Relationship of parental characteristics and feeding practices to overweight in infants and young children in Beijing, China.

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity has become a major public health problem in many countries. To explore the risk factors of overweight in infants and young children might be helpful in developing an early overweight intervention strategy.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of overweight and the relationship of parental characteristics and feeding practices to overweight in infants and young children in Beijing, China.

DESIGN: Data on weight and length/height were collected on 4654 children aged 1-35 months in twelve communities in Beijing from a cross-sectional study. Overweight was defined as weight-for-length/height > or = 2SD above the median of the WHO reference. Two hundred and fifteen families with overweight children and 215 families with normal-weight children were interviewed using a questionnaire to obtain feeding practices.

RESULTS: The overall prevalence of overweight was 4.7%. Both parental overweight and low parental education were significantly higher among overweight than normal-weight children. The total energy intake was significantly higher in overweight than in normal-weight children at 12-35 months of age. Compared with normal-weight children, significantly fewer overweight children were breast-fed for at least 4 months. Overweight children were also more likely to have been introduced to infant formula and semi-solid foods during the first 4 months.

CONCLUSION: Early prevention strategies should include feeding practices identified as putting children at risk of obesity. These include early cessation of breast-feeding and premature introduction of other foods.