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Title: Breastfeeding and weaning practices in relation to nutritional status of infants. Author: Rao S, Rajpathak V. Journal: Indian Pediatr; 1992 Dec; 29(12):1533-9. PubMed ID: 1291499. Abstract: During the critical period of infancy, breastfeeding and weaning practices play an important role in determining the growth of an infant. The present study investigates the issue by observing 225 infants from Low Socio Economic (LSE) class (n = 150) and High Socio Economic (HSE) class (n = 75) for weight, height, and feeding practices. Almost all artificially fed (AF) infants in LSE class were malnourished while this was not so in the HSE class. However, the proportion of malnourished children in the LSE class for partially breastfed (BF + AF) group was comparable with exclusively breastfed (BF) group and was significantly lower (p < 0.01) than AF group indicating protective effect of partial breastfeeding against risks of contamination associated with weaning foods in such communities: The real bottleneck thus appears to be the lack of knowledge of handling and giving weaning foods in adequate quantities. Educating mothers appears to be the meaningful solution for improving the nutritional status of infants in poor communities. The role of breast-feeding and weaning practices in determining infant growth was investigated in 225 infants: 150 from low socioeconomic (LSE) class and 75 from high socioeconomic (HSE) class from Pune city. The mothers were interviewed about age, sex and birth order, duration of breast-feeding, initiation of weaning, and type and frequency of weaning food. In order to assess the nutritional status, weight for age and height for age were used. Infants not given any supplementation were exclusively breast-fed (BF), while those who were fully fed on top food were considered artificially fed (AF), and the others were partially breast fed with supplementation, (BF+AF). A significantly higher proportion of infants was weaned before 4 months of age (p 0.01) in the HSE class (84.1% vs. 55.7%), while a significantly higher proportion was weaned beyond 6 months of age (p 0.010) in the LSE class (47.3% vs. 27.1%). Almost all infants from the HSE class were normal. 40% of infants from the LSE class were underweight and 25% were stunted. 55% of the HSA class infants received supplementation even before 4 months of age. By the age of 12 months, 71% of infants were fully weaned. In contrast, in 24% of the LSE class infants exclusive breast-feeding continued beyond 6 months and only 6% infants were fully weaned at 12 months. Most of top-fed LSE class infants were malnourished, as weaning foods were not adequate. On the other hand, none of the HSE class top-fed infants was malnourished, although artificial feeding was common. Partial breast-feeding up to 12 months among the LSE class infants reduced the risk of malnutrition. Finally, in all groups, the proportions of malnourished female infants were considerably higher compared to male infants. The proportions of malnourished infants in BF+AF and BF groups were similar (3.2% and 2.4%, respectively, in males and 11.8% and 7.9%, respectively, in females) and significantly smaller than among top-fed infants (25% and 100% in males and females, respectively).[Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]