Table 2.
Characteristics of 2389 mother-child pairs according to age at introduction of solid foods in infancy.
| Age at introduction of solid food | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <4 months (n = 642) | ≥ 4 & < 6 months (n = 1637) | ≥ 6 months (n = 110) | P-value | ||||
| Mother | |||||||
| Education (≥A-levels) (n, %) | 349 | 54% | 1038 | 64% | 65 | 60% | <0.001 |
| Primiparous (n, %) | 277 | 43% | 886 | 54% | 68 | 62% | <0.001 |
| Smoked in pregnancy (n, %) | 124 | 20% | 205 | 13% | 5 | 5% | <0.001 |
| Age at child’s birth (years) (mean, SD) | 29.7 | 3.8 | 31.0 | 3.7 | 32.8 | 3.8 | <0.001 |
| Pre-pregnancy BMI (kg/m2) (median, IQR) | 24.8 | 22.4-28.0 | 24.0 | 21.8-27.2 | 23.8 | 21.3-25.8 | 0.006 |
| Child | |||||||
| Birthweight (g) (mean, SD) | 3587 | 503 | 3483 | 455 | 3382 | 445 | <0.001 |
| Male (n, %) | 389 | 61% | 791 | 48% | 49 | 45% | <0.001 |
| Breastfed for ≥ 4 months (n, %) | 187 | 30% | 725 | 46% | 56 | 54% | <0.001 |
| Overweight/obese, n (%) | 103 | 17% | 209 | 13% | 10 | 10% | 0.31 |
| Meals per day at 3 years (median, IQR) | 5 | 4-6 | 5 | 4-5 | 5 | 4-5.5 | 0.002 |
| Prudent diet score at 3 years (mean, SD) | -0.21 | 1.0 | 0.12 | 0.96 | 0.39 | 0.86 | <0.001 |
n=number, BMI=body mass index, SD=standard deviation, IQR=interquartile range.