Assessing Better Bottles for Babies (AB3)

May 5, 2026 updated by: Duke University

Assessing Better Bottles for Babies (AB3)

This study will use a 2 x 2 factorial design to test impact of two intervention strategies (bottle size and bottle opacity) on infant weight gain.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Infants who gain weight rapidly have over 4 times higher odds of developing obesity as a child or adult; infants who are predominantly bottle-fed are at higher risk for excessive infancy weight gain and childhood obesity, yet there are not effective interventions to reduce excessive weight gain among infants who are bottle-fed. The investigators' preliminary work suggest that two novel intervention strategies are feasible and may reduce excessive infancy weight gain: reducing bottle size; and increasing bottle opacity. The investigators aim to test the independent and joint efficacy of these two intervention components among exclusively bottle-fed infants in a randomized, full factorial clinical trial. The investigators' primary objective is to measure the change in conditional weight gain z-score (CWGz) from birth to four months by study group. 4 groups are composed of two conditions: smaller bottles and opaque bottles, independently and in combination, via a 2x2 factorial trial design.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

5

Phase

  • 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 Locations

    • North Carolina
      • Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27704
        • Duke University

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

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Child is 3 days old to 1 month old
  • Greater than 37 weeks gestational age at birth
  • Birth weight greater than 3% for sex-specific WHO growth standard
  • Caregiver must plan to use local clinic as infant's primary medical home for first 6 months of life
  • Caregiver must speak English or Spanish as primary preferred language
  • Caregiver age 18 years or older
  • Caregiver must agree to use intervention bottles assigned during randomization and agree to stop using their existing bottles during the study period

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Multiple gestation
  • Significant congenital anomaly or acquired or inherited condition directly affecting feeding, physiology, metabolism, or growth
  • Feeding with soy-based, hydrolyzed, lactose-reduced, or elemental formula
  • Weight loss greater than 95% for population reference in the first two weeks of life

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Standard, Clear
This group will receive standard-sized clear bottles
Standard sized bottle
Clear bottle
Experimental: Standard, Opaque
This group will receive standard-sized opaque bottles
Standard sized bottle
Opaque bottle
Experimental: Small, Clear
This group will receive small-sized clear bottles
Clear bottle
Small sized bottle
Experimental: Small, Opaque
This group will receive small-sized opaque bottles
Opaque bottle
Small sized bottle

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Conditional weight gain z-score changes (CWGz)
Time Frame: Birth to 4 months
CWGz scores will be calculated for each participant as the residual of the actual weight-for-age z-score at 4 months minus its predicted z-score from linear regression of the 4 month z-score on birth weight z-score. Intent-to-treat analyses will include regression models, stratified by sex, with CWGz score as the outcome.
Birth to 4 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Formula volume per feed
Time Frame: Birth to 4 months
At the time of in-home video recordings, the volume per feed will be measured from the pre- and post-weight of bottles by a food-grade scale calibrated and accurate to the nearest 0.01g.
Birth to 4 months
Caregiver sensitivity to cues as measured by the Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale (NCAFS)
Time Frame: Birth to 4 months
The Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale (NCAFS) measures discrete behaviors scored as "presence" or "absence" of each behavior/item. We will calculate feeding behavior scores on the "Sensitivity to Cues" subscale (score range 0 to 16) and "Responsiveness to Caregiver" subscale (score range 0 to 11). Score of 0 on a subscale means that none of the behaviors/items were observed, higher scores indicate more behaviors on the subscale were observed.
Birth to 4 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Collaborators

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Charles T Wood, MD, MPH, Duke University

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)

May 28, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

May 15, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 4, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 4, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

April 10, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 7, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 5, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Pro00115060

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

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.

Clinical Trials on Pediatric Obesity

Clinical Trials on Standard Bottle Size

Search Similar Trials