Explaining infant feeding: The role of previous personal and vicarious experience on attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy, and breastfeeding outcomes.

Objectives: Breastfeeding confers important health benefits to both infants and their mothers, but rates are low in the United Kingdom and other developed countries despite widespread promotion. This study examined the relationships between personal and vicarious experience of infant feeding, self-efficacy, the theory of planned behaviour variables of attitudes and subjective norm, and the likelihood of breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks post-natally.

Design: A prospective questionnaire study of both first-time mothers (n = 77) and experienced breastfeeders (n = 72) recruited at an antenatal clinic in South East England.

Emergence and persistence of overweight and obesity in 7- to 11-year-old children.

Aim: After dramatic rises in paediatric obesity, the critical period for obesity onset may now be pre-adolescence.

Methods: We monitored adiposity over 4 years in 400 children aged 7-9 years recruited from schools in London. Weight, height, waist circumference (WC) and fat mass were measured annually.