Household chaos during infancy and infant weight status at 12 months.

BACKGROUND

Infancy is a critical period for obesity prevention. Emerging evidence links household chaos to poor health outcomes, yet its impact on obesity in infancy is unknown.

OBJECTIVES

We examined associations between household chaos when infants were 6 and 12 months and weight-for-length (WFL) z-score at 12 months, exploring potential mediation by infant sleep and screen time.

METHODS

We examined 401 predominately Black women and infants in the southeastern United States. We conducted multivariable linear regressions examining household chaos and infant WFL z-score, assessing breastfeeding, sleep, screen time as potential mediators.

RESULTS

Among infants, 69.7% were Black and 49.0% were female. Mean breasting duration was 3.7 months. Over half (50.4%) of families had annual household incomes <$20 000. After adjustment for potential confounders, household chaos was associated with infant WFL z-score (0.02; 95% CI 0.001, 0.04; p = 0.04) at 12 months. We did not observe associations between chaos and infant breastfeeding, sleep or screen time.

CONCLUSIONS

Higher household chaos was associated with greater infant weight at 12 months, but there was no evidence of mediation by breastfeeding, sleep or screen time.