The 2022 French national nutrition survey (Nutri-Bébé) in the first 3 years of postnatal life: methodology, recruitment, and sampling characteristics.

Regular assessment of feeding practices and nutrient intake during early life is essential to establishing appropriate recommendations aimed at promoting healthy eating behaviors in children. The objective of the Nutri-Bébé 2022 study was to update the data on feeding habits and dietary patterns of a nationally representative sample of infants and young children living in mainland France, and to investigate potential associations between socio-economic factors and feeding practices. The purpose of this article is to describe the study methodology and the population sample involved. This is a prospective observational cross-sectional study selecting a random sample according to the quota sampling method. Once recruited and after providing informed consent, parents had a first face-to-face interview. In the following days they had to complete a food consumption questionnaire over 3 non-consecutive days including a weekend day. Finally, they had to complete an online questionnaire on eating habits. To ensure the representativity, the sample was calibrated and weighted. The total sample comprised 1224 children divided into 11 age groups: an initial sample of 880 parent-child dyads plus an oversampling of some children subgroups for assessing their nutritional intakes. Detailed parents, household and children characteristics including anthropometric data are described. Of included children, 160 were breastfed. Of the total sample, 947 consumed solid foods for which the age of introduction was 5.46 ± 2.04 months. Nutri-Bébé 2022 study provides data based on a large nationally representative sampling that will inform practitioners, researchers, and policymakers about feeding patterns and nutrients intake of infants and young children. The protocol was prospectively registered on ClinicalTrial.gouv (December 13, 2022/N° NCT05649527)