Is breast best? Perceptions of infant feeding

This study explored the reasons why young women from low income areas are among those least likely to breastfeed. Focus groups were conducted with 15 health professionals and 11 young, first time mothers were interviewed. Health professionals participating believed that white communities endorsed bottle feeding while Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, although they accepted breastfeeding more readily, were likely to give prelacteal feeds of non-breast milk and to delay weaning. The interviews with mothers revealed a belief that 'breast is best' but factors intervened in a detrimental way resulting in the decision not to breastfeed or in early cessation. Participating mothers expected breastfeeding to be painful and were preoccupied with feeding and weight gain. The desire to have 'fat bonnie babies' demonstrated the mothers' moral attempts to be perceived as 'good mothers' although their actions went against the knowledge that 'breast is best'. Recommendations include educating health professionals about subcultures in their communities and reversing the misconception that breast milk is insufficient for a baby's healthy development. Promoting breastfeeding must include the crucial message that breast milk contains all the nourishment a baby needs.

Retrospective reports of child feeding practices, current eating behaviors, and BMI in college students

Research concerning child feeding practices has focused on children and adolescents, and little is known about how feeding practices used in childhood relate to eating behaviors and weight status in early adulthood. We assessed college students' and their parents' retrospective reports of child feeding practices used when the students were in middle childhood. We also assessed the college students' current reports of their eating behaviors using the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) and the Intuitive Eating Scale (IES), and measured their current BMI. Results showed that college students' and their parents' reports about previous parental use of child feeding practices were not correlated. Parent reports of their own use of child feeding practices were more related to students' eating behaviors and BMI than were students' recollections about feeding practices used by their parents. An analysis of gender effects showed that there were positive correlations between parental child feeding practices, BMI, and emotional eating for female students. These relationships did not exist for male students. The results suggest that child feeding practices recollected by parents are linked to the development of emotional eating and weight status of women in early adulthood.

Similarities between eating attitudes among friendship groups in childhood:the moderating role of child anxiety

Objective: This study explores the similarities between individual and group eating and weight concerns in 8-11-year-old children. It also evaluates whether child anxiety moderates the relationships between individual and group eating and weight concerns. Methods: One hundred and fifty four children aged 8-11 completed questionnaires concerning their friendship groups, their eating and weight concerns, and their levels of anxiety. Results: Children's own scores on dietary restraint, body dissatisfaction, and external eating were significantly correlated with their friendship groups' scores on dietary restraint. Child anxiety moderated the relationships between group dietary restraint and individual scores on external eating. Group levels of dietary restraint predicted higher levels of external eating in children with moderate or high anxiety. Conclusions: In pre-adolescent children, peer group levels of dietary restraint are related to individual eating and weight concerns. More anxious children may be more susceptible to peer influences on their eating behaviors. © The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press.

Contracts for the sale of land and personal property:the equitable interests of the purchaser

As property lawyers, we are all familiar with the general principle that a contract for the sale of land, which is capable of specific performance, operates in equity so as to confer a trust on the purchaser pending completion of the sale. Although some controversy exists as to the exact nature of the trust, it is well established that, upon exchange of contracts, equity will ‘‘treat that as done which ought to be done’’1 with the consequence that the purchaser acquires equitable ownership even though full (legal) title to the land will not pass until completion (and registration). As land is unique, specific performance is readily available in the context of sales of land where damages would, clearly, not be an adequate remedy. The same cannot be said for contracts for the purchase of personal property where invariably the subject matter is not unique and where a substitute can easily be acquired in the open market. In circumstances, however, where the property is unique or scarce (for example, a rare painting or vintage car), the maxim that ‘‘equity treats as done that which ought to be done’’ may be invoked so as to confer on the seller an equitable obligation to transfer the property to the purchaser in fulfilment of the contract. Where, therefore, the contract is specifically enforceable in this way, the seller, it is submitted, will again hold the property on trust for the purchaser where, as in a contract for the sale of land, there is an interval between the date of the contract and completion of the sale. The notion that a seller holds personal property upon trust for the purchaser pending completion of the sale is admittedly controversial, but this article seeks to argue that the same principles governing equity’s intervention in sales of land should apply in the context of sales of personalty. It is submitted that equity’s role in imposing a trust on the vendor both in relation to sales of land and personalty may be important in safeguarding the interests of the purchaser prior to, as well as after, completion of the transaction.

