Maternal Factors Related to Infant Motor Development at 4 Months of Age

Abstract

Background: Exercise during pregnancy and breastfeeding after pregnancy both positively influence a number of infant outcomes. However, whether physical activity during late pregnancy and breastfeeding postpartum influence motor development in the offspring at 4 months of age is unknown. Research Aim: The purposes of this study were to investigate the relationships between several important modifiable factors (i.e., maternal physical activity during late pregnancy and breastfeeding after pregnancy) on infant motor development at 4 months of age. Materials and Methods: Thirty-three women-infant pairs participated in this prospective longitudinal study. Maternal physical activity was assessed during late pregnancy with wrist-worn accelerometers for 7 consecutive days. Surveys were provided to determine infant feeding practices and other variables that could influence infant motor development. A pediatric board-certified physical therapist assessed infant motor development at 4 months using the Alberta Infant Motor Scale. Results: Infants who were exclusively breastfed had the highest motor development percentiles when compared with those whose mothers were supplementing with or using formula exclusively (exclusive breastfeeding: 64.3 -20.1, combination of mother's own milk and formula: 43.5 -5.0, exclusive formula: 31.5 -15.1, p = 0.001). No associations between physical activity levels during late pregnancy and infant motor development percentiles at 4 months were found (sedentary time: r = -0.057, p = 0.75; light activity: r = -0.074, p = 0.68; moderate activity: r = -0.094, p = 0.60). Conclusions: Infants who were exclusively breastfed had higher motor development percentiles at 4 months of age than those infants whose mothers supplemented with or used formula exclusively. Physical activity levels during late pregnancy were not related to infant motor development percentiles, which suggests that physical activities do not appear to be harmful to infant motor development.

Effects of Regular Exercise During Pregnancy on Early Childhood Neurodevelopment: The Physical Activity for Mothers Enrolled in Longitudinal Analysis Randomized Controlled Trial

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Physical activity trajectory during pregnancy and associations with maternal fatigue using a growth mixture modeling approach

“…Although current literature emphasizes the significance of exercise during pregnancy 44 , 45 , prevalence of sport PA during pregnancy is known to be generally low in China 15 . Exercise requirements increase in the latter trimester of pregnancy to more effectively suppresses body fat accumulation and weight gain 46 .…”

The intergenerational effects of parental physical activity on offspring brain and neurocognition in humans: a scoping review

“…Key limitations of this scoping review are that we only included studies published in the English language and only focused on elements of offspring brain and neurodevelopment that relate to neurocognition (i.e., we did not include studies that only reported on offspring motor development 99,100 or behaviour 101 ). While the scoping review protocol was not prospectively registered and a formal assessment of methodological quality of the included studies was not performed, this is in accordance with guidelines for the conduct of scoping reviews 34,35 .…”