Study results: Music Together—a pleasurable alternative to food!

You may know firsthand about the ups and downs of keeping your new baby at the healthiest possible weight. Some newborns may struggle to gain weight, while others may overfeed. Research indicates that overeating in newborns is associated with future obesity beginning when they are preschoolers.

The Division of Behavioral Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at the State University of Buffalo in New York embarked upon a study to determine if they could identify an alternative activity for parents of infants at risk for future obesity. What might these parents offer their children besides food to satisfy their desire to eat? They chose Music Together!

Buffalo center director Betty Corona has taught two semesters of Music Together classes with the parents and babies enrolled in the study. Another group of parents and babies at risk for obesity attended a playgroup. The outcome? Infants who attended Music Together “worked harder” for music than for food—meaning that music served as a pleasurable alternative to food. And, better yet, these infants showed less weight gain than those in the playgroup!

The researchers plan to do more phases of this study, but these preliminary results point to yet another benefit of music: Even in infancy, music is so enjoyable that infants at risk for obesity can attend a Music Together class and have an experience that can alter their trajectory of unhealthy weight gain over the years to come.