A framework of best practice of continuing professional development for the accounting profession

The International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) places a strong emphasis on individual professionals taking responsibility for their Continuing Professional Development (CPD). On the other hand, the roles performed by professional accountants have evolved out of practical necessity to 'best' suit the diverse needs of business in a global economy. This diversity has meant that professional accountants are seen in highly specialised roles requiring diverse skill sets. In order to enhance the contribution of the accountant as a knowledge professional for business, it follows that CPD that leverages off an individual's experience should be designed to meet the needs of professionals across the different specialised roles within the profession. In doing so the project identifies how CPD should differ across roles and levels of organisational responsibility for accounting professionals. The study also makes a number of policy recommendations to IAESB and IFAC. © 2013 © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

The best days of your life? Youth, policy and Blair's New Labour

Since the election of New Labour in 1997, young people's relationship to work and to the labour market has been the subject of intense scrutiny and policy activity. By equipping young workers with the qualifications and skills they are held to need in the knowledge economy, the government hopes to reconcile its quest for economic progress with the commitment to social justice for young people. However, as this article argues, the importance invested in this area of 'youth policy' overlays a more fundamental process of disengagement in which New Labour is presiding over the withdrawal of those traditional sources of support it has held out to the young. For this reason, the article concludes by suggesting that the importance that New Labour attaches to policy for young workers tells us more about the needs of government than it does about the needs of young people.

Connecting a sociology of childhood perspective with the study of child health, illness and wellbeing:introduction

In the last decades we have seen a growing interest in research into children's own experiences and understandings of health and illness. This development, we would argue, is much stimulated by the sociology of childhood which has drawn our attention to how children as a social group are placed and perceived within the structure of society, and within inter-generational relations, as well as how children are social agents and co-constructors of their social world. Drawing on this tradition, we here address some cross-cutting themes that we think are important to further the study of child health: situating children within health policy, drawing attention to practices around children's health and well-being and a focus on children as health actors. The paper contributes to a critical analysis of child health policy and notions of child health and normality, pointing to theoretical and empirical research potential for the sociology of children's health and illness.

Connecting a sociology of childhood perspective with the study of child health, illness and wellbeing:introduction

This chapter focuses on concepts and theoretical points of departure found in child health and wellbeing studies. Firstly, seeing children as a social group draws attention to the ways this group is placed and perceived in the structures of societies. Children as a social group need to be understood in relation to other social groups. Secondly, understanding children as social agents and as co-constructors of their social worlds is fundamental to studying their experiences and ways of dealing with health and wellbeing in everyday life. Thirdly, in recent years, there has been a turn towards seeing children as beings. The chapter discusses the child health issues and concerns in contemporary society. Children are diagnosed with an increasing range of conditions and are subject to more and more elaborate child health and welfare interventions, reflecting a medical perspective on the changing panorama of illness and health risks in the 21st century.

Every child a wanted child: mid-life women's experiences of contraception

This paper is based on qualitative research which found that the contraceptive pill had achieved a "hegemonic status" among some British women in their thirties. In addition, despite the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, the idea of using condoms was very unpopular, and the research suggests that this is linked to a reluctance to rely on male cooperation over contraception. This paper will further argue that the women generally chose methods that they felt would be in their own best interests, and were often exercising considerable agency within the constraints of their relationships. Moreover, by accepting the responsibility for contraception, the women not only gained sole control over their fertility, but contraception may be an area within heterosexuality where women can exercise power.

Controlling feeding practices:cause or consequence of early child weight?

INTRODUCTION. The exertion of control during child feeding has been associated with both underweight and overweight during childhood. What is as-yet unclear is whether controlling child feeding practices causally affect child weight or whether the use of control may be a reactive response to concerns about high or low child weight. The aims of this study were to explore the direction of causality in these relationships during infancy. METHODS. Sixty-two women gave informed consent to take part in this longitudinal study that spanned from birth to 2 years of child age. Mothers completed the Child Feeding Questionnaire at 1 year, and their children were weighed at 1 and 2 years of age. Child weight scores were converted into standardized z scores that accounted for child age and gender. RESULTS. Controlling for child weight at 1 year, the use of pressure to eat and restriction at 1 year significantly predicted lower child weight at 2 years. CONCLUSIONS. Controlling feeding practices in infancy have an impact on children's weight at 2 years. The use of restrictive child feeding practices during infancy predicts lower child weight at age 2 years, which may reinforce mothers' use of this strategy in the longer term despite its potential association with disinhibition and greater child weight in later childhood.

