Maternal Behavior and Infant Weight Gain in the First Year
Abstract
Objective
To examine the relative contributions of maternal characteristics and behaviors in predicting infant weight gain over the first year of postpartum life.
Design
Longitudinal study of maternal feeding style throughout infancy.
Setting
A Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children center.
None of the mother-infant perinatal measures predicted infant weight gain from birth to 3 months, nor did measures from birth to 3 months predict weight gain from 3 to 6 months. However, the number of feedings and lessened maternal sensitivity to infant cues predicted weight gain from 6 to 12 months.
Conclusions and Implications
These results suggest that feeding plays an important role in promoting rapid weight gain in infants, since the maternal reports of feeding frequency, as well as their lessened sensitivity to the infants' cues, indicate that the infants in this study may have been regularly overfed. Nutrition educators who work with low-income populations should provide guidance to mothers in feeding their infants by helping them to recognize hunger signals and respond to satiety cues.
Address for correspondence: John Worobey, Ph.D., Department of Nutritional Sciences, Rutgers University, 26 Nichol Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-2882; Phone: (732) 932-6517
Continuing Education Questionnaire available at www.sne.org/ Meets Learning Need Codes for RDs and DTRs 4120, 4150, and 5070.
This research was supported by grants HD039697 and HD047338 to the first author.
ABSTRACT
Maternal Behavior and Infant Weight Gain in the First Year