Purpose: Hispanic infants and toddlers experience higher obesity rates than their black or white counterparts, placing them at a greater risk for chronic disease later in life. Infant and toddler feeding (ITF) interventions are shown to improve dietary behaviors, but few studies target Hispanic populations. Culturally tailored interventions are shown to effectively improve health outcomes, but cultural influences on Hispanic ITF practices remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to characterize how culture influences ITF practices among mothers of low income from diverse Hispanic subpopulations. The research questions were, “What value do Hispanic mothers place on cultural ITF practices?”; “How do mothers decide whether to use cultural ITF practices?”; and “What role do influential others play in mothers’ use of cultural ITF practices?”

Methods: A phenomenological approach was used to understand how culture influences ITF. Spanish- and English-language semi-structured qualitative interviews, accompanied by a brief survey, were conducted on Zoom or over the phone with New York City-based Hispanic mothers of children 4-24 months old. A directed content analysis approach was used to identify themes using Theory of Planned Behavior-informed theoretical codes and inductive codes. Transcripts were coded independently by two researchers using NVivo 12. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in Excel.

Results: Participants (n=19) were of Dominican, Mexican, and Central and South American origin, had low acculturation scores, and mean child age was 16.7 months (range: 5-24 months old). The following themes were identified: 1) Mothers highly value culture but infant health is the most influential factor in guiding ITF practices. 2) Mothers have high autonomy in adopting cultural ITF practices. Self-efficacy, social support, information from health professionals, and being outside their country of origin contributed to participants’ sense of autonomy. 3) Mothers associate cultural ITF practices with short-term (e.g., the benefit of fruits for constipation and diarrhea) and long-term (e.g., healthy child development) health outcomes.

Conclusions: Future culturally relevant interventions should promote healthy cultural ITF practices, emphasizing the benefits on infant health. Incorporating social support and evidence-based information from health professionals should also be considered.

Purpose: High prenatal exercise self-efficacy is associated with meeting activity recommendations throughout gestation. In non-pregnant populations weight bias internalization (WBI) has been associated with low self-efficacy for health behaviours. The purpose of this study was to determine if WBI moderates the relationship between self-efficacy and adherence to physical activity (PA) guidelines during pregnancy.

Methods: An online survey was administered to pregnant individuals who were ≥12 weeks gestation and living in Canada. Eligible participants completed a modified WBI scale for pregnancy, the self-efficacy for prenatal exercise questionnaire, a pregnancy-modified Godin Leisure Time Scale (GOTS), and a demographics survey. Participants were classified as active meeting guidelines (>150 min/week of moderate intensity activity per week) (Group 1), active but not meeting guidelines (reported doing light or moderate intensity activity, but did not meet the criteria specifically for >150 min/week of moderate intensity activity per week) (Group 2), and inactive (Group 3) by referring to the Canadian Guideline for PA throughout Pregnancy. A one-way ANOVA was performed to compare self-efficacy for exercise and WBI scores. To determine if WBI moderates the relationship between self-efficacy and meeting PA guidelines, a simple moderation analysis was completed. Significance was accepted as p<0.05, and data for scale scores were presented as means (M) and standard deviations (SD). The following demographics were controlled for in all analyses: maternal age, gestational age, parity, and pre-pregnancy body mass index.

Results: Two-hundred and fifty-three pregnant individuals completed the surveys (Group 1=19, Group 2=168, Group 3=66). Self-efficacy was significantly higher in Group 1 (M=3.92; SD=0.80) compared to Groups 2 (M=3.15; SD=0.57) and 3 (M=2.76; SD=0.75). WBI was higher in Group 2 (M=4.16; SD=0.99) followed by Group 1 (M=3.63; SD=1.92) and 3 (M=3.61; SD=1.05). The overall moderation model was significant (F(7, 194)=10.60, p<0.001, R²=0.28), however, the interaction between self-efficacy and meeting PA guidelines was not moderated by WBI (p=0.82).

Conclusion: Weight bias internalization did not moderate the known relationship between self-efficacy and meeting prenatal PA guidelines. Prospective studies are needed to further extrapolate these findings and better understand how weight bias may be manifested in pregnancy.

Purpose: Complementary feeding is a critical period in the life of infants. Inappropriate feeding practices can have negative long-term effects on health, development, and wellbeing. In this context, the aims of the present work were to characterize complementary feeding practices among 7-10 months old infants and to identify the reasons underlying the deviations from the recommendations using a multi-method approach.

Methods: A total of 374 parents of 7-10 months old infants were recruited at health facilities in Montevideo, Uruguay. A questionnaire including a word association task, closed, multiple-choice and open-ended questions was used. In addition, 212 pediatricians were recruited at the National Pediatrics Conference. They completed a self-administered questionnaire including a word association task and open-ended questions about the recommendations they provide to parents regarding complementary feeding. In-depth interviews with parents of 7-10 months old infants and pediatricians were also conducted.

Results: Complementary feeding practices were characterized by the frequent consumption of fruits and vegetables. However, low dietary variety, an infrequent consumption of meat and the inclusion of sugary dairy products were the most relevant deviations from the recommendations. These deviations matched the structure of the social representations of complementary feeding of both parents and pediatricians identified in the word association task. Misperceptions about the healthfulness of ultra-processed products and the introduction of meat and potentially allergenic foods were also identified as relevant drivers of complementary feeding practices.

Conclusions: Results from the present work suggest the need to implement communicational strategies and interventions to promote variety, early introduction of meat, as well as to raise awareness of the hedonic, social, and developmental aspects of complementary feeding. Front-of-package nutrition labelling and marketing regulations are also needed to improve complementary feeding practices in Uruguay.