MATERNAL INFLUENCES ON INFANT FEEDING AND INTAKE REGULATION

本子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的众多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能已经从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是中心的，不一定是研究者的机构。在过去二十年中，婴儿超重的发生率有所上升。环境因素可能在起作用，因为这种增长发生得太快，无法归因于基因库的变化。超重的婴儿很可能在以后的发育阶段仍然超重，特别是当父母一方或双方都很胖的时候。父母对婴儿体重状况和生长的影响仍不清楚；肥胖的父母为后代提供了遗传物质和进食的环境。婴儿期为评估喂养方式对调节能量摄入和生长的影响提供了一个独特的机会，因为饮食中的食物成分相对简单，婴儿的食物供应完全由照顾者控制。婴儿和幼儿已经证明有能力通过根据饮食的能量密度调整摄入来自我调节能量摄入。对学龄前儿童的研究表明，喂养互动导致儿童对自己的饥饿感和饱腹感的关注减少，这可能会导致超重。在发育早期，摄食相互作用是否可以作为能量摄入调节和体重增加的个体差异的基础尚不清楚。这项研究的主要目的是测试母亲对婴儿饱腹感或饥饿感的不敏感程度是否与婴儿在出生后第一年自我调节能量摄入能力的严重损害以及体重和体脂的增加有关。第二个目标是评估可能预测母亲对婴儿喂养线索敏感性的因素，包括母亲的体重状况、喂养方法、母亲对婴儿自我调节摄入能力的看法以及母亲对自己的饥饿和饱腹感线索的反应。为了实现这些目标，将在项目的第一年制定食物摄入调节和母亲对婴儿饥饿信号敏感性的措施。这些措施将用于前瞻性地评估母亲对3、6和12个月大的婴儿食物摄入调节和生长的影响。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The prevalence of overweight in infancy has increased over the past two decades. Environmental factors are likely at work as this increase has occurred too rapidly to be attributable to changes in the gene pool. Overweight infants are likely to remain overweight at later points of development, particularly when one or more parent is heavy. The nature of parental contribution to infant weight status and growth remain unclear; heavy parents provide their offspring with both genetic material and the environment in which eating occurs. Infancy provides a unique opportunity to assess the influence of feeding practices on the regulation of energy intake and growth because the food composition of the diet is relatively simple and its availability to the infant is completely controlled by the care giver. Infants and young children have demonstrated ability to self-regulate energy intake by adjusting intake based on the energy density of the diet. Research with pre-school aged children has shown that feeding interactions that result in decreased attention to children's own hunger and fullness may contribute to the development of overweight. Whether feeding interactions may serve as a basis for individual differences in energy intake regulation and weight gain at earlier points in development is unknown. The main goal of the proposed research is to test whether greater levels of maternal insensitivity to infants' fullness or hunger cues are associated with greater impairment of infants' ability to self-regulate energy intake and greater gains in weight and body fat during the first year of life. A secondary goal is to evaluate factors which may predict maternal sensitivity to infant feeding cues including maternal weight status, feeding method, maternal perceptions of the infant's ability to self-regulate intake and mothers' responsiveness to her own hunger and fullness cues. To address these goals, measures of food intake regulation and maternal sensitivity to infant hunger cues will be developed in the first year of the project. These measures will be used to prospectively evaluate maternal influences on infant food intake regulation and growth in a sample of infants seen at 3, 6, and 12 months of age.