I am one of
several GMU Maternal Child Health Equity Scholars working with Dr. Kathy
Gaffney on a project that examines modifiable risk factors contributing to
rapid weight gain in infants of low income, Hispanic, immigrant mothers. The
obesity rates of these children are high, and our team is committed to discovering
some of the habits formed in early infancy that contribute to this trend. My
role specifically is to interview mothers at the 2, 4, and 6-month well child
visits at the pediatrician’s office. We ask the mothers questions regarding
infant and mother sleep patterns, as well as infant activity level and feeding
schedule. Of particular importance to us is whether or not the child is
breastfed or formula fed, and how frequently. We gather data on the infant’s
height and weight and plot the information to visualize growth patterns.
Because the
project targets Spanish speakers, a big portion of the initial project was
focused on ensuring the interview questions were both culturally and
linguistically appropriate for the population. All of us scholars are
proficient in Spanish, and we have been collaborating to find the most suitable
verbiage in order to elicit the information we are seeking.
We are
fortunate to be working at a clinic where the physicians and nurses allow us to
observe the assessment portion of the child’s visit, and we gain a lot of
clinical knowledge from this experience. I learned the other day that one must
evaluate both the femoral and brachial pulses of an infant to determine whether
or not they have the congenital anomaly of coarctation of the aorta. I also
learned that, while formula contains a higher percentage of iron, infants are
able to digest more iron from breast milk.
My future
goal is to become a midwife, and the work I am doing on this project will
greatly contribute to my efforts in achieving this. The results of this
research will provide me and other maternal child health professionals with the
tools to properly educate our patients on the risk factors that lead to infant
and child obesity. It is also teaching me how to effectively communicate with
patients from different cultures, and the appropriate questions to ask during
data collection.
