and structured snacks. These positive eating attitudes and behaviors, in turn, allow children to evolve dietary variety,7-9 maintain energy balance and growth,10-12 follow predictable patterns with respect to oral-motor 3, 14 and psychosocial 5, 16 development, and respond optimally to authoritative parenting.17, 18

The Satter Feeding Dynamics Model (fdSatter) is implemented by the Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding (sDOR), which, in turn, is tested by the validated sDOR.2-6y™ Inventory.19, 20 Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding (sDOR) translates authoritative parenting into feeding, encouraging parents and caregivers to take leadership with respect to feeding and giving children autonomy with eating. Adults who score high on sDOR.2-6y™ Inventory trust children to eat what and as much as they want from what they provide and avoiding pressure and restriction,19 direct or indirect, positive or negative.

The Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding

Most children are ready to join in with the meals-plus-snacks routine of family by the end of the first year or the beginning of the second year. After that, parents need to maintain the structure of family meals and sit-down snacks throughout the growing-up years.

When parents do their jobs with feeding, children do their jobs with eating.

sDOR Encourages Adults to Take Responsibility for Feeding, Including:

• Choosing and preparing food
• Providing regular meals and snacks.
• Making eating times pleasant
• Showing children by example, how to interact at family mealtimes.
• Being considerate of children’s lack of food experience without catering to likes and dislikes
• Not letting children have food or beverages (except for water) between meal and snack times.
• Letting children grow into bodies that are right for them

Read about the development and validation of the sDOR.2-6y™ Inventory in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior and the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Following Satter’s Division of Responsibility in Feeding is Associated with Lower Child Nutritional Risk

Validation work combined with earlier evidence relative to the Satter Eating Competence model (ecSatter) indicates that children’s nutritional well-being can be secured through parents’ following sDOR.2-6y™ Inventory and that adults do better with respect to following sDOR.2-6y™ Inventory when they are Eating Competent. Eating Competent adults, those who score high on the validated Satter Eating Competence Inventory (ecSI 2.0) (a score of 32 or higher), provide a positive nutritional environment for their children. They have more nutritious, higher-quality diets,9, 10 show numerous positive health indicators,9, 11, 12 and do better with respect to food management.13, 14 Children of parents who score high on sDOR.2-6y™ Inventory have lower nutritional risk.5, 7

As indicated by coded video observation, parents who score high on sDOR.2-6y™ Inventory actually do feed in a way that is consistent with Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding (sDOR): They do the what, when, and where of feeding and let their child do the how much and whether of eating.6 They also use less restriction and pressure with respect to their child’s eating.5 Moreover, and this is the really big news, parents who score high on sDOR.2-6y™ Inventory have children who show lower nutritional risk.5, 7 That means parents can do their feeding jobs and relax, even when children show seemingly erratic eating behaviors such as eating a lot one day and hardly anything the next, enjoying eating fruits and vegetables one time and not another, and taking weeks, months, and even years to investigate new food.

Relaxing about children’s eating means a lot! Validation results support what parents say: When feeding goes well, they and their children feel better all day. Adults who feed well—who score high on sDOR.2-6y™ Inventory – report better quality of life indicators that go beyond mealtime. Their stress level is lower, their sleep quality is better, and they are less likely to show uncontrolled or emotional eating. Those who have meals about the same times every day indicate a lower incidence of mood and anxiety disorders.5 They see their children as doing better overall,5, 7 and they are more likely to describe their children as being “good eaters.” 8

Adults who feel secure and comfortable with getting enough to eat learn and grow in their ability to manage food and achieve dietary variety.15 Those Eating Competent adults are able to trust children to eat well and grow up positively with eating at the same time as they learn from their child what it looks like to be self-trusting with eating.

Agencies recognize the Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding (sDOR) as best practice! sDOR is a core component of the feeding messages developed for preschool-aged children by:

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Nutrition Guidelines align with the Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding.

Parent Leadership:

The Academy, through its publications and guidance, emphasizes that parents should be responsible for the “what, when, and where” of feeding, meaning providing a variety of food options, regular meal and snack times, and a positive eating environment.

Child Autonomy:

The Academy recognizes the importance of children having the autonomy to decide “how much and whether” to eat of what is offered, allowing them to develop their internal hunger and fullness cues.

Positive Feeding Environment:

The Academy promotes creating a positive and enjoyable feeding experience for both parents and children, which aligns with the principles of sDOR.

Focus on Healthy Eating Behaviors:

The Academy’s focus on promoting healthy eating behaviors and positive relationships with food aligns with the goals of sDOR, which aims to foster eating competence and reduce the risk of disordered eating.