Canada's children are falling behind. One in 4 are overweight or obese and more than 1 in 3 have factors that put them at risk for cardiovascular disease as adults. Children from low income families are 70% more likely to be overweight or obese. Research across disciplines has shown that early life nutrition has profound effects on childhood obesity, development, mental health, and lifetime success. Optimizing early life nutrition to reduce inequalities in childhood obesity and its consequences is a promising approach. Through this application, we will be using a longitudinal factorial design within an ongoing cohort study(TARGet Kids!). The longitudinal factorial design involves randomizing the same children to multiple interventions, providing the opportunity to evaluate the effect of individual interventions as well as the multiplicative effects of a combination of interventions over time. This design increases the feasibility and lowers the cost relative to conducting 2 separate trials. This will be a pragmatic, randomized, longitudinal factorial Trials within Cohorts (TwiCs) clinical trial. This study will be a direct comparison of two primary healthcare interventions provided randomly at the individual level: 1) Lactation Consultant (LC) support vs. usual care; 2) Childcare Navigator (CN) support vs. usual care.
NuRISH is a suite of clinical trials for children from low-income families which will determine whether primary healthcare prescription for: 1) Optimal breastfeeding with support from a mobile lactation consultant vs. usual care and 2) High-quality childcare starting at 1 year vs. usual care can prevent childhood obesity, and improve cardiovascular, developmental and mental health at 2 years of age.