SEEDS is an evidence-based, childhood obesity prevention program for caregivers of 3- to 5-year-old children. Although we use the term “parent” in the pages that follow, the program would be helpful for anyone with responsibility for the feeding of young children (parents, grandparents, other relatives, foster parents, childcare workers, etc.). The program is administered through 7 weekly, small group sessions consisting of parent, child, and family lessons. In the parent lessons, parents learn to help their children become more responsive to their internal cues of hunger and fullness (thereby preventing overeating) and to increase their children’s interest in trying new foods. In the child lessons, children learn to identify and respond to their internal cues of hunger and fullness and are encouraged to explore and try new foods. Family lessons for parents and children together reinforce these messages.
The sessions are engaging for parents and young children: parents learn best-practice feeding strategies through videos, facilitator-led group discussions, and experiential learning activities; children learn healthy eating practices through stories, circle time, and active learning adventures.
Although the lesson plans and facilitator guides are in English, all materials used with parents and children are available in English and Spanish and the program is designed for families from a range of socioeconomic and racial/ethnic backgrounds. In the initial program evaluation (a randomized, controlled study of 255 Latina mothers and their preschool children), mothers who received the SEEDS program showed more responsive feeding practices and reported greater confidence in feeding their child—both at the end of the program and 12 months later. Additionally, twelve months after participating in the program, SEEDS children were significantly less likely to become overweight than controls (see research section for more details).
The SEEDS program was developed through a collaboration between Baylor College of Medicine’s Children’s Nutrition Research Center and Washington State University Extension and funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, USDA 2011-68001-30009.
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