Table 1.

Themes and illustrative quotes for complementary feeding motives.

Themes and Description	Illustrative Quotes
Promoting Health and Nutrition  Participant discussed the importance of selecting foods that were high in nutritional content and/or foods that supported optimal growth and development.	• That’s very important …, making sure she’s getting the nutrition that she needs-lots of fruits and vegetables. (P3–13 months) • As long as they’re getting all of their recommended vitamins and nutrients … from those foods … that’s what’s most important. (P4–16 months)
Limiting Unhealthy Foods  Participant discussed the importance of avoiding foods that contained ingredients they considered to be unhealthy, such as salt, sugar, or fat.	• I just don’t think it’s healthy for babies to have a whole lot of salt or sugar. (P21–11 months) • I just try not to feed him obvious sweets like cookies and ice cream. (P18–16 months)
Natural/Organic  Participant discussed the importance of selecting foods that were natural or organic.	• We’ve been really adamant about if it’s organic. And if it’s not organic, we’re always looking at the ingredients on the labels now. (P13–6 months) • I don’t like the Gerber food like chicken and rice … If I’m going to give him chicken and rice, it’s going to be real chicken and rice. So I’m just sticking more to … stuff that’s just really natural. (P24–8 months)
Convenience  Participant discussed convenience as an important factor in food selection for their infant.	• Ease and convenience is something that is … very important to me. (P12–9 months) • Convenience is very important. It makes life easier. (P4–16 months)
Liked by Baby  Participant discussed the importance of selecting foods that the baby enjoyed eating.	• Taste is of course number one. If he doesn’t like it, it’s not even worth it because he’s not going to eat it. (P24–8 months) • I was raised in a house where you only get one meal. Like mommy is not making two and three meals. So I’ll try it again. But if I really know like he doesn’t like it, then I won’t try it again. (P26–11 months)
Behavioral Influence  Participant discussed the importance of selecting foods that would promote infant sleep, positive mood, contentedness. Examples included using food to cheer the infant up or to help with sleep.	• I have to feed her solids otherwise she’s cranky and hungry … breast milk isn’t just enough. (P15–9 months) • We were considering, “Well, should we give her oatmeal at night … to make her more full? Is that why she’s waking up?” … “Should we feed her to get her to sleep more?” (P16–12 months)
Perceived Threats  Participant discussed adverse outcomes they perceived to be associated with complementary feeding.	• That’s scary … just thinking about the food allergies and the choking hazard. (P20–13 months) • I wanted to avoid having potentially, a picky eater … so we just slowly started introducing … what seemed normal for us. (P16–12 months)