Opinions of mothers about the weight of their 2-5 years old children and its relation with their own body perceptions

False perception of children's weight by their mothers, either lower or higher than it actually is, can lead to wrong nutrition practices and health problems. In addition to evaluate the perceptions of mothers about their children's and their own weight, the aim of this study was to determine the sociodemographic factors that may influence their perception and to identify maternal beliefs about child nutrition. For this purpose, 170 mother – child dyads were included in the study. The heights and weights of the mothers and children were recorded, and questionnaires were filled by the mothers. The most commonly consulted person with regard to child nutrition was family physician, followed by pediatricians. The final decision on the nutrition of the child was generally made by the mother and 16% of the mothers were asking their children's opinion about meals. Nearly 1/3 of the mothers reported that they would feed their children more based on the opinions of their relatives, and 2/3 stated that they would use nutritional supplements to improve their children's weight. The rate of overweight was considerably high in the group of children who were reported to eat excessively. More than half of the children who were considered "thin" or "very thin" by their mothers were actually normal or overweight. In verbal scale 27% and in visual scale 38,8% of the mothers perceived their children thinner than their actual condition. In verbal scale 10,6% and in visual scale 8,3% of the mothers perceived the weight of their children higher than it actually was. As the weight for length percentile of the child increased, the ratio of mothers who falsely perceive their children thinner increased, both on verbal and visual scale. No relation was determined between the mother's body mass index, education, working condition, number of cohabitants, income of the family and the perception of the child's weight. It has been determined that the verbal and visual self-assessment was less correct in overweight mothers than the others. No significant relation could be determined between the perceptions of mothers about their own weight and their children's weight.