Pregnant women who eat in front of the TV are more likely to have fat children

Pregnant women who eat in front of the TV are more likely to have overweight children, new research suggests.

Scientists found that mothers-to-be who watch TV while eating are more likely to sit in front of the television while feeding their child.

This is discouraged because it means they are less likely to notice when the child is full - meaning they give them more food than they need.

‘Reinforcing healthy media habits during pregnancy may help reduce infants' mealtime media exposure and impact long-term media habits in children,’ said lead author Dr Mary Jo Messito. 

‘Reduction of mealtime TV viewing during pregnancy could be an important component in early childhood obesity prevention programmes.’

Dr Messito and her colleagues analysed data from the Starting Early project, an early childhood obesity prevention scheme for low-income Hispanic families at New York University School of Medicine.

Women were enrolled in the study during pregnancy, and mother-infant pairs were followed until the child was three years old. 

Women received individual nutritional counselling during pregnancy and after the baby was born, participated in parenting and support groups led by a nutritionist, and were given educational hand outs and a video.

During their third trimester of pregnancy, 189 women were asked how often they watched TV during mealtimes. 

When their infants were three months old, mothers were asked how often their baby watched TV while being fed.

The results showed that 71 per cent of pregnant women reported at least some mealtime TV watching, and 33 per cent of the mothers reported that their three-month-olds were exposed to the TV while being fed.

Women who watched TV during meals while they were pregnant were five times more likely to expose their infants to TV during feeding than women who did not watch TV while eating during pregnancy. 

Mothers who were younger than 25, and those who did not exclusively breastfeed, were also more likely to expose their infants to TV during feeding.

The total amount of time women spent per day watching TV while pregnant was not associated with their infants' exposure to television 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 behaviours 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.’