The purpose of this prospective cohort study is to investigate breast-milk and breastfeeding among infants who are exclusively and partially breastfed at 6 months of age in terms of characteristics that are hypothesised to contribute to growth and development of body composition in infancy. The scientific originality lies in the simultaneous sampling of multiple factors that are believed to contribute to growth and development of body composition in infancy, i.e. energy content of breast-milk, metabolism-regulating hormones in breast-milk, infant temperament and appetite. The selection of two predefined study groups, i.e. infants exclusively breastfed until 6 months of age and infants given complementary foods in addition to breast-milk from 3-4 months of age, gives the opportunity to describe, and perhaps up to some point compare, what now is described by the World Health Organization and in official Icelandic infant recommendations as "optimal feeding" and what studies have suggested is "common feeding" in many countries. The methods are carefully chosen, i.e. appropriate and non-invasive isotopes and validated questionnaires are used. To our knowledge, no study has reported breast-milk composition in exclusively vs. partially breastfed infants.
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Total body water measured by deuterium oxide
Timeframe: 12 months of age of child