Table 2.

Characteristics of the analytical sample (n = 17,165).

	n	n (%)	Missing (%)
Gender	17,165		0
Male		8,774 (51.1)
Female		8,391 (48.9)
Ethnicity	17,060		0.6
White		14,045 (82.3)
Mixed		515 (3.0)
Indian		445 (2.6)
Pakistani and Bangladeshi		1,179 (6.9)
Black or Black British		628 (3.7)
Other		248 (1.5)
Gestational age	16,276		5.2
Extreme to moderate prematurity		319 (2.0)
Late prematurity		892 (5.5)
Term		15,065 (92.6)
Birthweight	17,038		0.7
Low		1,213 (7.1)
Normal		14,009 (82.2)
High		1,816 (10.7)
Birthweight for gestational age	15,958		7
Small		1,237 (7.8)
Appropriate		11,883 (74.5)
Large		2,838 (17.8)
Breastfeeding duration	17,074		0.5
Never		5,705 (33.4)
≤2 months		4,951 (29)
2–4 months		2,067 (12.1)
4–6 months		1,270 (7.4)
6– 12 months		1,668 (9.8)
≥12 months		1,413 (8.3)
Age at complementary feeding	16,467		4.1
Before 4 months		5,145 (31.2)
Between 4 and 6 months		10,836 (65.8)
After 6 months		486 (3)
Family structure (sweep 1)	16,485		4
Two parents/carers		13,765 (83.5)
Single parenthood (one parent/carer)		2,720 (16.5)
OECD median poverty indicator (sweep 1)	16,428		4.3
Above 60% median		10,527 (64.1)
Below 60% median		5,901 (35.9)
Mother age at cohort member's birth	17,100		0.4
12–19 years		1,476 (8.6)
20–39 years		15,256 (89.2)
40 plus		368 (2.2)
Mother nutritional status (sweep 1)	14,296		16.7
Underweight		1,825 (12.8)
Normal weight		6,871 (48.1)
Overweight		3,721 (26)
Obesity		1,879 (13.1)
Maternal education (sweep 1)	16,431		4.3
Low (NVQ < 3/none/overseas)		11,491 (69.9)
High (NVQ ≥ 4)		4,940 (30.1)

Data are given as n (%).

NVQ, National Vocational Qualifications.