Study title

Considerable evidence underscores the importance of establishing healthy feeding practices early to protect against obesity and related chronic diseases later in life. Given this, it is critical to understand what influences caregivers’ decisions about what to feed their children in the period where infants are transitioning from breast milk or infant formula to solid food. There is currently limited research that considers, in-depth, and over time the transition from breast milk or infant formula to solid food. This is important, since contextual factors have been shown to be as if not more important than nutritional ideals in shaping feeding practices. In order to understand the experience of infant feeding transitions, we engaged 62 parents of infants in England in this remote, longitudinal qualitative study. During phase one of the study, infants were aged from 4-6 months and thus were just on the cusp of starting solid foods. Subsequent data collection will take place when the infants are 10-12 months old and 16-18 months old. To explore how socioeconomic position might influence infant feeding practices, we recruited an equal number of participants of high, middle, and low SEP. Methods, which comprised in-depth interviews and photo elicitation, were designed to gather information on a) parents experiences of feeding their infants over the first year of weaning b) how these experiences are shaped by individual, social, cultural, and economic factors. This data is interview data from phase 1 of the study.Introduction: Considerable evidence underscores the importance of establishing healthy feeding practices early to protect against obesity and related chronic diseases later in life. Given this, it is critical to understand what influences caregivers’ decisions about what to feed their children in the period where infants are transitioning from breast milk or infant formula to solid food. There is currently limited research that considers, in-depth, and...