Table 1.
Infant, maternal, attachment and feeding characteristics of 4,503 mother-child pairs according to time for introduction to solid food
| Introduction to solid food | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 5–16 (N 330) | Week 17–25 (N 2923) | Week 25+ ( N 1250) | ||||||
| Variable | Values | N | % | N | % | N | % | p value |
| Infant factors | ||||||||
| Gestational age at birth in weeks | Mean (SD) | 314 | 39.6 (1.9) | 2811 | 39.5 (1.9) | 1191 | 39.1 (2.5) | < 0.001 |
| Birth weight in kilogram | Mean (SD) | 323 | 3.6 (0.6) | 2895 | 3.5 (0.6) | 1234 | 3.4 (0.7) | < 0.001 |
| Sex | Girl | 148 | 44.85 | 1389 | 47.52 | 661 | 52.88 | 0.002 |
| Boy | 182 | 55.15 | 1534 | 52.48 | 589 | 47.12 | ||
| Maternal factors | ||||||||
| Age in years | Mean (SD) | 326 | 29.7 (5.1) | 2890 | 30.8 (4.4) | 1233 | 31.9 (4.5) | < 0.001 |
| Body mass index | Mean (SD) | 318 | 25.8 (6.3) | 2843 | 24.3 (5.1) | 1209 | 24.0 (4.7) | < 0.001 |
| Level of education | Non or short | 187 | 58.62 | 1290 | 45.23 | 462 | 37.84 | < 0.001 |
| Intermediate | 110 | 34.48 | 1135 | 39.80 | 507 | 41.52 | ||
| Long | 22 | 6.90 | 427 | 14.97 | 252 | 20.64 | ||
| Smoking | Yes | 64 | 19.57 | 309 | 10.68 | 87 | 7.04 | < 0.001 |
| No | 263 | 80.43 | 2583 | 89.32 | 1149 | 92.96 | ||
| Has a spouse or partner | Yes | 312 | 95.41 | 2796 | 96.68 | 1196 | 96.92 | 0.400 |
| No | 15 | 4.59 | 96 | 3.32 | 38 | 3.08 | ||
| Self-reported ethnicity | Danish | 307 | 94.17 | 2712 | 93.71 | 1143 | 92.48 | 0.289 |
| Other than Danish | 19 | 5.83 | 182 | 6.29 | 93 | 7.52 | ||
| Parity | Primipara | 159 | 48.77 | 1335 | 45.94 | 491 | 39.53 | < 0.001 |
| Multipara | 167 | 51.23 | 1571 | 54.06 | 751 | 60.47 | ||
| Attachment factors | ||||||||
| Understand infant needs weeks 0-5 | Always | 46 | 14.15 | 395 | 13.62 | 226 | 18.36 | < 0.001 |
| Not always | 279 | 85.85 | 2505 | 86.38 | 1005 | 81.64 | ||
| Calm and comfort the infant weeks 0-5 | Always | 149 | 45.71 | 1283 | 44.18 | 608 | 49.55 | 0.007 |
| Not always | 177 | 54.29 | 1621 | 55.82 | 619 | 50.45 | ||
| Recognise cues of hunger weeks 0-5 | Always | 136 | 41.85 | 1108 | 38.14 | 559 | 45.37 | < 0.001 |
| Not always | 189 | 58.15 | 1797 | 61.86 | 673 | 54.63 | ||
| Perceived infant temperament | Very temperamental | 58 | 17.79 | 373 | 12.87 | 118 | 9.51 | < 0.001 |
| Not temperamental | 268 | 82.21 | 2525 | 87.13 | 1123 | 90.49 | ||
| Feeding factors | ||||||||
| Breastfed or formula-fed at week 5 | Only formula-fed | 57 | 17.38 | 252 | 8.66 | 40 | 3.22 | < 0.001 |
| Formula and breastfed | 59 | 17.99 | 469 | 16.11 | 173 | 13.91 | ||
| Only breastfed | 212 | 64.63 | 2190 | 75.23 | 1031 | 82.88 | ||
Note: Missing values excluded, p-values are from Chi-square tests for categorical characteristics and from unadjusted ordered logistic regression for continuous characteristics. Figures are numbers and percentage unless stated otherwise.