CFAR

Status

Study short name

BabyEATS

Study full name

Baby EATS – Baby’s Eating and Allergen Timing Study. Parental uptake of infant feeding guidelines for the prevention of allergy.

Principle Investigator

Merryn Netting

Administering Institute

South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute

Major funding source

Women’s and Children’s Hospital Foundation

Study focus

Prevention

Study design

Intervention

Main study aim

The Baby EATS Study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of SMS messages as a tool for infant feeding advice related to allergen intake.

Additional study information

Recent changes to the Australian infant feeding guidelines now recommend introducing potential food allergens (i.e. peanut egg), not withhold them, during the first year to prevent food allergies. We do not know to what extent parents follow this advice. The BabyEATS study aimed to assess contemporary feeding patterns, including consumption of common food allergens, in a sample of South Australian infants and young children.

This study consisted of two parts – an RCT testing the effectiveness of SMS messaging as a tool in provision of infant feeding advice for allergy prevention, and a cross sectional survey of 1-year old children who acted as a reference group.

Study population

Parents of one year old children, or parents of babies up to 6 months of age who have not yet started solid foods.

Study status

Recruitment completed December 2019. Data collection ongoing, through December 2020.