Maternal prepregnancy BMI is not associated with breastfeeding duration, dietary diversity, or child feeding practices in low‐income Mexican children 1–24 mo

Maternal prepregnancy body mass index (pBMI) is associated with shorter breastfeeding (BF) duration. Whether pBMI is associated with child feeding practices in middle‐income countries with a high prevalence of maternal obesity has not been investigated. We examined the association of pBMI with BF duration, dietary diversity, and child feeding in Morelos, Mexico. We used cohort data (n=370) where information on CFP was available at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 mo. The WHO dietary diversity indicator was used, and a child feeding index (CFI) that included breastfeeding, complementary feeding and other behaviors was constructed to measure feeding practices. The associations of pBMI and duration of BF were examined with survival analysis; linear regression was used to examine the associations of pBMI with dietary diversity and CFI. We assessed whether child's age modified the associations. Mean pBMI was 24.4 kg/m 2 ; 31% of the mothers were overweight and 9% were obese. pBMI was not associated with duration of BF nor with dietary diversity. Higher pBMI was associated with slower rate of decline in CFI over time (p=0.07 for interaction), although this decrease was not of public health importance. In these Mexican women with this proportion of maternal obesity, pBMI was not associated with BF duration, dietary diversity, or feeding practices, as measured by our CFI index, from 1–24 mo. Funding, DNS Small Grants. MI and Thrasher Research Fund.