Digital illustration of infant feeding monitoring with baby bottle, smartphone, and health charts.

Decoding Infant Feeding: Are You Tracking Your Baby’s Nutrition Right?

Mira Elwood in Health & Wellness November 2025 • 4 min read.

"Uncover the most reliable ways to monitor your baby's diet and avoid common pitfalls in tracking breastfeeding, formula use, and solid food introduction."

Ensuring optimal nutrition for infants is paramount for their growth, development, and long-term health. Studies focused on breastfeeding and infant nutrition rely on precise data collection methods. However, data on breastfeeding, formula use, and the introduction of solid foods are susceptible to inaccuracies, including recall bias and social desirability bias, potentially skewing results.

A study published in "Breastfeeding Medicine" sought to compare data on infant nutrition obtained through four different methods: self-administered questionnaires at 3 and 18 months postpartum, health visitors' reports, and weekly SMS questions initiated shortly after birth. Researchers aimed to determine which method provides the most reliable data, with weekly SMS questions hypothesized as the most accurate due to their frequent distribution and reduced recall bias.

The study, part of the Odense Child Cohort, included 639 singleton mothers. By comparing the different methods, this research highlights critical considerations for accurately tracking and promoting healthy infant feeding practices. Understanding these nuances can help healthcare professionals and parents make informed decisions about infant nutrition.

The Challenge of Accurate Data Collection in Infant Nutrition

Digital illustration of infant feeding monitoring with baby bottle, smartphone, and health charts.

Collecting precise data on infant feeding practices is challenging due to several factors. Recall bias, where mothers may not accurately remember past feeding habits, and social desirability bias, where they may report what they believe is the “right” answer rather than the truth, can skew results. These biases can significantly affect the accuracy of studies aimed at understanding and optimizing infant nutrition.

Traditional data collection methods, such as questionnaires and health visitor reports, are prone to these inaccuracies. Questionnaires rely on memory, which can fade or become distorted over time. Health visitor reports, while valuable, may vary in consistency and detail depending on the individual visitor. This variability makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions about infant feeding practices.

Questionnaires: Prone to recall bias, where mothers may inaccurately remember past feeding habits.
Health Visitor Reports: Subject to variability in consistency and detail, depending on the individual visitor.
Social Desirability Bias: Mothers may report what they believe is the “right” answer rather than the truth.

Recognizing these challenges is the first step in improving data collection. By understanding the limitations of traditional methods, researchers and healthcare providers can explore innovative approaches to gather more accurate and reliable data on infant feeding.

Moving Forward: Choosing the Right Data Collection Method

Ultimately, the choice of data collection method depends on the specific goals of the study or monitoring program. For detailed, real-time data collection, weekly SMS questions offer a promising avenue. For broader assessments and trend analysis, traditional methods, supplemented with strategies to mitigate biases, can still provide valuable insights. By acknowledging the strengths and limitations of each approach, we can better inform strategies to support optimal infant nutrition.

About this Article -

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This article is based on research published under:

DOI-LINK: 10.1089/bfm.2017.0054, Alternate LINK

Title: Breastfeeding, Infant Formula, And Introduction To Complementary Foods—Comparing Data Obtained By Questionnaires And Health Visitors' Reports To Weekly Short Message Service Text Messages

Subject: Maternity and Midwifery

Journal: Breastfeeding Medicine

Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert Inc

Authors: Signe Bruun, Susanne Buhl, Steffen Husby, Lotte Neergaard Jacobsen, Kim F. Michaelsen, Jan Sørensen, Gitte Zachariassen

Published: 2017-11-01

Everything You Need To Know

What are the main challenges in collecting accurate data on infant feeding practices?

The main challenges include recall bias, where mothers struggle to accurately remember past feeding habits, and social desirability bias, which leads to mothers reporting what they perceive as the 'correct' answer. These biases can significantly distort the data collected on breastfeeding, formula use, and the introduction of solid foods, skewing the results of studies aiming to understand and optimize infant nutrition. Methods like questionnaires and health visitor reports are particularly susceptible to these issues.

What specific methods were compared in the 'Breastfeeding Medicine' study, and what were they evaluating?

The study compared four data collection methods: self-administered questionnaires at 3 and 18 months postpartum, health visitors' reports, and weekly SMS questions initiated shortly after birth. The goal was to determine which method provided the most reliable data on infant nutrition, focusing on breastfeeding, formula use, and the introduction of solid foods. The researchers hypothesized that weekly SMS questions would be the most accurate because of their frequency and reduced recall bias.

How does recall bias affect the accuracy of data collected through questionnaires?

Recall bias significantly impacts the accuracy of data collected through questionnaires by causing mothers to inaccurately remember their past feeding habits. Over time, memories fade, and details become distorted, leading to inaccuracies in the reported information. This is especially problematic when tracking infant nutrition, as the data directly influences our understanding of optimal feeding practices and can affect the outcomes of studies related to breastfeeding, formula use, and the introduction of solid foods.

Why are health visitor reports sometimes less reliable for data collection compared to other methods?

Health visitor reports can be less reliable due to variability in consistency and detail, which depends on the individual visitor. This variability arises from differences in training, experience, and the specific approach each visitor takes when collecting data. This makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions about infant feeding practices and potentially compromises the accuracy of the data collected on breastfeeding, formula use, and the introduction of solid foods compared to other methods.

In terms of data collection, what advantages do weekly SMS questions offer over questionnaires and health visitor reports?

Weekly SMS questions offer several advantages. Firstly, they provide real-time data collection, reducing the impact of recall bias because the information is gathered close to the feeding events. Secondly, their frequent distribution encourages more accurate reporting. Finally, this method allows researchers to obtain more reliable insights into infant feeding practices, as it reduces the potential for mothers to forget or misremember details related to breastfeeding, formula use, and the introduction of solid foods, as seen in traditional methods like questionnaires or through health visitor reports.