Maternal and infant characteristics associated with obesity in infants under one year of age in northern Mexico

despite the fact that childhood obesity is a serious health problem, little is known about its related factors in early childhood. to evaluate which maternal, cognitive and infant factors influence the infant's energy intake and if these influence their nutritional status before the year. descriptive study of correlation. Two hundred and sixty-seven dyads (mother/child) participated. The questionnaires consisted of four instruments for the cognitive variables of the mother (maternal self-efficacy, attitude in the diet, perception of signs of hunger, satiety and weight of the child), energy intake through a 24-hour reminder and sociodemographic and anthropometric data of the mother and child, through which maternal body mass index (BMI) and Z-score of infant weight/height have been calculated. the model was significant for the intake of kcal/kg weight (F = 8.624, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.104), negatively correlating with the maternal perception of the weight of the child (B = -9.73, p = 0.002), hours of sleep (B = -2.19, p = 0.044) and age of the child (B = -2.26, p = 0.001). Also for the Z-score (weight/length) (F = 68.979, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.564) and explained positively with perception of the weight of the child (B = 1.133, p < 0.001) and age of the child (B = 0.054, p = 0.006) and negatively with hours of sleep of the mother (B = -0.07, p = 0.040) and caloric intake (B = -0.004, p = 0.027). mothers of nursing infants who underestimate their child's weight and sleep fewer hours provide more caloric intake and their children have a higher Z-score weight/length.