A review of interventions for early childhood obesity prevention

A recent study by the Transforming Obesity Prevention in CHILDren (TOPCHILD) Collaboration investigated the behaviour change content of interventions targeting early childhood obesity prevention. The study found that interventions targeted multiple behavioural domains and showed significant variations in delivery features. But how is this study relevant to the Bump2Baby and Me intervention?

Timing of interventions is important

We know that early intervention is crucial. The Bump2Baby and Me intervention targeted early pregnancy and continued for 12 months post-partum. This is a critical window for establishing healthy behavioural trajectories, a factor supported by the systematic review by TOPCHILD.

A multi-behavioural approach

The review identifies that many effective interventions target multiple behavioural domains. Bump2Baby and Me’s comprehensive approach addressing multiple parental behaviours, including infant feeding, diet, physical activity and sleep, fits well with the most common intervention design identified in the review (15 of the 37 interventions targeted all four domains).

Digital delivery with real-life coaching support

The TOPCHILD paper highlights that interventions increasingly incorporate digital elements, particularly in more recent studies. Our intervention’s use of an app supplemented by professional healthcare coaching exemplifies this modern, hybrid approach. The review found that a high number of the interventions had some electronic component, but not all had the added value of human support, which was identified as important (healthcare professionals delivered 26 of the 36 interventions).

Behaviour change techniques

The review identified five commonly used behaviour change techniques across the interventions. These were:

• Instruction on how to perform a behaviour e.g., providing breastfeeding guidance such as positioning or number of feeds;
• Behavioural practice and rehearsal e.g., encouraging repeating behaviour;
• Information about health consequences e.g., demonstrating a behaviour’s positive or negative health consequences;
• Social support (unspecified) e.g.,  providing general support or referral to further services/ resources;
• Credible source e.g., information provided by a health coach.

In addition three-quarters of interventions (27/36) reported tailoring to the participant, often through personalised counselling. The use of healthcare professional coaching and professionally developed and tailored content and information within the app most likely strengthened our intervention’s effectiveness.

Duration and frequency of interventions

The review found considerable variation in intervention contact frequency and duration, with many successful interventions having monthly or greater frequency (21/36). The length of the Bump2Baby and Me intervention with ongoing app support likely provided consistent engagement that fits with the identified best practices.

Future directions

The TOPCHILD collaboration paper provides crucial information on the components and complexity of early childhood obesity prevention interventions. The description of intervention components gives intervention designers insights into existing and novel approaches which can be used to inform the design of future interventions to support parents in their child’s first 1000 days of life.

Implications for Bump2Baby and Me

This review validates many design choices made in the Bump2Baby and Me study, particularly:

The findings also suggest areas where our data might contribute valuable insights to future analyses, particularly around the effectiveness of mHealth coaching and how intervention components might be optimally tailored to individual needs through an adaptive approach.

We hope that this review’s comprehensive mapping of intervention components will help contextualise our study’s results when they are published, and position Bump2Baby and Me within the broader evidence base of early childhood obesity prevention interventions.

Paper

Johnson, B.J., Chadwick, P.M., Pryde, S. et al. Behavioural components and delivery features of early childhood obesity prevention interventions: intervention coding of studies in the TOPCHILD Collaboration systematic review. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 22, 14 (2025).