Associations between parental engagement with health professionals and child health behaviours

Abstract

Background: Health professionals are an important source of infant feeding advice in the first year of life. However, little is known about the impact of such advice provided as part of routine child health services on feeding practices and other child health behaviours. This study aimed to examine the association between parental engagement with health professionals for breast and formula feeding advice during the first 6 months of life and child health behaviours at 6, 12 and 24 months of the child's age.

Methods: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of survey data from a randomised controlled trial in Australia were conducted. At 6 months, parents were asked what sources of information regarding breast and formula feeding they used; at 6, 12 and 24 months, they were asked about their child's nutrition, feeding and movement behaviours. Cross-sectional and longitudinal multiple logistic regression models examined the association between engagement with health professionals in the first 6 months of life and child health behaviours at 6, 12 and 24 months of age.

Results: A total of 1155 mothers completed the baseline survey, 947 (82%), 920 (80%) and 797 (69%) completed the 6-, 12- and 24-month surveys. Longitudinal modelling indicated that seeking health professional advice regarding infant feeding was associated with a lower likelihood of current breastfeeding (adjusted odds ratio = 0.54, 95% confidence interval = 0.41-0.71, p < 0.001). After adjustment for confounders, engagement with health professionals in the first 6 months of life was not associated with any other child health behaviours based on cross-sectional analyses.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that parental engagement with health professionals for infant feeding support may be a response to significant breastfeeding challenges or transitions in infant feeding, pointing to an opportunity to support more routine health promotion in child healthcare settings before such challenges arise.