Objective  To explore the influence of grandparenting on children aged 0 – 6 years and to provide references for promoting healthy development of the children.

  Methods  We extracted the data on 2 970 children aged 0 – 6 years from the dataset of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2016. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression model with dummy variables was used to explore the influence of grandparenting on health status of the children after adjusting for personal, genetic, familial, and environmental factors.

  Results  The median and interquartile range of weight-for-age z-score (HAZ) score were 0.18 and – 1.24 – 1.79, indicating a generally good health status for all the children. The detection rate of moderate and severe malnutrition was 12.9% among the children. The health level of rural children was significantly lower than that of urban children and the health level of the children raised entirely by grandparents was significantly lower than that of children raised by parents (both P < 0.001). The results of hierarchical regression analysis indicated that grandparenting was of significant influence on early childhood health (P < 0.001). Paternal health, family size and availability of medical insurance also affected early childhood health significantly (all P < 0.05).

  Conclusion  In China, 0 – 6 children are healthy as a whole, but grandparenting exerts a certain negative impact on early childhood health. Parents should pay attention to child rearing to promote healthy development of their children effectively.