Lifespan Development: Lives in Context
SAGE Journal Articles
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Learning Objective: 4.2: Discuss the role of feeding and nutrition in the growth of infants and toddlers.
Abstract: Background: Community-based organizations (CBOs) have an important role to play in promoting breastfeeding continuation among mothers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Program’s Cooperative Agreement Breastfeeding Supplement funded 6 state health departments to support CBOs to implement community-based breastfeeding support activities. Objectives: Study objectives were to (1) describe the reach of the Cooperative Agreement, (2) describe breastfeeding support strategies implemented by state health departments and CBOs, and (3) understand the barriers and facilitators to implementing community-based breastfeeding support strategies. Methods: Qualitative and quantitative data were abstracted from state health departments’ final evaluation reports. Qualitative data were analyzed for common themes using deductive and inductive approaches. Results: Within the 6 states funded by the Cooperative Agreement, 66 primary CBOs implemented breastfeeding support strategies and reported 59 256 contacts with mothers. Support strategies included incorporating lactation services into community-based programs, training staff, providing walk-in locations for lactation support, connecting breastfeeding mothers to resources, and providing services that reflect community-specific culture. Community partnerships, network building, stakeholders’ commitment, and programmatic and policy environments were key facilitators of program success. Conclusion: Key lessons learned include the importance of time in creating lasting organizational change, use of data for program improvement, choosing the right partners, taking a collective approach, and leveraging resources.
Description: The study discusses the importance of community-based programs in the promotion of breastfeeding and examines ways to increase the use of breastfeeding and support of mothers.
Learning Objective: 4.2: Discuss the role of feeding and nutrition in the growth of infants and toddlers.
Abstract: Economic inequities are common in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), and are associated with poor growth and development among young children. The objectives are to examine whether maternal education and home environment quality: 1) protect children by attenuating the association between economic inequities and children’s growth and development, or 2) promote children’s growth and development, regardless of economic inequities. The sample includes 512 infants and 321 preschoolers in 26 villages in rural India (Project Grow Smart). Data for children: physical growth (weight and length/height measured) and development (Mullen Scales of Early Learning); for mothers/households: economic inequities measured by household assets, education, depressive symptoms, and home environment (HOME Inventory). Data are analyzed with linear mixed models (LMM) for infants and preschoolers separately, adjusted for village/preschool clustering, including asset-by-education/home interactions. Among infants, but not preschoolers, the education/home factor attenuates relations between assets and growth, eliminating differential relations in infant growth between high/low-asset families, suggesting protection. Among infants and preschoolers, the education/home factor is significantly or marginally associated with most child development scales, regardless of economic inequities, suggesting promotion. Strategies to enhance maternal education and home environment quality may protect infants in low-asset families from poor growth, promote development among infants and preschoolers, and prevent early disparities.
Description: The researchers investigated physical growth and development in early childhood in India, a developing nation with substantial economic inequality. Maternal education and aspects of the home environment helped offset the negative impact of poverty on child development.
Learning Objective: 4.5: Analyze the roles of maturation and contextual factors in infant and toddler motor development.
Abstract: Evaluation of a multisensory intervention based on the developmental approach provided by parents, during neonatal intensive care unit hospitalization of their preterm infants. After guidance of parents and implementation of intervention program, children were followed up to 2 to 3 years using scales for evaluation of parental stress levels and child’s development. Our 2 to 3 years’ follow-up study included 41 infants (20 controls and 21 who received parental-guided intervention) as part of a group of 95 preterm infants who participated in a short-term study. The intervention group showed significantly higher scores in receptive language and fine-motor domains of the Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development–3rd Edition. Boys showed superior improvements in language skills. No differences were found in the cognitive and adaptive domains. There were no differences in parental stress levels. A multisensory intervention program for preterm infants provided by trained and supervised parents may improve language and motor outcomes at 2 to 3 years.
Description: The article discusses the importance of maturation and contextual factors in infant and toddler motor development.