Infant growth during the first year of life following a pregnancy lifestyle intervention in routine care—Findings from the cluster‐randomised GeliS trial

Summary Background Lifestyle interventions in pregnancy may influence postpartum development and obesity risk in offspring. The impact of lifestyle interventions as health system‐based approaches is unclear. Objective To evaluate the effect of an antenatal lifestyle intervention conducted as public health approach on infant development and feeding practices. Methods We followed offspring born to women participating in the cluster‐randomised GeliS trial who received usual care (CG) or repeated lifestyle counselling (IG). We collected data on offspring development and complementary feeding until the 12th month postpartum. Results Of the 1998 mother‐child pairs, 1783 completed the follow‐up. Mean infant weight at 12 months was comparable between groups (IG: 9497.9 ± 1137.0 g; CG: 9433.4 ± 1055.2 g; P = .177). There was no significant evidence of differences in sex‐ and age‐adjusted z‐scores or in the odds of offspring being overweight. More infants in the IG received whole‐grain products compared to the CG (95.6% vs. 90.8%; P = .003). Despite small differences in the timing of introducing solid foods, there were no further significant differences in the pattern of complementary feeding. Conclusions The antenatal lifestyle intervention embedded in routine care did not substantially influence infant anthropometrics and is thus unlikely to impact future development.