Volume 2011, Article ID 985139, 9 pages doi:10.1155/2011/985139 Research Article Maternal Behaviors during Pregnancy Impact Offspring

Copyright © 2011 Suzanne Phelan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This study investigated the effects of maternal changes during pregnancy in diet, exercise, and psychosocial factors on offspring weight parameters at birth and 6 months. In overweight/obese (OW/OB; n = 132) mothers, greater % kcal from sweets early inpregnancy was the strongest, independent predictor of higher weight for age (WFA) (beta = 0.19; P = 0.004), higher odds ofmacrosomia (OR = 1.1 (1.0–1.2); P = 0.004) andWFA>90th percentile at birth (OR = 1.2 (1.1–1.3); P = 0.002) and higher WFA at 6 months (beta = 0.30; P = 0.002). In normal weight (n = 153) mothers, higher intake of soft drinks was the strongest predictor of higher offspring WFA at birth (beta = 0.16; P = 0.04) but not at 6 months. Prenatal physical activity, depressive symptoms, and sleep-related variables did not significantly predict offspring weight outcomes. Mothers ’ eating behaviors during pregnancy, especially intake of sweets in OW/OB mothers, may have a lasting effect on child weight