Does the early introduction of solids promote obesity?

Childhood obesity is a major public health challenge across the developed world, and it is vital to understand the modifiable factors that contribute to it. The influence of early-life nutrition on predisposition to later obesity and metabolic disease is now well established. Much research has concentrated on the preventative effects of breastfeeding in relation to childhood obesity risk, but the optimal timing of introducing solid foods has received far less attention.

The joy of parenting: infant sleep intervention to improve maternal emotional well-being and infant sleep.

Introduction: This study aimed to examine how improving infant sleep impacted the emotional well-being of mothers.

Methods: The participants were 80 mothers of infants aged 6-12 months; they attended a primary care medical clinic in Adelaide, Australia, for assistance with infant sleep problems. Behavioural intervention consisted of a 45-minute consultation, where verbal and written information describing sleep physiology and strategies to improve infant sleep was provided.

Behavioral Management of Sleep Problems in Infants Under 6 Months--What Works?

Objective: Crying and unsettled behavior in infancy is common. Prolonged disturbed infant sleep can have significant negative effects on the development of the child, and on the psychological well-being of the mother. Compared to studies examining the effects of behavioral sleep programs such as extinction-based techniques in infants over 6 months of age, fewer studies have looked at such strategies in infants under 6 months of age.

Preventing early infant sleep and crying problems and postnatal depression: a randomized trial.

Objective: To evaluate a prevention program for infant sleep and cry problems and postnatal depression.

Methods: Randomized controlled trial with 781 infants born at 32 weeks or later in 42 well-child centers, Melbourne, Australia. Follow-up occurred at infant age 4 and 6 months.

Reducing postnatal depression, anxiety and stress using an infant sleep intervention.

Objective: To examine the psychological well-being of mothers following participation in a behavioural modification programme previously shown to improve infant sleep.

Design, Setting And Participants: A 45 min consultation with either a general practitioner (GP) or trained nurse providing verbal and written information describing sleep physiology in infants and strategies to improve infant sleep. Eighty mothers of infants 6-12 months of age with established infant sleep problems at a single general practice, Adelaide, South Australia.

Feeding in the first year of life - emerging benefits of introducing complementary solids from 4 months.

Background: Current World Health Organization guidelines recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life. Breastfeeding conveys clear benefits to both mother and child. These benefits are likely to be amplified by prolonged feeding.

Effect of a consultation teaching behaviour modification on sleep performance in infants: a randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a behaviour modification program, taught to parents in a single visit to a trained nurse, in improving sleep performance in newborn infants, Australia.

Design: Randomised controlled trial.

Setting And Participants: 268 families with normal newborn infants in the community, recruited between October 1996 and March 1997 from birth notices published in a South Australian daily newspaper.

Electronic medical records may be inadequate for improving population health status through general practice: cervical smears as a case study.

Objective: [corrected] To determine whether routine electronic records are an accurate source of population health data in general practice through reviewing cervical smears rates in four South Australian practices.

Methods: The cervical screening rate in a purposive sample of four general practices (three rural and one urban) was obtained using an audit of medical records and a telephone follow-up.

Results: The cervical screening rate using only immediately available electronic medical records indicated an overall low rate for the participating practices (44.