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Objective: The current paper aims to describe the characteristics of mothers failing to initiate breast-feeding, provide information on the factors contributing to longer duration of breast-feeding and identify the association of maternal obesity with both initiation and duration of breast-feeding in the Greek population. Design: Data from the cross-sectional GENESIS (Growth, Exercise and Nutrition Epidemiological Study In preSchoolers) study were used. Mothers were categorized by their pre-pregnancy BMI and their gestational weight gain according to guidelines from the Institute of Medicine. Setting: Preschool children aged 1-5 years in five counties in Greece. Subjects: Preschoolers (n 2374) with full maternal anthropometric data before and during pregnancy and breast-feeding data.Results: A higher percentage of mothers with increased pre-pregnancy BMI or high gestational weight gain failed to initiate breast-feeding compared with their normal-weight counterparts. Obese mothers were 2?86 times more likely to fail in initiating breast-feeding in a multiple logistic regression model. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that among women initiating breast-feeding, those who were either underweight before pregnancy or smoked at the third trimester of pregnancy breast-fed their children for about 1?5 weeks less than their normal-weight or non-smoking counterparts, respectively. Similarly, multiparous women breast-fed their children for about 7 weeks less than uniparous women. In women who initiated breast-feeding, no significant differences in breast-feeding duration were found between women of different gestational weight gains. Conclusions: Mothers with high pre-pregnancy BMI are less likely to initiate breast-feeding while high gestational weight gain has no effect on either the initiation or duration of breast-feeding in Greece. Keywords Breast-feedingObesity Greece Gestational weight gain The benefits of breast-feeding for the health and well-being of infants have been well recognized (1)(2)(3)(4) . However in most industrialized countries, including Greece, the percentage of mothers following the recommended breast-feeding practices is far from that desired (5)(6)(7)(8)(9) . As recent studies in local cohorts in Greece have shown, although more than 90 % of women initiate breast-feeding (5,10) , only 16?0 % of mothers provide any breast-feeding at 6 months postpartum (5) and only 7?3 % breast-feed for more than 1 year (11)

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the association between television (TV) viewing time and dietary habits of preschoolers. A representative sample of 2,374 Greek children aged 1-5 years was examined (GENESIS study). The majority of participants (74.0%) spent less than 2 h/day watching TV. Children spending > or =2 h/day watching TV seem to have higher energy intake compared to children watching TV less than 2 h/day, even after adjustment for potential confounders (p < 0.001). Furthermore, it was detected that the former were more likely to consume more than 5, 2, and 1.5 exchanges of fat, meat, and other carbohydrates per day, respectively, compared to the latter. In conclusion, the current findings indicate that prolonged TV viewing time may be associated with increased consumption of high-fat and high-sugar foods resulting in increased daily energy intake. Therefore, interventions aiming to modify children's TV viewing behaviour might need to be implemented.