Introduction:

despite the fact that childhood obesity is a serious health problem, little is known about its related factors in early childhood.

Objective:

to evaluate which maternal, cognitive and infant factors influence the infant's energy intake and if these influence their nutritional status before the year.

Methods:

descriptive study of correlation. Two hundred and sixty-seven dyads (mother/child) participated. The questionnaires consisted of four instruments for the cognitive variables of the mother (maternal self-efficacy, attitude in the diet, perception of signs of hunger, satiety and weight of the child), energy intake through a 24-hour reminder and sociodemographic and anthropometric data of the mother and child, through which maternal body mass index (BMI) and Z-score of infant weight/height have been calculated.

Results:

the model was significant for the intake of kcal/kg weight (F = 8.624, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.104), negatively correlating with the maternal perception of the weight of the child (B = -9.73, p = 0.002), hours of sleep (B = -2.19, p = 0.044) and age of the child (B = -2.26, p = 0.001). Also for the Z-score (weight/length) (F = 68.979, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.564) and explained positively with perception of the weight of the child (B = 1.133, p < 0.001) and age of the child (B = 0.054, p = 0.006) and negatively with hours of sleep of the mother (B = -0.07, p = 0.040) and caloric intake (B = -0.004, p = 0.027).

Conclusion:

mothers of nursing infants who underestimate their child's weight and sleep fewer hours provide more caloric intake and their children have a higher Z-score weight/length.

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