View clinical trials related to Infant Development.
Filter by:In Pakistan, breastfeeding is widely practiced. National data suggests that 94% of infants <2 years of age receive breastmilk at some point. However, the introduction of complementary foods often occurs early. At 3 months of age, it is suggested that only 54% of Pakistani infants are exclusively breastfed. This declines with each month of age. Because the production and release of breastmilk is influenced by the frequency and intensity of suckling, early initiation of complementary feeding can reduce breastmilk output. Given that complementary foods are introduced early within Pakistan, we hypothesize that breastmilk composition will change between 1 and 3 months postpartum among those mother-infant pairs if nutritive complementary foods are introduced early (i.e., before 6 months). In this study, we aim to better understand how breastmilk composition changes over time among infants recruited at 1 month of age who are exclusively breastfed or receive only non-nutritive feeds. This is a substudy to the Matiari emPowerment and Preconception Supplementation (MaPPS) Trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03287882).
The goal of this study is to experimentally test whether baby items can promote healthy infant development.
Probiotics is suggested to play several roles in promoting health, including alleviating disease symptoms, protection against atopic disease, and modulating the immune system by improving the beneficial gut microbiota colonization. The discovery of the gut microbiota-brain axis suggested that there is a reciprocal influence between the brain and the gut through a constant communication. This bi-directional axis enables signals to be transferred from brain to influence sensory, motor, and secretory modalities of the GI tract, also permits signal from the gut to influence brain function. The establishment of intestinal microbiota during early neurodevelopmental period suggests the colonization and maturation of gut microbiota may influence brain development. Several studies have shown there is an association between shifts in the gut microbiota composition in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. This study aims to investigate how maternal probiotic + LC-PUFA supported with government program supplements, healthy eating, and psychosocial stimulation could affect fetal brain development and later child brain functions and cognitive development. Intervention would be delivered to pregnant women for 9 months, starting at the end of second trimester of gestational period.
This study is examining the relationship between infant nutrition, gut health, and development. The fecal microbiota changes and develops, in large part due to the food that infants eat. These changes are important for many aspects of development. This study is designed to examine how the fecal microbiota changes when exclusively breastfed infants are first introduced to solid food, and how changes of the fecal microbiota are related to other aspects of development.
The study aims to develop a SmarToyGym where sensitized, wireless toys are strategically hung and placed within reach of infants to elicit toy-oriented body and arm/hand movements. Each toy will be equipped with sensors capable of measuring the infant's grasping actions such as squeezing, pinching, tilting, etc. A low-cost 3D motion capture system will be used to collect video data and the infants' reaching and body kinematics in response to the toys. A pressure mat will be used to measure postural changes to detect weight shifts, rolling, crawling and other movements away from the initial posture. By capitalizing on these wireless and low-cost technologies, it will permit the regular and non-invasive monitoring of infants, which can lead to detailed, non-obtrusive, quantitative evaluation of motor development. In this vein, the investigators also aim to conduct proof-of-concept testing of the SmarToyGym with atypical and typical developing infants. The investigators will include infants' ages 3 to 11 months who are categorized as high-risk or low-risk using the Bayley Infant Neurodevelopmental Screener.
To compare the neurocognitive and immunological development in infants fed a new infant formula with functional specific nutrients to infants consuming a standard infant formula.
MIHOPE is a multi-state study of home visiting programs authorized under the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. The study is required by the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), which created the MIECHV program. It is being conducted by MDRC under contract to the Administration for Children and Families within the US Department of Health and Human Services. In conducting the research, MDRC has subcontracted portions of the research to Mathematica Policy Research, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, University of Georgia, and James Bell Associates. MIHOPE is randomly assigned 4,229 families nationally to home visiting services or to a comparison group that will receive referrals to other services in the community. The study is seeking to include 88 local home visiting programs (sites) that are funded through MIECHV in approximately 12 states. Data will be collected from families, local home visiting programs, and state and federal administrative data systems to assess the effects of the programs on family outcomes and to learn more about how the programs are run. Sites included in the evaluation will be using one of four national service models (Nurse Family Partnership, Healthy Families America, Parents as Teachers, and Early Head Start-Home Visiting Option) that states have chosen for most of their MIECHV funding. MIHOPE will inform the federal government about the effectiveness of the MIECHV program in its first few years of operation, and it will provide information to help states develop and strengthen home visiting programs in the future. Research findings will be disseminated through a report to Congress in 2015; reports on program impacts, implementation, and on the relationship between program features and program impacts; journal articles; and practitioner briefs.
Primary hypothesis to be tested: Early protein intake predicts infant growth and later risk of childhood obesity. - Childhood obesity is a major public health problem and is an identified priority concern for the health care. Infants fed formula are more likely to become obese than breastfed infants. The higher protein content of infant formulae, compared with breast milk, could be a causal factor. - The study will in a multicentre intervention trial on newborn infants investigate whether feeding infant formulae, which differ in their level of milk proteins, can influence the risk of later childhood obesity. The trial will take place in five countries with different habitual total protein intakes to increase the range of protein intakes - The investigators will study body composition, hormonal status, protein metabolism and anthropometric markers of childhood obesity. The whole cohort will be followed up until age 18 years, to assess the long term impact on the prevalence of obesity. - The investigators will explore the impact of consumer (parental) attitudes to, and perceptions of, different practices of infant feeding in relation to infant behaviour (satisfaction, crying, sleep duration). This consumer science information will help improve the understanding of consumer (infants and parents) acceptance of and preference for foods that contribute to healthy diets. - If a relationship between early dietary protein intake and later childhood obesity risk is confirmed, it offers possibilities for the prevention of obesity, for improving advice given to parents and for developing nutritionally improved dietary products for infants.