Exclusive Breastfeeding Is Associated with Total Breastfeeding Duration and Growth Outcomes: Icelandic Mother and Child Health Study (ICE-MCH) †
1
Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, 102 Reykjavík, Iceland
2
Unit for Nutrition Research, Health Science Institute, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the 14th European Nutrition Conference FENS 2023, Belgrade, Serbia, 14–17 November 2023.
Proceedings 2023, 91(1), 83; https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091083
Published: 24 November 2023
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of The 14th European Nutrition Conference FENS 2023)
Abstract
:Introduction: Little is known about the association between the duration of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) and total breastfeeding. More evidence is needed on the association between EBF and growth in whole birth cohorts. Aims: The aim of this study was to assess whether the duration of EBF is associated with total breastfeeding duration until 12 months of age. The association between EBF duration and weight and length was studied at 6, 8, 10, 12, and 48 months of age. Methods: Health-care registries were used to obtain breastfeeding and anthropometric data on all live-born children in Iceland between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2014. Kaplan–Meier plots were conducted to assess the survival probability of total breastfeeding duration up to 12 months among infants who either received EBF or were partially breastfed at 3 months and at 5 months. For the same groups, T-tests and two-way analyses of variance, adjusted for sex, residence, birth weight, and birth length, were conducted to estimate differences in anthropometric outcomes from 6 months up to 4 years of age. Results: The total number of participants was 25,793. At 3 months, 59% received EBF and 26% were partially breastfed. At 5 months, 36% received EBF and 40% were partially breastfed. The survival probability for breastfeeding at 12 months was 47% among infants that received EBF for 3 months and 30% among infants that were partially breastfed for 3 months. Among infants that received EBF for 5 months, the survival probability at 12 months was 56%, while it was 37% among infants that were partially breastfed for 5 months. EBF infants were heavier and longer at birth and had a significantly slower growth rate up to 4 years of age, compared to non-EBF infants. Conclusions: A longer duration of EBF increases the likelihood for longer breastfeeding duration up to 12 months and is associated with slower growth up to 4 years. The size of the effect on growth was small and should be evaluated in light of the larger birth size of EBF infants, and former studies show the healthy growth of infants who received EBF for 6 months.
Author Contributions
All authors contributed to the conceptualization; methodology; validation; investigation; data curation; and writing—original draft preparation, review and editing; visualization. I.T. and B.T. were responsible for resources; supervision; project administration; funding acquisition. J.J. did software work and formal analysis. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research received funding from University of Iceland Research Fund and no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement
The ICE-MCH study was approved by the National Bioethics Committee in Iceland (VSN-14-078) with later adjustments and the Icelandic Data Protection Authority (ref. 2014050799) and performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The Directorate of Health permitted access to information in the Icelandic Medical Birth Registry (ref. 1405034/5.6.1), and the Primary Health Care of the Capital Area (ref. lA3g/22/845.l) and other health care centres in the country permitted access to information in the Saga Maternal and Child Health Database.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
Not available according to rules of Directorate of Health and Primary Health Care in Iceland. Further abstract data will be recalculated before paper publication.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. |
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
MDPI and ACS Style
Jonsdottir, J.; Thorisdottir, B.; Thorsdottir, I. Exclusive Breastfeeding Is Associated with Total Breastfeeding Duration and Growth Outcomes: Icelandic Mother and Child Health Study (ICE-MCH). Proceedings 2023, 91, 83. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091083
AMA Style
Jonsdottir J, Thorisdottir B, Thorsdottir I. Exclusive Breastfeeding Is Associated with Total Breastfeeding Duration and Growth Outcomes: Icelandic Mother and Child Health Study (ICE-MCH). Proceedings. 2023; 91(1):83. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091083
Chicago/Turabian StyleJonsdottir, Jenny, Birna Thorisdottir, and Inga Thorsdottir. 2023. "Exclusive Breastfeeding Is Associated with Total Breastfeeding Duration and Growth Outcomes: Icelandic Mother and Child Health Study (ICE-MCH)" Proceedings 91, no. 1: 83. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091083
