What’s New in Breastfeeding?

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Pediatric Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 October 2024 | Viewed by 263

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Behavioral and Social Science, Brown School of Public Health, Providence, RI 02903, USA
Interests: nutrition; obesity; pregnancy; breastfeeding; smoking cessation; smoke avoidance
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Breastfeeding is the recommended and most healthy form of infant feeding, which in many cases ensures the health and survival of children. Breastfeeding provides nutrients for healthy growth and antibodies, which help prevent many common childhood diseases. Breast milk also offers many long-term benefits, such as reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and childhood cancers, as well as decreasing the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and endometrial cancer. Many psychosocial, environmental, and societal factors affect breastfeeding, which are often the target of successful interventions to improve breastfeeding initiation, exclusivity, and delayed cessation.

Our Special Issue aims to discuss all the effects of breastfeeding on the nutrition and health of mothers and children and the effects of nutrition and dietary intake on breastfeeding. Additionally, we will explore community, clinical, and policy interventions to increase breastfeeding success and look forward to the latest research innovations and findings being discussed here. We invite interested researchers to submit original research and review articles relating to this topic. Papers that combine a high academic level and practical focus are particularly welcome.

Yours faithfully,

Dr. Patricia Markham Risica
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • breastfeeding
  • lactation
  • maternal nutrition
  • nutritional epidemiology
  • human milk
  • pediatric nutrition
  • breastfeeding interventions

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 943 KiB  
Article
The Effects of Breastfeeding on Childhood Behavioral and Emotional Development: A Prospective Cohort Study in China
by Ying Meng, Hongzhao Yu, Mingxuan Zhang, Hongtian Li, Yubo Zhou and Jianmeng Liu
Nutrients 2024, 16(11), 1743; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16111743 - 2 Jun 2024
Viewed by 31
Abstract
Background: Breastfeeding could improve a child’s health early on, but its long-term effects on childhood behavioral and emotional development remain inconclusive. We aimed to estimate the associations of feeding practice with childhood behavioral and emotional development. Methods: In this population-based birth cohort study, [...] Read more.
Background: Breastfeeding could improve a child’s health early on, but its long-term effects on childhood behavioral and emotional development remain inconclusive. We aimed to estimate the associations of feeding practice with childhood behavioral and emotional development. Methods: In this population-based birth cohort study, data on feeding patterns for the first 6 mo of life, the duration of breastfeeding, and children’s emotional and behavioral outcomes were prospectively collected from 2489 mother–child dyads. Feeding patterns for the first 6 mo included exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) and non-exclusive breastfeeding (non-EBF, including mixed feeding or formula feeding), and the duration of breastfeeding (EBF or mixed feeding) was categorized into ≤6 mo, 7–12 mo, 13–18 mo, and >18 mo. Externalizing problems and internalizing problems were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and operationalized according to recommended clinical cutoffs, corresponding to T scores ≥64. Multivariable linear regression and logistic regression were used to evaluate the association of feeding practice with CBCL outcomes. Results: The median (interquartile range) age of children at the outcome measurement was 32.0 (17.0) mo. Compared with non-EBF for the first 6 mo, EBF was associated with a lower T score of internalizing problems [adjusted mean difference (aMD): −1.31; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): −2.53, −0.10], and it was marginally associated with T scores of externalizing problems (aMD: −0.88; 95% CI: −1.92, 0.15). When dichotomized, EBF versus non-EBF was associated with a lower risk of externalizing problems (aOR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.34, 0.87), and it was marginally associated with internalizing problems (aOR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.54, 1.06). Regarding the duration of breastfeeding, breastfeeding for 13–18 mo versus ≤6 mo was associated with lower T scores of internalizing problems (aMD: −2.50; 95% CI: −4.43, −0.56) and externalizing problems (aMD: −2.75; 95% CI: −4.40, −1.10), and breastfeeding for >18 mo versus ≤6 mo was associated with lower T scores of externalizing problems (aMD: −1.88; 95% CI: −3.68, −0.08). When dichotomized, breastfeeding for periods of 7–12 mo, 13–18 mo, and >18 mo was associated with lower risks of externalizing problems [aOR (95% CI): 0.96 (0.92, 0.99), 0.94 (0.91, 0.98), 0.96 (0.92, 0.99), respectively]. Conclusions: Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 mo and a longer duration of breastfeeding, exclusively or partially, are beneficial for childhood behavioral and emotional development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue What’s New in Breastfeeding?)
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