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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2021 Dec;24(18):6034-6045.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980021002391. Epub 2021 May 28.

Maternal characteristics influence infant feeding styles in Caribbean women

Amika S Wright  1 , Marshall K Tulloch-Reid  1 , Susan M Chang  1 , Susan P Walker  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Maternal characteristics influence infant feeding styles in Caribbean women

Amika S Wright et al. Public Health Nutr. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: To examine associations between maternal characteristics and feeding styles in Caribbean mothers.

Design: Participants were mother-child pairs enrolled in a cluster randomised trial of a parenting intervention in three Caribbean islands. Maternal characteristics were obtained by questionnaires when infants were 6-8 weeks old. Items adapted from the Toddler Feeding Behaviour Questionnaire were used to assess infant feeding styles at the age of 1 year. Feeding styles were identified using factor analysis and associations with maternal characteristics assessed using multilevel linear regression.

Setting: Health clinics in St. Lucia (n 9), Antigua (n 10) and Jamaica (n 20).

Participants: A total of 405 mother-child pairs from the larger trial.

Results: Maternal depressive symptoms were associated with uninvolved (β = 0·38, 95 % CI (0·14, 0·62)), restrictive (β = 0·44, 95 % CI (0·19, 0·69)) and forceful (β = 0·31, 95 % CI (0·06, 0·57)) feeding and inversely associated with responsive feeding (β = -0·30, 95 % CI (-0·56, -0·05)). Maternal vocabulary was inversely associated with uninvolved (β = -0·31, 95 % CI (-0·57, -0·06)), restrictive (β = -0·30, 95 % CI (-0·56, -0·04)), indulgent (β = -0·47, 95 % CI (-0·73, -0·21)) and forceful (β = -0·54, 95 % CI (-0·81, -0·28)) feeding. Indulgent feeding was negatively associated with socio-economic status (β = -0·27, 95 % CI (-0·53, -0·00)) and was lower among mothers ≥35 years (β = -0·32, 95 % CI (-0·62, -0·02)). Breast-feeding at 1 year was associated with forceful feeding (β = 0·41, 95 % CI (0·21, 0·61)). No significant associations were found between maternal education, BMI, occupation and feeding styles.

Conclusion: Services to identify and assist mothers with depressive symptoms may benefit infant feeding style. Interventions to promote responsive feeding may be important for less educated, younger and socio-economically disadvantaged mothers.

Keywords: Feeding styles; Maternal characteristics; Non-responsive feeding; Responsive feeding.

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