Dr. Karen Matvienko-Sikar:

We had not in the population we studied. That had not come up but that could be due to the region. The parents we spoke to were positive about the supports for breastfeeding, and particularly websites such as www.breastfeeding.iewebsite, as well as public health nurses. They felt that once they moved from breastfeeding to complementary feeding, the support and advice was less consistent. In many cases, they did not feel it was there for them. The supports were lacking irrespective of whether people were breastfeeding or formula feeding.

There was a question about waiting times in primary care practice. It is something that we have spoken about, particularly with respect to our study site where we will pilot our intervention. It will be particularly useful. Based on the work done with healthcare professionals, particularly on strategies for obesity prevention in infants, the issue is the capacity of health care professionals to deliver any of these messages. That relates to time, resources and when this would be possible. I suppose the same issues arise in respect of weighing children at these visits. It is an additional few minutes but it is a cumulative cost to the health service. A study conducted by my colleague, Dr. Michelle Queally, using Growing Up in Ireland data, indicates that parents, particularly mothers of three-year-old and five-year-old children, tend to consistently misperceive their children's weight. When children are overweight or obese, mothers in Ireland tend not to be as good at noticing, particularly when a female child has a high birth weight or a mother is of a lower socio-economic status or is overweight. Having the weighing within the primary care setting and public health contact points is an opportunity for this early prevention strategy to be implemented. Our research evidence supports that.