Sex Differences in Maternal Restrictive Feeding Practices in the Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Obesity Prevention
• Child Development
• Parenting Interventions

Background:

• The "Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories" (SIGHT) study evaluated a responsive parenting (RP) intervention for early obesity prevention.
• The RP intervention showed reduced BMI z-scores at age 3, with a greater effect observed in girls compared to boys.
• This analysis investigates if child sex influences maternal feeding practices and moderates the intervention's impact on feeding behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if child sex is associated with differences in maternal feeding practices.
• To examine whether child sex moderates the effects of the responsive parenting intervention on maternal feeding practices.

Main Methods:

• Mothers (N=279) completed feeding style questionnaires at 28 weeks gestation and at ages 1, 2, and 3 years.
• Data were analyzed using two-way analysis of variance and repeated measures to assess sex differences and intervention effects.

Main Results:

• Mothers reported higher food restriction for boys than girls across multiple assessments (P=.04).
• At age 3, the intervention's effect on restriction varied by sex (P=.047), with RP mothers of boys showing higher restriction than RP mothers of girls (P=.002).
• No significant sex differences or interactions were found for other feeding practices like structure or pressure.

Conclusions:

• Maternal feeding practices, specifically restriction, differed by child sex, with boys experiencing more restriction.
• These sex-based differences in feeding may be linked to girls' potentially better self-soothing and self-regulation abilities.
• Findings highlight the importance of considering child sex when implementing parenting interventions for obesity prevention.