Objective To analyze the association between family feeding practices and malnutrition among children aged 2 - 6 so as to provide support for guiding scientific feeding and intervention for child malnutrition.

Methods Multi-level sampling was used to recruit 3 655 kindergarden children from Hefei, Anhui Province. Questionnaire survey was used to collect information from their parents. The content of the questionnaire included children and parents' general information, family feeding practices and their beliefs. The questionnaire contained 12 items and focused on 3 dimensions of parents' feeding style, including restricting feeding, forced feeding and monitoring feeding. A multi-factor logistic regression model was set up to analyze the association between family feeding practices and children's malnutrition.

Results The detection rate of malnutrition among children aged 2 - 6 in Hefei was 3.09%. The detection rate of malnutrition children whose parents adopted monitoring feeding were lower than that without monitoring feeding (χ² = 6.672, P = 0.010). The detection rate of malnutrition children whose parents adopted forced feeding were higher than that without forced feeding(χ² = 14.008, P < 0.001). There is no statistically significant difference in the detection rate of malnutrition among children under the care of parents who adopt restricted feeding methods(χ² = 0.001, P = 0.974)。After adjusting gender, birth weight, fathers' body mass index(BMI), mothers' BMI and fathers' educational level, parents adopted monitoring feeding was a protective factor for child malnutrition OR(95% CI) = 0.633(0.430 - 0.932), P = 0.020; parents adopted forced feeding was a risk factor for child malnutrition OR(95% CI) = 2.104(1.328 - 3.335), P = 0.002.

Conclusion Family feeding practices are associated with malnutrition among children aged 2 - 6. Parents are suggested to adopt scientific and reasonable feeding methods to minimize the risk of malnutrition among children.