INFANT (INfant Feeding Active play and NuTrition)
Name | INFANT (INfant Feeding Active play and NuTrition) |
Target Audience | Infants (0-2 years) Parents |
CfC Objective | Healthy Young Families Supporting Families and Parents |
Organisation | Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), Deakin University |
Delivery Setting | Community-based |
Description | Aims to improve parents’ and carers’ knowledge and skills around healthy eating, active play, limiting screen time and, in turn, healthy growth from the start of life. |
Delivered to | Parents and carers of infants (0-18 Months) |
Delivered by | Trained early years practitioners including Maternal and Child Health Nurses, Dietitians, Health Promotion Officers, Parent Support Workers. |
Program Structure | INFANT includes four 90-minute group sessions intended for parents and carers of infants aged approximately 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. The group sessions are complemented with an app called My Baby Now for parents and carers to support key messages. |
Training | Staff at Local Government Areas implementing INFANT will have completed the online INFANT training. The training has been created for early years practitioners interested in implementing INFANT in their community.
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Cost | INFANT runs on a cost recovery basis only which ensures training and support will remain low-cost to organisations implementing the program. In Victoria, there are no direct costs to government and not-for-profit organisations due to funding from the Victorian Department of Health. This includes private practitioners working in partnership with health and community services. For interstate and private practitioners (not working in partnership with health and community services) there is a fee involved. |
Contact | Email: [email protected] Website: www.infantprogram.org |
Evaluation and effectiveness | INFANT is based on more than 10 years of research undertaken by the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), Deakin University. In 2008, INFANT was delivered as a research trial to 540 families across eleven Victorian Local Government Areas. This randomised controlled trial showed that INFANT had positive effects on a range of parents’ and children’s health behaviours with sustained benefits at 5 years of age:
INFANT was also shown to improve mothers’ knowledge and confidence in feeding their children as well as their own diet, with high levels of engagement with the program (68% attended most sessions).
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