Preventing Childhood Obesity Through Early Guidance

Along with birth weight and parental body size, infant feeding is recognized as one of the most influential biological and environmental factors that affect weight gain during infancy. Parental feeding practices have a strong impact on children's food availability, eating behaviors, and weight. The Institute of Medicine's(IOM) recent report (2011) on early childhood obesity prevention policies recommends five approaches to preventing obesity: assess, monitor, and track growth from birth to age 5; increase physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior in young children; support breastfeeding and be responsive to children's feeding cues; limit screen time; and promote age-appropriate sleep for young children. Based on the previous work by this research team, and in collaboration with a major urban health department, we propose to test an intervention that incorporates all the IOM's recommendations to prevent the development of obesity in at-risk infants. The intervention will be guided by health professionals and delivered through home visits by community health workers (CHWs), supervised by public health nurses (PHN), to Mexican American women and children who are clients of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program in Houston, TX. The intervention will occur for 2 years with 1 year of follow-up, for a total of 3 years of measures.