Are milk feeding methods in early infancy associated with maternal feeding styles and children's eating behaviors at 6 years old?

Background: New evidence suggests that behavioral mechanisms play a role in the association between breastfeeding and childhood obesity. The purpose of this study is to examine whether milk feeding method in infancy predicts maternal feeding styles (MFS) and children's eating behavior (CEB) at 6 years old. Methods: Linking data from the Infant Feeding Practices Study II to a 6 year follow-up, we assessed the association of MFS and CEB with milk feeding during the first 6 months of life. Bottle feeding intensity was defined as percent of milk feeds given by bottle regardless of its milk content. Breastmilk feeding intensity was defined as percent of milk feeds being breast milk regardless of pumped or at the breast. Both were categorized by tertile as low, medium, and high intensity. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the likelihood of MFS and CEB after controlling for confounders. Results: Among 985 mother-child pairs, mothers of infants fed by high (AOR=1.97; 95% CI=1.37, 2.83) or medium (AOR=1.64; 95% CI=1.01, 2.70) bottle feeding intensity were more likely to report “especially careful to make sure my child eats enough” than low bottle feeding. Children fed by high bottle feeding intensity (AOR=0.69; 95% CI=0.50, 0.96) were less likely to be reported as “enjoying a wide variety of foods” as compared to low bottle feeding intensity. Similar associations were observed for low breastmilk feeding intensity with both MFS and CEB comparing to the reference of high breastmilk feeding intensity. Conclusions: Milk feeding methods in infancy were associated with certain attributes of MFS and CEB at age 6 years.