A comparison of growth patterns in breast and bottle-fed infants with congenital heart disease.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the feeding and growth patterns of breast and bottle-fed infants with congenital heart disease.


METHODS
A descriptive correlational design was used to examine relationships between incidence of breast feeding, severity of disease, and patterns of weight gain for 45 mother-infants dyads.


RESULTS
Using chi square analysis, length of hospital stay was found to be significantly related to the decision to switch from breast to bottle feeding. Bottle-fed infants fell significantly off their individual growth curves than did breast-fed infants.


CONCLUSIONS
Severity of cardiac defect was not a predictor of the infant's ability to breast feed nor of the duration of breast feeding after discharge. Maternal variables may account for initial failure of breast feeding.
V L
VL
Combs
B L
BL
Marino
D001903:Bottle Feeding; D001942:Breast Feeding; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009511:New England / Q000453:epidemiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015430:Weight Gain