[Effect of eating behavior intervention on infants in the urban area of Chongqing, China]

Abstract

Objective: To investigate how to establish good eating behavior and correct bad eating habits in infants by means of the child health care outpatient clinic and to promote the growth and development of infants.

Methods: Infants aged 0-3 months, who were randomly selected from the urban area of Chongqing, were divided into intervention and control groups. The infants in the intervention group received all intervention measures in the study, while those in the control group received conventional health care. Both groups were subjected to regular monitoring of eating behavior indices including time of introduction of foods, frequency of adding complementary foods and intake frequency of unhealthy foods to analyze the effect of intervention.

Results: In the intervention group, foods were introduced at a reasonable time (P<0.01). Compared with those in the control group, the children aged 9 and 12 months in the intervention group had a significantly higher intake frequency of meat, vegetables and fruits (P<0.01) and a significantly lower intake frequency of sweet drinks (P<0.05), children aged 18 and 24 months in the intervention group had a significantly lower intake frequency of sweet drinks (P<0.01), and the children aged 24 months in the intervention group had a significantly lower intake frequency of ice cream (P<0.01).

Conclusions: Eating behavior intervention can promote the proper introduction of foods and regular addition of supplementary foods, as well as decrease the intake frequency of unhealthy foods such as sweet drinks and ice cream, thus improving the eating behavior of infants.