Research focusing on the impact of early nutrition on children's growth and development over time is scarce. In this master’s thesis, we evaluated the anthropometric status of children (exclusively) breastfed for different lengths of time (less than or more than 6 months) at different measurement periods (1, 3 and 7 years of age) in a sample of 81 children (36 girls and 45 boys) included in the My Milk 2 study. We determined their weight status and investigated how their mothers adhered to the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines on the optimal duration of breastfeeding period. On average, mothers exclusively breastfed for 5,5 (1,0) months and partially breastfed for 12,2 (6,7) months. Slightly less than half of mothers followed the WHO guidelines on the recommended length of the breastfeeding period. There were no significant differences in body height, body weight and centile values for height and weight between the groups of children breastfed for different lengths of time. Children breastfed for longer periods had significantly lower Body Mass Index (BMI) and centile BMI (c_BMI) values compared to children breastfed for shorter periods. Most of the differences between the two groups are due to changes in body weight. Numerically, the overall percentage of overweight and obese children is higher in the group of children breastfed for a shorter period than in the group of children breastfed for a longer period.
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