Table 1 Characteristics of the total study population (n = 2157)
Variable | Missing (N) | Age at introduction of complementary feeding | p value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
> 4 months N (%) | < 4 months N (%) | |||
Total | 1695(78.58) | 462 (21.42) | ||
Demographic characteristics | ||||
Maternal age at child birth, years, mean (SD) | 31 | 31.36(4.1) | 29.7(4.3) | < 0.001 |
Maternal educational level | 13 | < 0.001 | ||
Low | 147(8.7) | 96(21.1) | ||
Middle | 576(34.1) | 195(42.8) | ||
High | 967(57.2) | 165(36.2) | ||
Maternal ethnic background, native | 4 | 1533(90.3) | 407(88.1) | 0.15 |
Maternal employment status, employed | 4 | 1449(85.6) | 377(81.6) | 0.04 |
Family structure, single parent | 23 | 1659(98.7) | 440(96.7) | < 0.01 |
Infant gender, boy | 1 | 843(49.7) | 263(57.1) | < 0.01 |
Parity, primipara | 0 | 747(44.0) | 251(54.3) | < 0.001 |
Biological factors | ||||
Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI | 5 | 24.0(4.3) | 25.0(4.9) | 0.02 |
Infant gestational age at birth, weeks, mean (SD) | 0 | 39.8(1.0) | 39.7(1.0) | 0.10 |
Infant weight at birth, Z-score, mean (SD) | 10 | 0.4(1.0) | 0.3(1.0) | 0.03 |
Infant postnatal weight gain, Z-score, mean (SD) | 677 | −0.7(0.8) | −0.5(0.9) | < 0.001 |
Behavioral factors | ||||
Duration of any breastfeeding | 6 | < 0.001 | ||
No breastfeeding | 360(21.3) | 169(36.8) | ||
Breastfeeding for 0.5–4 months | 547(19.4) | 207(26.8) | ||
Breastfeeding for 4 months or longer | 789(46.6) | 83(18.1) | ||
Psychosocial factors | ||||
Maternal depressive symptom, yesa | 119 | 1445(89.7) | 371(86.5) | 0.054 |
Parental perceptions on infant characteristics, (agree/strongly agree) | ||||
“My baby drinks greedily” | 23 | 477(28.4) | 135(29.6) | 0.07 |
“My child always wants to eat when he/she sees someone eating” | 23 | 559(33.3) | 212(46.6) | < 0.001 |
“My child does not like plain water” | 45 | 293(17.6) | 114(25.2) | < 0.001 |
“My child cried a lot in the first 3 months” | 16 | 300(17.8) | 99(21.6) | 0.06 |
Parental beliefs about feeding, (agree/strongly agree) | ||||
“Fruit and vegetables can be given to the baby freely earlier than 4 months” | 20 | 39(2.3) | 70(15.4) | < 0.001 |
Parental beliefs about infant weight, (agree/strongly agree) | ||||
“I don’t like my child to be fat” | 20 | 1206(71.7) | 296(64.9) | < 0.01 |
“I don’t like my child to be thin” | 15 | 924(54.8) | 234(51.1) | 0.18 |
Infant temperament | ||||
Soothability, mean (SD) | 31 | 4.8(1.2) | 4.7(1.3) | 0.06 |
Distress to limitation, mean (SD) | 33 | 2.8(0.9) | 2.7(0.9) | 0.27 |
Distress to novel food, mean (SD) | 36 | 2.3(1.4) | 2.2(1.3) | 0.02 |
Social care factors | ||||
Day-care attendance, yes | 25 | 1250(74.4) | 297(65.4) | < 0.001 |
“BBOFT+” interventionb | 0 | 509(30.0) | 127(27.5) | 0.27 |