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Infant temperament is associated with potentially obesogenic diet at 18 months

Margarete E Vollrath1, Serena Tonstad, Mary K Rothbart

  • 1Department of Psychosomatics and Health Behavior, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway. margarete.vollrath@fhi.no

International Journal of Pediatric Obesity : IJPO : an Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity
|September 22, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Infant temperament at 18 months is linked to maternal feeding of obesogenic foods and drinks. This association suggests early risk factors for childhood obesity development.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Infant temperament is a key developmental characteristic.
  • Early feeding practices can influence long-term health outcomes, including obesity.
  • Understanding the interplay between temperament and feeding is crucial for early intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between infant temperament at 18 months and maternal feeding of potentially obesogenic foods and drinks.
  • To explore if infant temperament predicts the likelihood of consuming sweet foods, sweet drinks, and night-time caloric drinks.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional study of 40,266 mother-infant pairs from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.
  • Data collected via questionnaires assessing infant temperament (internalizing, externalizing, surgency/extraversion) and maternal feeding practices.
  • Statistical analysis controlled for confounders such as child's gender, weight-for-height, breastfeeding, and maternal education.

Main Results:

  • Infant temperament dimensions were significantly associated with maternal feeding of obesogenic items, independent of maternal negative affectivity.
  • Internalizing infants were more likely to receive sweet foods, sweet drinks, and night-time drinks.
  • Externalizing and surgent temperaments also showed associations with specific obesogenic feeding patterns.

Conclusions:

  • Infant temperament is linked to maternal feeding patterns of potentially obesogenic foods and drinks.
  • These associations suggest early developmental mechanisms contributing to later obesity risk.
  • Further research is warranted to explore these early pathways to obesity.
Abstract

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