healthy start to feeding intervention

Conditions: Weight, Body; Diet Habit

Summary: the current study will test the impact of a 3-session obesity prevention program targeting healthy introduction of solid foods in infancy on growth trajectories, appetite regulation, and diet. the investigators will also test the feasibility and family satisfaction with the treatment. healthy infants with normal and elevated weight-for-length will be enrolled in the study at 3 months of age and complete an initial study visit to assess baseline anthropometrics,demographics, parental feeding practices and beliefs, and infant appetite. infants will than be randomly assigned to either the treatment condition (n = 20) or control condition (n = 20). infants in the control condition will receive no intervention or further contact with the study team besides for completion of a final study assessment visit when the child is 9 months old. infants in the treatment condition will receive a 3 session intervention targeting healthy introduction of solid foods, with study visits occurring when the child is 4 months, 6 months, and 9 months old. all families will complete a final study visit to complete post-treatment period measurements, which will include infant anthropometrics and parent-report of infant appetite, infant diet, and parental feeding practices and beliefs. outcomes include: weight-for-length percentile, infant satiety responsiveness, infant food responsiveness, and infant fruit and vegetable consumption. family satisfaction and treatment attendance will also be assessed.

the purpose of this research study is to pilot test a prevention program to promote healthy introduction of solid foods and healthy weight gain among infants. introduction of complementary foods (i.e., foods besides formula or breast milk) represents a major dietary milestone for infants. the current study will test the feasibility of a 3-session intervention encouraging healthy introduction of complementary foods and use of a responsive feeding approach. feasibility of the intervention and the impact of the healthy start to feeding (hsf) intervention on obesity risk factors and growth will be explored. this will be achieved through exploration of the following aims and hypotheses: aim 1: determine feasibility of the intervention and family satisfaction with the treatment. h1: families assigned to the intervention condition will attend equal to or greater than 67% of treatment sessions. h2: families receiving the intervention will rate the program as helpful and consistent with the families' needs and priorities. aim 2: test the impact of the hsf intervention on growth trajectories, appetite regulation, and diet at post-treatment. h1: infants receiving the intervention will experience lower incidence of high weight-for-length (\> 85th percentile) compared to infants in the control condition. h2: infants in the treatment condition will show greater satiety responsiveness and lower food responsiveness as assessed through a well-validated parent-report measure (baby eating behavior questionnaire; llewellyn, van jaarsveld, johnson, carnell, \& wardle, 2010). h3: infants in the treatment condition will consume a greater variety of fruits and vegetables than infants in the control condition as assessed through a food frequency questionnaire completed by parents.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * infant aged 2-3 months at study recruitment * infant not previously introduced to complementary foods (i.e., any food besides formula or breastmilk) * infant born at \> 38 weeks gestation * infant weight-for-length \> 10th percentile * parent is fluent english speaker exclusion criteria: * known infant developmental delay * impaired infant fine or gross motor skills * condition currently impacting the infant's feeding and eating

Keywords: obesity prevention infant complementary feeding diet variety weight-for-length food responsiveness satiety responsiveness