Stability and continuity of parentally reported child eating behaviours and feeding practices from 2 to 5 years of age

Previous research suggests that many eating behaviours are stable in children but that obesigenic eating behaviours tend to increase with age. This research explores the stability (consistency in individual levels over time) and continuity (consistency in group levels over time) of child eating behaviours and parental feeding practices in children between 2 and 5 years of age. Thirty one participants completed measures of child eating behaviours, parental feeding practices and child weight at 2 and 5 years of age. Child eating behaviours and parental feeding practices remained stable between 2 and 5 years of age. There was also good continuity in measures of parental restriction and monitoring of food intake, as well as in mean levels of children's eating behaviours and BMI over time. Mean levels of maternal pressure to eat significantly increased, whilst mean levels of desire to drink significantly decreased, between 2 and 5 years of age. These findings suggest that children's eating behaviours are stable and continuous in the period prior to 5 years of age. Further research is necessary to replicate these findings and to explore why later developmental increases are seen in children's obesigenic eating behaviours. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Predictors of maternal control of feeding at 1 and 2 years of age

Objective: To establish the best predictors of maternal use of controlling feeding practices at 1 and 2 years of age. Design: A longitudinal study from birth to 2 years. Participants: Sixty-two mothers of 2-year-old children. Measures: Infant weight at birth, 6, 12 and 24 months, breastfeeding history, infant temperament and feeding difficulties at 6 and 12 months, maternal demographics at 12 and 24 months, maternal mental health at 6 and 12 months, maternal controlling feeding practices at 12 and 24 months. Results: Controlling feeding practices at 1 year were predicted by perceptions of infant temperament at 6 months, birth weight, length of breastfeeding, mental health at 6 months, and mealtime negativity at 6 months. Parental control over feeding when their child reached 2 years was predicted by the mother's tendency to use that particular strategy at 1 year in combination with the perceptions of infant temperament and feeding problems at 1 year, weight at 1 year, length of breastfeeding in infancy, and/or maternal mental health at 1 year. Conclusions: Breastfeeding appears to promote subsequent monitoring, and is associated with reduced use of pressurising and restrictive feeding practices. Infant characteristics are important predictors of control at both 1 and 2 years of age. The use of controlling feeding practices is relatively stable from 1 to 2 years. © 2007 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved.

The ‘first three years’ movement and the infant brain:a review of critiques

This article reviews a particular aspect of the critique of the increasing focus on the brain and neuroscience; what has been termed by some, 'neuromania'. It engages with the growing literature produced in response to the 'first three years' movement: an alliance of child welfare advocates and politicians that draws on the authority of neuroscience to argue that social problems such as inequality, poverty, educational underachievement, violence and mental illness are best addressed through 'early intervention' programmes to protect or enhance emotional and cognitive aspects of children's brain development. The movement began in the United States in the early 1990s and has become increasingly vocal and influential since then, achieving international legitimacy in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the UK and elsewhere. The movement, and the brain-based culture of expert-led parent training that has grown with it, has been criticised for claiming scientific authority whilst taking a cavalier approach to scientific method and evidence; for being overly deterministic about the early years of life; for focusing attention on individual parental failings rather than societal or structural problems, for adding to the expanding anxieties of parents and strengthening the intensification of parenting and, ultimately, for redefining the parent-child relationship in biologised, instrumental and dehumanised terms. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Biologising parenting:neuroscience discourse, English social and public health policy and understandings of the child

In recent years, claims about children's developing brains have become central to the formation of child health and welfare policies in England. While these policies assert that they are based on neuro-scientific discoveries, their relationship to neuroscience itself has been debated. However, what is clear is that they portray a particular understanding of children and childhood, one that is marked by a lack of acknowledgment of child personhood. Using an analysis of key government-commissioned reports and additional advocacy documents, this article illustrates the ways that the mind of the child is reduced to the brain, and this brain comes to represent the child. It is argued that a highly reductionist and limiting construction of the child is produced, alongside the idea that parenting is the main factor in child development. It is concluded that this focus on children's brains, with its accompanying deterministic perspective on parenting, overlooks children's embodied lives and this has implications for the design of children's health and welfare services.