Abstract
This cross-sectional online survey performed in Poland aimed to improve understanding of how COVID-19 pandemic restrictions affected complementary feeding practices among parents of infants aged 4 to 12 months. Self-selected parents were recruited through the internet. The anonymous questionnaire was opened during two intervals during COVID-19 restrictions. The primary outcome was an assessment of sources of information and infant feeding practices in the context of COVID-19 restrictions. Data from 6934 responders (92.2% mothers) were analyzed. Most responders received information from multiple sources, with other parents, family members, or friends being the most frequently reported (48.6%), followed by webinars and experts’ recommendations (40.8%). COVID-19 restrictions largely did not impact the method of feeding, changes in feeding patterns, or complementary feeding introduction, although the latter was more likely to be impacted in families with average versus the best financial situations. Multivariate logistic regression analysis also most consistently showed that parents with a tertiary education and living in a city above 500 k were at higher odds of using webinars/experts’ recommendations, internet/apps, and professional expert guides and lower odds of claiming no need to deepen knowledge. This study clarifies major issues associated with complementary feeding practices during the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions in Poland.
Highlights
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID19 pandemic [1]
Data from the online questionnaire were available from 6934 responders (5000 responders during the first data collection and 1934 responders during the second data collection) who met the inclusion criteria
The odds for claiming that COVID-19 impacted the method of feeding the infant decreased with infant age and significantly increased for parents living in cities up to 20 k citizens or above 500 k citizens vs. villages, but the odds were not significantly associated with parent’s education level
Summary
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID19 pandemic [1]. Following the WHO announcement, a range of measures to slow the spread of the virus (‘flatten the curve’) was imposed at national and international levels. These generally included combinations of stay-at-home restrictions, travel bans, school closures, closures of places of entertainment, and restrictions on public and private gatherings. In Poland, the first case of COVID-19 was reported on 4 March 2020 [2]. The COVID-19 restrictions included covering the mouth and nose (i.e., by mask), keeping a safe distance between people of at least 2 m, and proper room ventilation
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