Duration of exclusive breastfeeding may be related to eating behaviour and dietary intake in obesity prone normal weight young children

PLoS One. 2018 Jul 11;13(7):e0200388. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200388. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Infants who are breastfed are introduced to a variety of flavours from the maternal milk, and thus the transition from maternal milk to complementary foods may be easier for these children. The aim of this study was to investigate if duration of exclusive breastfeeding was associated with pickiness or dietary intake of vegetables, fruit, starchy foods or sugar sweetened beverages among obesity prone normal weight children aged 2-6 years. This cohort study was based on data from the Healthy Start primary intervention study, the Danish Medical Birth registry and the Danish Health Visitor's Child Health Database. Infant feeding was registered by health nurses while home-visiting the mother and child up to four times within the first year. Information on eating behaviour and diet intake at age 2-6 years was obtained by parents. Crude and adjusted logistic and general linear regression models were used to investigate associations. A total of 236 children had complete information on all variables. Data showed lower odds of picky eating behaviour when exclusively breastfed until age 4-5 months compared to exclusively breastfed for 0-1 months (OR = 0.35, 95CI = 0.16;0.76, p = 0.008). In the crude analysis only, exclusively breastfed until age 6-10 months was associated with a higher daily intake of vegetables (p = 0.04). This study suggests that exclusive breastfeeding duration seems to influence pickiness and may contribute to facilitate the consumption of more vegetables in later childhood in obesity prone normal weight children.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Breast Feeding*
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Denmark
  • Dietary Sugars
  • Eating*
  • Feeding Behavior*
  • Fruit
  • Humans
  • Pediatric Obesity / epidemiology*
  • Pediatric Obesity / etiology
  • Pediatric Obesity / prevention & control*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Starch
  • Time Factors
  • Vegetables

Substances

  • Dietary Sugars
  • Starch

Grants and funding

The Healthy Start study was funded by the Tryg Foundation (grant: 7984-07, 7106-09, and 7-10-0330), the Danish Medical Research Council (grant: 271-07-0281), and the Health Insurance Foundation (grant: 2008B101) to BLH. We are further grateful to the Oak Foundation for the essential co-financing of the Parker Institute. None of the funders had any role in the design, analysis or writing of this article.