Association between crying (fussiness) and infant feeding practices

Objectives To assess whether infant crying (fussiness) is associated with early introduction of solids and the duration of breastfeeding among US infants aged 9-11 months.

Methods We used data from a nationally representative sample of infants born in 2001 enrolled in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth cohort (measured at 9 months, n=9,575). Mothers reported their child's fussiness (frequently irritable or fussy) and unable to wait for food or toys without crying (most times, sometimes, and never/used to be). The odds of early introduction of solids (<4 months) and breastfeeding duration (<3 months) were estimated using multivariate logistic regression adjusting for covariates of age, sex, race, poverty, birth weight status, prematurity, and mother's characteristics (weight status, marital status, smoke, poverty, education).

Results About 15% of infants were described as crying for food or toys and 4% were described as fussy most times. Infants who were mostly crying for food or toys were more likely to have received early introduction of solids (OR=1.21, 95% CI 1.02-1.44) but no difference in breastfeeding compared with those who were not. Infants described as fussy had shorter breastfeeding (<3 months) than those were not (80% vs. 71%). However, the detected prevalence difference became null in the multivariate analysis.

Conclusions The higher risk of early introduction of solids was observed among infants who were not able to wait for food or toys without crying, however no effect on breastfeeding duration.