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Proportion of infants meeting the Australian 24-hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years: data from the Melbourne
Kylie D Hesketh1, Katherine L Downing2, Karen Campbell2
1Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), School of Exercise and Nutrition Science, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia. kylie.hesketh@deakin.edu.au.
Insights
Few Australian infants meet 24-hour Movement Guidelines. Tummy time and screen time guidelines need most attention for infant development and health. Parents need support to help infants meet these crucial movement behaviors.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Public Health
Background:
- Infant movement behaviors are crucial for development, yet understudied.
- New Australian 24-hour Movement Guidelines offer a benchmark for infant activity.
- Current infant movement behaviors relative to guidelines are largely undocumented.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the prevalence of 4-month-old Australian infants meeting the 24-hour Movement Guidelines.
- To assess adherence to individual guidelines (physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep) and combined adherence.
- To explore associations between infant/family characteristics and guideline adherence.
Main Methods:
- Utilized maternal report baseline data from the Melbourne Infant Feeding, Activity and Nutrition Trial Program.
- Assessed physical activity (tummy time), sedentary behavior (restraint time, screen time), and sleep duration against guidelines.
- Calculated prevalence of meeting individual and combined guidelines; analyzed associations with demographic factors.
Main Results:
- Only 3.5% of 455 infants met all four combined guidelines.
- Prevalence meeting individual guidelines: 29.7% (tummy time), 56.9% (restrained), 27.9% (screen time), 58.7% (sleep).
- Higher adherence to screen time and combined guidelines observed in girls versus boys; few other associations found.
Conclusions:
- A significant gap exists between current infant movement behaviors and recommended 24-hour Movement Guidelines.
- Tummy time and screen time guidelines require the most improvement for optimal infant health.
- Parental support and targeted strategies are essential to improve infant adherence to movement guidelines.
Background:
Little information is available on the movement behaviours of infants, despite evidence that these are important for development. The release of new Australian 24-hour Movement Guidelines provides an opportunity to document the current state of movement behaviours in infants relative to these guidelines. The aim of this study was to report the prevalence of 4 month old Australian infants meeting the 24-hour Movement Guidelines, individually, and in combination, and to describe associations with individual characteristics.
Methods:
Maternal report baseline data from the Melbourne Infant Feeding, Activity and Nutrition Trial Program were used to determine prevalence of infants meeting physical activity (30 min of tummy time per day), sedentary behaviour (no more than 1 h at a time kept restrained; zero screen time), and sleep guidelines (14-17 h for 0-3 month olds or 12-16 h for 4-11 month olds). Prevalence of infants meeting combined guidelines was also described. The odds of meeting guidelines based on infant and family characteristics was determined.
Results:
Data are reported for 455 infants with a mean age of 3.6 months (SD = 1.0). The proportion of infants meeting each of the guidelines was 29.7% for tummy time, 56.9% for kept restrained, 27.9% for screen time, 58.7% for sleep and 3.5% for the combined guidelines (i.e. meeting all four guidelines). A significantly higher proportion of girls than boys met the screen time guideline (32.5% versus 24.0%, p = 0.04) and the combined guidelines (5.7% versus 1.6%, p = 0.01). Few associations were observed between infant and family characteristics and proportion of infants meeting individual guidelines.
Conclusions:
Very few infants met all of the guidelines contained in the new Australian 24-hour Movement Guidelines suggesting there is much room for improvement in movement behaviours from early life. Fewer infants met the tummy time and screen time guidelines hence these appear to be the behaviours requiring most attention. Parents and others providing care to infants require support and strategies to assist them in adhering to the guidelines to ensure optimal health and development for the youngest in our population.
