Eating behavior profiles in infancy and their associations with parental feeding practices and rapid weight gain

Childhood overweight and obesity are significant public health concerns. Eating behavior profiles using person-centered analysis have been utilized to understand patterns of commonly co-occurring eating behaviors within subgroups of individuals. However, eating behavior profiles, particularly in infancy, remain largely unexplored. Therefore, the aims of this study were to investigate person-centered eating behavior profiles in infants and their associations with infant and parental factors and rapid weight gain (RWG). Online survey included validated measures of infant eating behaviors and parental feeding practices. Infant height/length and weight were reported by parents and used to calculate RWG. Latent profile analysis was used to identify eating behavior profiles. Multiple regression analysis was performed to investigate the associations between parental feeding practices, RWG and eating behavior profiles. Chi-square was used to examine associations between demographics, milk type and eating behavior profiles. A total of 1092 parents of infants under 4 months of age (540 boys, 552 girls) completed the survey. Three unique eating behavior profiles were identified: Food Avoidance (24%, n = 263), Balanced Eating (58%, n = 633), and Food Approach (18%, n = 196). Use of food (milk) to calm was positively associated with the Food Approach profile (p < 0.001) and parental-led feeding with the Food Avoidance profile (p < 0.05). RWG was not associated with eating behavior profiles (p > 0.05). This study indicates that eating behavior profiles emerge in infants under four months old. The findings of this study will advance our knowledge of heterogeneity in infant eating and development and the environmental influences by parental feeding practices.