title: Parental Perceptions of Weight During the First Year of Life.
abstract: More than half of parents underestimate their overweight child's weight; however, previous research focuses on children older than 2 years of age. The objective of this study was to assess whether parents of 2- to 12-month-old infants are able to accurately perceive their children's weight status.
  
  
  
  We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data collected from the Greenlight study, a cluster randomized obesity prevention trial, at 4 pediatric clinics serving diverse and low-income populations. Infants' length and weight were measured at well-child checks, and parents completed questionnaires including demographic characteristics and perception of their children's weight. Weight-for-length (WFL) percentile at the fifth to ≤95 was considered healthy weight and WFL percentile >95th was considered overweight. We used chi-squared tests to compare accuracy according to weight category and performed logistic regression analysis to assess accuracy at each time point.
  
  
  
  Approximately 85% to 90% of infants (n = 853 at 2 months, n = 563 at 12 months) were at a healthy WFL at all measurement times, and parents of these infants were more likely to have an accurate perception of their child's weight (accuracy 89%-95%) than overweight children (accuracy 7%-26%; P < .001 across time points). Approximately 10% of healthy weight infants were perceived as underweight by their parents at all time points. At 12 months, mothers who were overweight were significantly more likely to underestimate their child's weight status (P = .008).
  
  
  
  In our diverse and low-income sample, parents of overweight infants infrequently know that their infants are overweight. Future studies should examine how perception is related to feeding habits and weight status over time.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC. Electronic address: callie.brown@unc.edu.
authors.forename: Callie L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC.
authors.forename: Asheley C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Skinner
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine/Bellevue Hospital Center, New York University, New York, NY.
authors.forename: H Shonna
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Services Research, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn.
authors.forename: Russell L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Rothman
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
authors.forename: Lee M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Sanders
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Fla.
authors.forename: Alan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Delamater
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC.
authors.forename: Sophie N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Ravanbakht
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC.
authors.forename: Eliana M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Perrin
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight; D010290:Parents; D010465:Perception; D011203:Poverty; D013851:Thinness; D044465:White People
keywords: growth; infant; overweight; perception; weight