{
  "abstract": "Background: Breastfeeding is a modifiable pathway contributing to infant health. Objectives: To estimate trajectories of breastfeeding and the association between trajectories of breastfeeding and infant health. Methods: We conducted a prospective longitudinal cohort study (2014-2020, Canada) with 3217 cohabitating English-literate mother-father-infant triads with internet or telephone access. Women with major psychiatric conditions or suicidality were excluded. Data were collected online at baseline (<3 weeks postpartum), 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months. Breastfeeding was measured at 0-12 months. Baseline measures included attention-deficit disorder with/without hyperactivity (ADHD, Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale) and childhood adversity (Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire). We measured infant health at 12-24 months using the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (challenging behaviors) and self-reported number of emergent visits (>90th percentile). We estimated trajectories of breastfeeding using latent class growth analysis. Associations were estimated using adjusted linear mixed models. Results: Most included mothers (n=2548) were of Canadian birth (2078/2548, 82%) and graduated from university (1920/2548, 75%); few reported unemployment (222/2548, 9%) or prenatal depression (240/2548, 9%). We identified two trajectories of breastfeeding: Constant Breastfeeding (1522/2548, 60%) and Decreasing Breastfeeding (1026/2548, 40%). No statistically significant differences were observed between classes for either the risk of challenging behaviors (RR -0.006 95% CI -0.028 to 0.016) or the risk of emergent visits (RR -0.015 95% CI -0.053 to 0.023). Conclusions: In this study, discontinued breastfeeding was not associated with infant health. Future studies should focus on 6-month exclusive breastfeeding, a modifiable therapeutic infant feeding target.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute"
  ],
  "article_type": "PUBLISHAHEADOFPRINT",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "T. Dessy"
    },
    {
      "name": "C.-L. Dennis"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/280r521pkyt2p.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.11.02.26367067",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.02.26367067v1.full",
  "id": "280r521pkyt2p",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.02.26367067v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "medrxiv",
      "epidemiology"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.02.26367067v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-02",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/280r521pkyt2p.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T00:21:04Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.11.02.26367067",
      "source": "medrxiv",
      "url": "https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.11.02.26367067v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "medrxiv:epidemiology",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Association between trajectories of breastfeeding duration and infant health: Prospective cohort study",
  "title_text": "Association between trajectories of breastfeeding duration and infant health: Prospective cohort study",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-05T00:20:36Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/280r521pkyt2p",
  "venue": "medRxiv",
  "versions": []
}