Association of Breast-feeding and Early Childhood Overweight in Children From Mothers With Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Because of an exponential increase in childhood and adolescent obesity, its prevention has become a major health care goal (1). There is increasing evidence (2–4) that breast-feeding has a protective effect against obesity in later life. However, most studies investigating the effect of breast-feeding have not looked exclusively at infants of diabetic women (5). Previous studies (6–8) reported a high risk of obesity in children of mothers who have diabetes during pregnancy. Reports pertaining to the effects of breast-feeding following a pregnancy complicated by diabetes have focused on the delay or prevention of the appearance of islet autoimmunity among children of mothers who have type 1 diabetes (9,10). Conflicting results have been reported from short-term observations regarding the effect of breast-feeding on obesity of offspring (11,12). There is a paucity of data in children of mothers who have gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). In a recent study (6) of infants of mothers who had GDM, we demonstrated that parental obesity and excessive intrauterine growth resulting in neonatal overweight independently contribute to early childhood obesity. In the present study, we assessed the association of breast-feeding during infancy and the prevalence of overweight in early life in the same cohort of children. Women with GDM who were taken care of by the Diabetes Prenatal Care Clinic of Vivantes Medical Center from 1995 through 2000 were asked to return …