Maternal characteristics influence infant feeding styles in Caribbean women

Objective: To examine associations between maternal characteristics and feeding styles in Caribbean mothers. Design: Participants were mother-child pairs enrolled in a cluster randomised trial of a parenting intervention in three Caribbean islands. Maternal characteristics were obtained by questionnaires when infants were 6-8 weeks old. Items adapted from the Toddler Feeding Behaviour Questionnaire were used to assess infant feeding styles at the age of 1 year. Feeding styles were identified using factor analysis and associations with maternal characteristics assessed using multilevel linear regression. Setting: Health clinics in St. Lucia (n 9), Antigua (n 10) and Jamaica (n 20). Participants: A total of 405 mother-child pairs from the larger trial. Results: Maternal depressive symptoms were associated with uninvolved (beta = 0 center dot 38, 95 % CI (0 center dot 14, 0 center dot 62)), restrictive (beta = 0 center dot 44, 95 % CI (0 center dot 19, 0 center dot 69)) and forceful (beta = 0 center dot 31, 95 % CI (0 center dot 06, 0 center dot 57)) feeding and inversely associated with responsive feeding (beta = -0 center dot 30, 95 % CI (-0 center dot 56, -0 center dot 05)). Maternal vocabulary was inversely associated with uninvolved (beta = -0 center dot 31, 95 % CI (-0 center dot 57, -0 center dot 06)), restrictive (beta = -0 center dot 30, 95 % CI (-0 center dot 56, -0 center dot 04)), indulgent (beta = -0 center dot 47, 95 % CI (-0 center dot 73, -0 center dot 21)) and forceful (beta = -0 center dot 54, 95 % CI (-0 center dot 81, -0 center dot 28)) feeding. Indulgent feeding was negatively associated with socio-economic status (beta = -0 center dot 27, 95 % CI (-0 center dot 53, -0 center dot 00)) and was lower among mothers >= 35 years (beta = -0 center dot 32, 95 % CI (-0 center dot 62, -0 center dot 02)). Breast-feeding at 1 year was associated with forceful feeding (beta = 0 center dot 41, 95 % CI (0 center dot 21, 0 center dot 61)). No significant associations were found between maternal education, BMI, occupation and feeding styles. Conclusion: Services to identify and assist mothers with depressive symptoms may benefit infant feeding style. Interventions to promote responsive feeding may be important for less educated, younger and socio-economically disadvantaged mothers.