The relationship between breastfeeding with dietary patterns of children aged 7 to 10 years old

Background and Aim: Evidence suggests that children s dietary preferences may be related to the type of feeding in the first year of life. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between breastfeeding with dietary patterns in children aged 7 to 10 years old in the city of Tehran, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in 388 children aged 7-10 years old recruited from the elementary schools in Tehran, Iran. Information on the type of feeding during infancy and the duration of feeding were collected by the children’s health records and interviewing with their mothers. The dietary intake of children were collected using a 168-items food frequency questionnaire. Major dietary patterns in the study population was identified by explanatory factor analysis method. Results: Three major dietary patterns were identified including the ‘western’, ‘healthy’ and ‘vegetable’ dietary patterns. There was no significant relationship between the types of feeding and its duration in infancy with any of the dietary patterns. Breastfeeding for > 6 months was positively associated with child’s height (P=0.026), while it had a negative association with the rank of birth (p=0.01).Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, there was no significant relationship between breastfeeding and major dietary patterns in children. More studies with larger sample size are warranted.

Keywords:

Depression-Pregnancy Symptoms-Food insecurity