Mealtime TV Viewing During Pregnancy Tied to Risk of Childhood Obesity

A new study suggests that pregnant women should consider switching off television during mealtimes in order to prevent childhood obesity.

According to study researchers, pregnant women who watched TV while eating were more vulnerable to sit in front of the TV while feeding their infant. Discarding TV viewing may help prevent childhood obesity even before the infant is born.

The study states that apart from the major health issue i.e. childhood obesity, TV viewing is linked with poor quality diet and less attention given to whether or not the infant is full,

"Reinforcing healthy media habits during pregnancy may help reduce infants' mealtime media exposure and impact long-term media habits in children," said lead author Mary Jo Messito, MD, FAAP. "Reduction of mealtime TV viewing during pregnancy could be an important component in early childhood obesity prevention programs."

For this study the researchers examined data retrieved from the Starting Early Project - an intervention program aimed at preventing childhood obesity among low-income Hispanic families at Bellevue Hospital Center/NYU School of Medicine, New York.

The women were recruited in the study at the time of pregnancy and the researchers followed the mother-infant pairs until the child was 3 years old.

Individual nutritional counseling was given to women during pregnancy and after the baby was born.  They also took part in parenting and support groups and were given videos and educational handouts.

As a part of the study, during the third trimester the researchers interviewed 189 pregnant women on their frequency of TV viewing during mealtimes. When the babies were 3 months old, the mothers were again asked the frequency at which the babies were shown TV while feeding.

Analysis revealed that 71 percent of the pregnant women at some time did engage in some mealtime TV viewing and 33 percent of them reported that 3 months old babies were exposed to TV during feeding.

Women who watched TV during meals while carrying were five times more vulnerable to expose their infants to TV while feeding.   Young mothers less than 25 years old, who did not breastfeed, were also vulnerable to exposing infants to TV while feeding.

However, there was no correlation between the time a woman spent per day in TV viewing and infant's exposure to TV while being fed.

"Few studies have identified how mealtime TV viewing habits begin in infancy, and what maternal characteristics during pregnancy and early infancy are associated with them," said Dr. Messito, project director of the Starting Early study. "Identifying specific maternal behaviors and characteristics associated with child TV viewing during meals will help early childhood obesity prevention efforts seeking to promote responsive feeding and limit TV exposure during infancy."

The finding was presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.