Mother-Baby Study - Observational

September 3, 2026 updated by: Julie Lumeng, University of Michigan

Fundamental Biobehavioral Mechanisms Underlying the Integrated Development of Emotion, Attachment, and Nutritive Intake in the Mother-Infant Dyad

The rate of weight gain in the first year of life is risk factor for future obesity. The study will test (1) a model of l mechanisms underlying the development of emotion, attachment, and nutritive intake; and (2) the association with maternal feeding behavior, child eating behavior, dietary intake, and adiposity.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

This multi-year study was originally accurately registered as an observational study. The outcome measures are not measuring dependent variables based on the interventions; rather the interventions are experiments to categorize infant responses for the purpose of grouping infants according to their behaviors. There are small trials associated with the grant at National Clinical Trial numbers (NCT #s): NCT06072664, NCT06072651, and NCT06072638 to analyze behaviors at 18 and 36 months of age. However, because the NIH grant covering this study needs to be linked to a trial for computer smart logic purposes, and this overarching study connects with the most complete enrollment numbers, the record was modified in 2024 to show it as a trial.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
250

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Michigan
      • Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, 48109
        • University of Michigan

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Study Population

The researchers will enroll 120 infants and their mothers (120 dyads, 240 total participants). Infants will be of both genders and mothers will be of female gender only. Infants will enroll at 1 month and participate to age 36 months.

Description

To be eligible to participate in this study, they mother-child dyad must meet all of the following criteria:

  1. Provision of signed and dated informed consent form by mother for herself and infant
  2. Stated willingness by mother to comply with all study procedures and availability for the duration of the study
  3. Infant gestational age 37.0 - 42.0 weeks based on maternal report of due date and child's birth date
  4. Infant birth weight by maternal report appropriate (≥ 3rd percentile and ≤ 97th percentile) for gestational age and sex based on US Natality Data set.
  5. Mother is biological mother both genetically and gestationally by maternal report (i.e., conception with her own (versus donor) egg and she was pregnant (versus a surrogate)
  6. Biological mother is legal guardian by maternal report
  7. Biological mother is full time custodial guardian by maternal report (versus sharing custody such that infant does not live with her full time)
  8. Infant has fed at least 2.0 ounces in one feeding from an artificial nipple and bottle by maternal report or mother reports planning to do prior to first task requiring artificial nipple and bottle during age 1.0 month data collection window

Any dyad who meets any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this study:

  1. Limited English proficiency in the mother; this is necessary because the questionnaires have only been validated in English-speaking populations.
  2. Participation in another study involving treatment or intervention focused on mother or child emotion or attachment, child eating behavior, child dietary intake, or child growth
  3. Mother < 18.0 years old at time of consent prior to infant's first data collection window
  4. Significant medical problems in the child or known diagnosis as reported by the mother that has significant potential to affect current or future eating, growth or development in the child as evaluated by PI Lumeng (e.g., cystic fibrosis, cleft palate, trisomy 13).
  5. Significant medical problems in the mother as reported by the mother and assessed for significance by PI Lumeng (i.e., cancer, lupus)
  6. Mother or infant taking medications likely to have significant effect on biological measures in study (e.g., steroids)
  7. Family lives more than 1.5 hour driving distance from the University of Michigan. This is necessary to ensure study feasibility.
  8. Family plans to move outside 1.5 hour driving distance from the University of Michigan before end of age 36-month data collection window. This is necessary to ensure study feasibility.
  9. Child is product of multiple gestation (i.e., twins, triplets)
  10. Significant complications for mother or infant during the pregnancy as assessed by PI Lumeng (e.g., eclampsia, preterm premature rupture of membranes)
  11. Significant complications for mother or infant during the perinatal period as assessed by PI Lumeng (e.g., sepsis, hemorrhage requiring transfusion, persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn)

All participants must be enrolled in all parts of the Mother-Baby study (1 Observational study and 4 Clinical Trials)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Mother-Infant Dyad
The researchers will enroll 150 infants and their mothers (150 dyads, 300 total participants). The researchers anticipate, based on prior experience and the slightly more restrictive inclusion and exclusion criteria in this study compared to our prior work, needing to screen about 600 mother-infant dyads to achieve the target sample size of 150. The researchers anticipate that the sample will be 63% non-Hispanic white, 13% non-Hispanic black, 4% non-Hispanic Asian, 12% non-Hispanic multiracial, and 8% Hispanic (any race). The researchers expect that 50% of the infants will be male and 50% female, and all of the biological mothers will be female sex. Infants will be 0.5-1.5 months at enrollment and the researchers estimate that mothers will be between 18.0 and 50.0 at enrollment (upper age limit is estimated due to menopause ).
Behavioral: Bonding-Evoked Oxytocin
Mother participates in bonding activity with infant at ages 1, 3, and 6 months
Behavioral: Distress Relieving Effects of Sucrose
Researcher elicits distress in the infant (sequence of unswaddling, pacifier removal, and arm restraint), followed by delivery of oral sucrose in one condition and water in other condition
Behavioral: Hedonic Response to Sucrose
Researcher gives infant opportunity to suck from two bottles, one containing sucrose and one plain water at infant ages 1, 3, and 6 months
Behavioral: Typical versus Challenging Feeding-Social
Mother feeds infant on four counterbalanced days at infant ages 1, 3, and 6 months crossing two conditions: (1) regular size nipple versus smaller aperture nipple ('challenging') and (2) providing social interaction while feeding versus not.
Behavioral: Caloric Compensation-Social
Mother feeds infant on four counterbalanced days at infant ages 1, 3, and 6 months crossing two conditions: (1) offering a bottle feeding ad lib for 3 hours versus offering a bottle feeding every hour for 3 hours; (2) providing social interaction while feeding versus not.
Behavioral: Ability to Delay Gratification for Food in Infants-Social Task (ATDG-FIT-Social)
When mother indicates infant is hungry, she presents the infant the bottle but withholds feeding for 5 minutes, feeds for one minute, withholds feeding for 30 seconds, and then resumes feeding. She does so under two conditions (providing social interaction during feeding versus not) on two counterbalanced days at infant ages 1, 3, and 6 months.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Weight-for-length z-score
Time Frame: Up to 36 months (infant age)
Infants will be weighed and length will be measured recumbent using an infantometer. Weight-for-length will be calculated and z-scored against World Health Organization growth charts
Up to 36 months (infant age)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Michigan

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Study Chair: Julie Lumeng, MD, University of Michigan

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
December 21, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
February 1, 2029

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
February 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
September 10, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 10, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
September 15, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
September 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
September 3, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • HUM00227836
  • R01DK134979 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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