Maternal and infant correlates of maternal feeding beliefs and practices in a multi-ethnic Asian population: the GUSTO (Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes) study.
Little is known about the influences of maternal and infant correlates on maternal feeding beliefs and practices in the first 2 years of life, despite its important role in early obesogenic eating behaviours and weight gain.



Cross-sectional study using demographic data of mothers and infants obtained at 26-28 weeks of gestation, and postnatally from birth to 15 months, respectively. The Infant Feeding Questionnaire was administered at 15 months postpartum. The associations between maternal and infant characteristics with seven maternal feeding beliefs and practices subscales were evaluated using multivariate linear regression analysis.



Data obtained from the Singapore GUSTO (Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes) mother-offspring birth cohort.



Mothers and infants (n 1237).



Among other maternal correlates such as age, education, BMI, income and milk feeding practices, ethnicity was a consistent factor associated with six subscales, including concern about infant overeating/undereating and weight status, concern and awareness about infants' hunger and satiety cues, social interaction during feeding and feeding an infant on schedule. Similarly, among infant correlates such as gender and birth order, infant body size gain (reflected by BMI Z-score change from 0 to 15 months) was significantly associated with all subscales except feeding an infant on schedule. Overall, maternal correlates had greater influence on all subscales compared with infant correlates except for the maternal concern about infant undereating or becoming underweight subscale.



The present study highlights that maternal feeding beliefs and practices can be influenced by both maternal correlates and infant correlates at 15 months of age.
1Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences,Agency for Science,Technology and Research,Brenner Centre for Molecular Medicine,30 Medical Drive,Singapore117609.
Phaik Ling
PL
Quah
2Department of Paediatrics,KK Women's and Children's Hospital,Singapore.
Tuck Seng
TS
Cheng
3Center for Quantitative Medicine,Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School,Singapore.
Yin Bun
YB
Cheung
2Department of Paediatrics,KK Women's and Children's Hospital,Singapore.
Fabian
F
Yap
6Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health,National University of Singapore,Singapore.
Seang-Mei
SM
Saw
7MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit,University of Southampton,Southampton,UK.
Keith M
KM
Godfrey
1Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences,Agency for Science,Technology and Research,Brenner Centre for Molecular Medicine,30 Medical Drive,Singapore117609.
Peter D
PD
Gluckman
1Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences,Agency for Science,Technology and Research,Brenner Centre for Molecular Medicine,30 Medical Drive,Singapore117609.
Yap-Seng
YS
Chong
1Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences,Agency for Science,Technology and Research,Brenner Centre for Molecular Medicine,30 Medical Drive,Singapore117609.
Mary Foong-Fong
MF
Chong
D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000208:ethnology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005006:Ethnicity; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D012846:Singapore; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Asian; Child feeding practices; Infant Feeding Questionnaire; Mother’s feeding beliefs; Overweight