This is part of our Latina Mom and Baby Health: A Research Review »
The importance of healthy habits for babies
As we have discussed, a mother’s physical activity level during pregnancy and early infant breastfeeding practices both play an important role in limiting the risk of childhood obesity among Latino youths. Within the first year of life, infants experiencing rapid weight gain are more likely to become overweight in later years.156–159 As such, it is critical that parents continue to promote healthy eating habits and physical activity for their children during infancy and early childhood in order to encourage a healthy weight for life. This is particularly important for Latino families, as there is a higher rate of obesity among Latino preschoolers in the United ...
This is part of our Latina Mom and Baby Health: A Research Review »
Children spend many hours in early childcare settings
Most young children spend a significant amount of time in day care, preschool, pre-kindergarten (pre-K), and Head Start programs.164 An estimated 60 percent of children younger than 6 are placed in some form of non-parental care during the work week, averaging.164 nearly 30 hours per week. This presents an opportunity for childcare centers and providers to encourage healthy behaviors in young children and to better educate parents on how to continue healthy behaviors at home.164
Early childcare settings can promote healthy behaviors
Evidence from the literature supports the notion that childcare is an important resource for promoting healthy behavior among ...
This is part of our Latina Mom and Baby Health: A Research Review »
Future research needs
Childhood obesity continues to be an ongoing epidemic in the U.S., especially among Latino youths. While many of the potential policies and interventions discussed in this review have been investigated in the literature in low-income or WIC-enrolled populations, many have not been thoroughly investigated directly in Latino populations. In order to further support the policy implications described herein, it will be important for investigators to provide further clinical evidence that these approaches are capable of affecting positive changes in childhood obesity endpoints in Latino infants and preschool-aged children. Future studies are particularly needed in the areas of paid parental ...
This is part of our Latina Mom and Baby Health: A Research Review »
Conclusions Early infant feeding habits surrounding breastfeeding and formula supplementation can impact childhood obesity among Latino youths. State and federal policies may be able to improve exclusive breastfeeding rates and duration by promoting support for breastfeeding in hospitals, childcare centers, workplaces, schools and public areas.
Latina women may not be meeting recommendations for physical activity and/or gestational weight gain during pregnancy, and there is a need for increased education of expectant Latina mothers by their physicians. By increasing physical activity and reducing gestational weight gain (GWG) during pregnancy, childhood obesity rates may be positively affected.
As poor eating ...
Abstract
One of four U.S. kids is already overweight or obese by age 2-5, with a higher prevalence among Latino kids (30%) than white kids (21%). How can we promote a healthy weight by kindergarten? Mothers’ physical activity and healthy eating habits before and during pregnancy play a big role. Breastfeeding also has many positive effects on children. Interventions or policies aimed at improving breastfeeding rates, while reducing formula marketing, among Latina mothers may be critical to promoting healthy weight goals. Healthy eating and physical activity habits established during early childhood care settings also is a stepping stone toward lifelong health. Read the Issue Brief in English (PDF)
Read the Issue Brief in Spanish (PDF)
Contents
Introduction & ...
The CDC Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity’s Data, Trends and Maps online tool allows you to search for and view indicators related to nutrition, physical activity and obesity. You can search by state (in some places by county) or by the following indicator categories, which include more specific indicators: Obesity/Weight Status
Breastfeeding (behavior and environmental or policy supports)
Fruits and Vegetables (behavior and environmental or policy supports)
Physical Activity (behavior and environmental or policy supports)
Sugar Drinks (behavior)
Television Viewing (behavior) For example, you can search for indicators under breastfeeding behavior, such as "infants exclusively breastfed through 6 months" and "low-income infants ever breastfed", or ...
In January 2016, MotherToBaby launched a new bilingual (English/Spanish) digital initiative for expectant or breastfeeding moms and health care providers to get free expert information about the risks of medications and other exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding through free, private instant messaging. In addition to live chatting, MotherToBaby also provides emailing-an-expert, texting an expert, and a library of free downloadable facts sheets in both English and Spanish. Expectant or breastfeeding moms can access instant messaging or emailing an expert by visiting www.MotherToBaby.org, or access texting with an expert by texting questions to 855-999-3525. Share on Twitter: Free live chat counseling with @MotherToBaby experts in Spanish. http://goo.gl/0eqXRA ...
A partnership of a handful of community organizations in Grand Rapids, Mich. (15.6% Latino), has been working to improve maternal-child health in communities of color since 2005, through a Spectrum Health community program called Strong Beginnings. It was developed to address health equity and maternal-infant health in the African-American community in Kent County, Mich. With support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in 2014-$4.2 million over five years-Strong Beginnings will expand maternal-infant health services to Latinos in Kent County (10.1% Latino) through Familias Fuertes y Saludables. Strong Beginnings works to address issues affecting maternal-child health like poverty, unemployment, limited transportation and a lack of affordable housing. Through community health workers, ...
Sponsored by Jeff Merkley (Dem) of Ore., a bill to amend Section 13(a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(a)) regarding reasonable break time for nursing mothers has been assigned to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The bill was originally introduced in the House in May 2013, but died. It is critical to support breastfeeding through policy rather than rhetoric. Nursing mothers face numerous individual, social and environmental barriers to breastfeeding, which is why breastfeeding duration rates at three, six, and twelve months are drastically lower than breastfeeding initiation rates, particularly among Latina mothers. Breastfeeding is associated with numerous health benefits for mother and infant, such as reduced risk for obesity; ...
