Breastfeeding and diet of infants in the Maternal and Child Health Study of Iceland (Ice-MCH)

Background and objectives. Combination of national health registers has given us the opportunity to construct a data set on maternal and child health variables in Iceland, Maternal and Child Health Study (Ice-MCH). The focus of the Ice-MCH is to explore the Primary Health Care and the Prescription Medicines Registers. The aim of the present abstract is to describe breastfeeding and the diet of Icelandic infants as listed in the health care system register for infants and young children. Methods. Descriptive statistics were used on data from two reports from the medical record system Saga: "Continuation of breastfeeding" (period 15.1.2009-16.6.2015, total number of children in breastfeeding calculations n = 21,068) and "Complementary foods by age" (period 20.9. 2009-16.6.2015, total number of children in food calculations n = 36,185). Results. At one week of age, 97% of infants received breastmilk and 82% were exclusively breastfed. At four, five and six months of age, 79%, 76% and 70% of children received breast milk and 48%, 35% and 18% of children were exclusively fed breastmilk with supplements, such as vitamin D. The proportion of children receiving vitamin D increased with age, from 82% at two months to 96% at 10 months. At the age of 10 months, fish liver oil replaced vitamin D drops as the most common source of vitamin D. When 2-months old 25% of the infants received infant formula and 33% when 3-8-months old. When 8-months old 25% got follow-on formula and 50% when 12-months old. At 10, 12 and 18 months of age, 11%, 20% and 40% of children received cow's milk. Porridge was the most common first complementary food (16% of four-month-olds, 47% of five-month-olds, 76% of six-month-olds) along with fruits / vegetables (5% of four-month-olds, 26% of five-month-olds, 65% of six-month-old). 59% and 25% of eight-months old got meat and fish, but only few six-months old did. Conclusions. The results are in good agreement with other data on breastfeeding and diet of Icelandic infants. The Ice-MCH-Study will explore breastfeeding and diet associations to growth and drug use.