# Mothers and CareGivers Investing in Children: A virtual intervention to support healthy growth in infants and toddlers

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · 2024 · $642,372

## Abstract

Project Summary
Childhood obesity remains a significant public health problem and obesity risk begins early in life. There is a
need for accessible and comprehensive interventions focused on modifiable behaviors in infancy. This
proposal is an efficacy trial for the virtual Mothers and CareGivers Investing in Children (MAGIC) FEED+
program designed to foster responsive bottle and infant feeding and healthy eating habits starting in infancy,
compared to an attention control arm. Our pilot work has successfully implemented the MAGIC-FEED program
with responsive feeding coaching and focusing on complementary feeding to under and un-insured families in
the Austin area. The proposed research builds upon our partnerships and expands the intervention period to
earlier in infancy to include responsive bottle- and breast-ffeeding and includes longer-term follow up of infants
to disentangle the role of the intervention on child self-regulatory behaviors and longer-term adiposity. Our trial
will enroll 266 predominately low-income and Hispanic caregivers in early infancy and will deliver the
intervention starting at child age 3 weeks with intervention visits at 3 weeks, and 3, 6, 8, and 10 months. In-
person assessments of growth and body composition and child self-regulation will occur at child age 3 weeks,
and 13 and 24 months. Aim 1 focuses on main intervention effects on child growth and body composition. Aim
2 focuses on intervention effects on caregiver nutrition knowledge, and quality, caregiver responsive feeding
and child self-regulation, and examines the effect of MAGIC-FEED+ and the role of potential drivers of growth
(caregiver feeding practices and child self-regulatory skills) in infancy on children’s propensity to eat in the
absence of hunger and adiposity/body fat at 24 months. Aim 3 determines whether MAGIC-FEED+
demonstrates the factors necessary to be a successful intervention for broader dissemination. This proposal is
the first dynamic and interactive virtual trial designed to support heathy breast-, bottle and complementary
feeding with robust measurements of responsive feeding, self-regulation and adiposity. These results will
inform a pragmatic trial, and if effective, the MAGIC-FEED+ program is poised for wide dissemination and
public health impact.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10878582
- **Project number:** 1R01DK135947-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
- **Principal Investigator:** Deborah B Jacobvitz
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $642,372
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-04-01 → 2029-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10878582

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10878582, Mothers and CareGivers Investing in Children: A virtual intervention to support healthy growth in infants and toddlers (1R01DK135947-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10878582. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*