CHRIS MOIR, KIM MEREDITH-JONES, BARRY J. TAYLOR, ANDREW GRAY, ANNE-LOUISE M. HEATH, KELLY DALE, BARBARA GALLAND, JULIE LAWRENCE, RACHEL M. SAYERS, RACHAEL W. TAYLOR

Few physical activity interventions have been undertaken in infants and toddlers, despite concerns they are insufficiently active. The Prevention of Overweight in Infancy trial encouraged parents to be physically active with their child from birth, including prone-based play ('tummy time'), while reducing time spent restrained in car seats and 'strollers'. 802 women, recruited in late pregnancy, were randomized to a physical activity intervention which provided information antenatally, and active group sessions with their infant at 3, 9 and 18 months of age. Questionnaires were completed at multiple timepoints, and toddlers wore Actical accelerometers for 5 days at 24 months of age. Attendance at intervention sessions was high in infancy but declined by 18 months to 66%. Almost all parents placed their infant prone to play at least once a day (90-95%, overall median 25 minutes per day), with no intervention differences observed (P = 0.445 and P = 0.350 at 4 and 6 months respectively). Few differences were observed in other measures of restraint or parental activity at any time point. At two years, children spent approximately 8 hours per day in sedentary time while awake, and 3.6 hours in light-to-vigorous (LMV) activity. However, no group differences were apparent in counts per minute (P = 0.759) or time in LMV activity (P = 0.960). An early life intervention targeting improvements in child and parent physical activity as part of a wider obesity prevention initiative had little impact on physical activity at two years of age. Clinical Trials NCT00892983.