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Background & Aim: Breast feeding is the most important and decisive factor in Children’s state of health and nutrition, especially in societies with lower socio-economic status. Beastfeeding plays an important role in child health and development. Acordingly this study was carried out with the aim of determining the ralationship between breastfeeding and child weigth gain up to the end of 24 months of age. Material & Methods: It was a correlational predictive study. The sample consisted of 307 mothers of 2-3 years old children who have been visited for monitoring their children’s growth in heath canters of west of Tehran. They were recruited by stratified sampling method. Mothers & children’s data was collected by questionnaire & analyzed using SPSS-PC-(v.10). Results: pearson correlation test indicated that there is no significant relationship between breastfeeding duration & children’s weight in 6 and 12 months of age. However, there was a converse significant relationship between breastfeeding duration and the children’s weight in 24 months of age (p=0.003). There was also a significant relationship between the children’s sex and their weight in 6, 12 and 24 months of age (p=0.000). No significant association was found between children’s weight in 6, 12 and 24 months of age and mothers’ age, number of deliveries, mothers’ level of education and job status, participation in educational courses for breast feeding, and the time of breastfeeding initiation after delivery. Conclusion: children fell within normal limits for weight when breastfeeding duration was longer and vice versa. Regarding the undesirable effects(eg. malnutrition and obesity) of shortening the breastfeeding period on child health, provision of support as well as education about breastfeeding continuation is recommended

Background and Objective: Child weight is considered as one of the most appropriate criteria for determining the nutritional status of the children particularly prior to 24 months of age. There is an association between duration of breastfeeding and child weight via which childhood and even adult obesity can be predicted. Regarding the importance of breastfeeding and its critical role in future health of children, the present research was carried out to investigate the association between the duration of exclusive breastfeeding and the weight of 24- month-old children in Zanjan province. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional research was carried out using the registered data from 24 months old children records in rural/ urban health centers of Zanjan province. The sampling included all records of neonates born from 2010 to 2012 which were selected using a multi-stage cluster sampling method. Data were assessed by ordinal regression with the Proportional odds model and chi-square test. Stata12 was used for data analysis. Results: Of 8456 children with the age of 24 months, 4146 (49%) were female. The mean age of the mothers was 27.1±5.4 years. The mean duration of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding with related standard deviation were 20.3±5.8 and 4.7±1.4 months, respectively. The mean and standard error concerning 24-month- old children's weight was 11939±13.2 grams. There was an inverse relationship between the duration of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding with 24-month-old children's weight (p<0.001). Conclusion: This study elucidates that continuation of breastfeeding until 24 months of age may prevent child obesity. Therefore, exclusive breastfeeding encouragement and the continued breastfeeding until 24 months are critically recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]