Interplay between Prepregnancy Body Mass Index, Early Childhood Negative Temperament, and Slowness in Eating on Early Childhood Rapid Weight Gain.

Early childhood eating behaviors and temperament have been linked to excess weight gain in separate lines of research. However, the interplay among these variables along with maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) in predicting rapid weight gain is poorly understood. This observational study tested superfactors of early childhood temperament using the and their relationships with eating behavior using the on rapid weight gain among 9-18 months children ( = 283). The bivariate relationships were evaluated using Pearson correlations. Two-way interactions assessed whether childhood temperament moderated the relationship between childhood eating behaviors and rapid weight gain, with prepregnancy BMI as a higher order moderator. Food responsiveness positively correlated with [ = 0.256, adjusted (adj)  < 0.001] and inversely with ( = -0.203, adj  = 0.006). Slowness in eating positively correlated with ( = 0.196,  = 0.006) and inversely with ( = -0.188, adj  = 0.008) and ( = -0.181,  = 0.007). Slowness in eating was significantly correlated with rapid weight gain ( = -0.168,  = 0.005). Prepregnancy BMI was a moderator of slowness in eating and such that children of mothers with high prepregnancy BMI in conjunction with high and low in slowness in eating experienced the rapid weight gain, whereas children of mothers with low prepregnancy BMI in conjunction with low and high in slowness in eating experienced the rapid weight gain. Assessing early childhood temperament may bolster health care and parenting interventions to increase early eating regulation and to promote healthier weight trajectories.