The Impact of Infant Feeding Method on Childhood Obesity/Overweight Levels of Children at Ages 2, 3, and 4 Years

摘要

Increasing prevalence of childhood obesity/overweight is a worldwide concernwith the risk of adult obesity. Prevention means identifying causes andevidence-based strategies. The purpose was to determine the impact of infantfeeding method (breastfed, formula-fed, and mixed-fed) of children 0?￠a??a€?6months of age on childhood obesity/overweight levels determined by BMI at2?￠a??a€?4 years. Participants were 45 males and females with medical records on infantfeeding method and height and weight scores. Medical records data (ages2?￠a??a€?4) were collected and recorded on a code sheet. BMI scores were calculatedusing the CDC?￠a??a?￠s BMI percentile rankings/categories. Descriptive statisticsindicated formula-fed infants had BMI% in the overweight/obese category(2.2?￠a??a€?8.95%) than mixed-fed infants (2.2?￠a??a€?6.7%), and breastfed infants had thelowest BMI (0.0?￠a??a€?2.2%). The results of the Kruskal?￠a??a€?Wallis test were not significant(p 0.05) for differences in obesity/overweight levels at three ages byinfant feeding method. Research with a large randomized sample is recommended.