684 - Maternal Pre-Pregnancy BMI is Associated with Differences in Infant Information Processing Patterns in Predominantly Breastfeeding Dyads

Publication Number: 2667.684

Sara Gonia, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States; Emily M. Nagel, University of Minnesota Department of Pediatrics, Minneapolis, MN, United States; Neely Miller, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, United States; Allyson M. Kats, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States; Hteemoo Haas, Center for Neurobehavioral Development, Roseville, MN, United States; Alexis Shuck, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, United States; Kristin Elgersma, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States; David A. Fields, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Oklahoma City, OK, United States; Michael K. Georgieff, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States; Sara E. Ramel, University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital, North Oaks, MN, United States; Ellen W. Demerath, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN, United States

Background: Maternal obesity has been reported to alter offspring neurobehavioral development. However, obesity is associated with significantly lower likelihood of breastfeeding, which has established benefits for infant cognitive function. Few studies have controlled for this potentially important confounder of the association between maternal obesity and infant neurodevelopment.

Objective: To test associations of maternal pre-pregnancy BMI with information processing responses (attention, memory) at 1 and 6 months of age, with control for breastfeeding by design, through inclusion of only predominantly breastfeeding dyads.

Design/Methods: 111 participants in an ongoing pregnancy cohort of predominantly breastfeeding women and their term infants were included and grouped by maternal pre-pregnancy BMI ( < 30 and ≥30 kg/m2). Electroencephalograms (EEGs) were used to derive event related potential (ERP) components, using a mother-stranger paradigm at 1 month (auditory) and 6 months (visual). Outcomes of interests were 1) At 1 month: P2, an early attention marker, and NSW (negative slow wave), indicating discrimination between stimuli; and (2) At 6 months: NC (negative component), an attention and familiarity related marker, and PSW (positive slow wave), indicating memory updating. ERP component differences by group were tested using linear mixed effect models examining condition (mother or stranger), BMI group and condition x BMI group interactions, adjusted for potential confounders, including initiation of any formula feeding at 6 months.

Results: There were no significant differences in attention to, or discrimination between, the stimuli by BMI group at 1 month in adjusted or unadjusted models. At 6 months, infants of mothers with BMI≥30 displayed a significantly larger average PSW amplitude in response to the familiar stimulus compared to infants of mothers with BMI < 30 in both unadjusted and adjusted models (Adjusted: β for BMI main effect: 4.1, SE 1.5, p=0.007). This group also exhibited a smaller difference in amplitude between novel and familiar stimuli (β for interaction BMI group x Condition: -3.5, SE 1.4, p=0.015) (Table 1; Figure 1).

Conclusion(s): Within a predominantly breastfeeding cohort, six-month-old infants of mothers with pre-pregnancy BMI ≥30 exhibited greater sustained neural processing of the familiar stimulus and a decreased discrimination between the familiar and novel stimuli compared to infants of mothers with BMI < 30. Potential mechanisms (e.g. maternal stressors, milk compositional differences) underlying these relationships should be further explored.

Table 2. Positive Slow Wave (PSW) amplitude at 6 months of age by Maternal BMI Group (BMI >=30, <30) using a Familiar vs Novel (Mother’s vs Stranger’s Face) Evoked Response Potential (ERP) paradigm. Adjusted linear mixed model results
PAS_2025_Abstract_SG_Table 2.pdf

Table 1. Participant Characteristics by BMI group
PAS_2025_Abstract_SG_Table 1.pdf

Figure 1. Grand Mean ERPs Front-Central Electrode Group. Top panel 1-month ERPs, Bottom panel 6-month ERPs. Left panel all files together, middle panel BMI <30, right panel BMI ≥30. Familiar stimulus in black, novel stimulus in red. Shading around means, SE. Red box indicates positive slow wave (PSW) ERP window of interest in 6 month infants.
PAS_2025_Abstract_SG_Figure 1.pdf