Breastfeeding, complementary feeding, physical activity, screen use, and hours of sleep in children under 2 years during lockdown by the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile

Date
2022Author
Bustos-Arriagada, Edson
Etchegaray-Armijo, Karina
Liberona-Ortiz, Ángelo
Duarte-Silva, Lissette
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Abstract
: Infants and children are a risk group in terms of developing healthy habits, an important
aspect if we consider that many of them were born during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our objective was
to evaluate compliance with lifestyle recommendations proposed at the national and international
levels in children aged 0 to 23 months during confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic in
Chile. A cross-sectional study was conducted, and 211 online questionnaires were completed with
sociodemographic and lifestyle information of children. Our results show high compliance with the
recommendations on breastfeeding intake (78.3% and 69.5% in 0–5-month-old and 6–23-month-old
children, respectively); age of starting complementary feeding (87.4%); non-consumption of salt
and sugar (80.1%), non-caloric sweeteners (90.7%), and sweet and salty snacks (68.9%); and hours
of physical activity (66.8%) and sleep (65.4%). However, we observed low compliance with the
recommendations on the age of introduction of dinner (58.0%), eggs (23.0%), legumes (39.2%), and
fish (35.1%); low consumption of legumes (43.4%) and fish (20.5%); and low compliance with the
recommendations on screen use during meals (59.2%) and daily screen hours (41.2%). In conclusion,
feeding behavior, physical activity, use of screens, and hours of sleep in children were altered by
confinement during the pandemic, harming the development of healthy lifestyles.