Strengths and limitations
The strengths of the current study are the large sample size and prospective design of the study. The prospective design, whereby dietary and sedentary behaviours were assessed before the outcome (birth weight), has minimised recall bias. To our knowledge, this is the first study that has examined the associations of maternal dietary and sedentary behaviours with birth weight in Australia. This current study contributes to an under-researched area.However, this investigation has several limitations. First, gestational age data were estimated based on mothers’ self-reported weeks pregnant, which is subjected to estimation error. Birth weight is determined by both fetal growth and the duration of gestation