[Effect of feeding pattern on the body mass of infants in the first six months of life].
OBJECTIVE
To compare the body mass patterns of breastfed and formula fed Polish infants in the first 6 months of life and to compare the results with the current Polish data.


METHODS
Data was taken from the last country-wide survey conducted in 1997. The group of 14116 infants under 6 months were in the original cohort. The final sample consisted of: 4546 exclusively breastfed (2228 male, 2318 female) and 391 formula fed (214 male, 177 female) healthy infants, weighing > 2500 g at birth. The infants were weighed at birth and again on the day of the interview. The 24-hours recall period data for feeding practices was collected.


RESULTS
Mean body mass of exclusively breastfed boys was greater in the period from 2 to 5 months (in month 3 the difference was statistically significant) in comparison with formula fed boys. Mean body mass of exclusively breastfed girls was greater for each month from birth to 6 months (in month 3 and 6 the difference was statistically significant) in comparison with formula fed girls. Compared with current Warsaw data, the infants of the analysed groups grew less rapidly.


CONCLUSIONS
Our analysis shows that exclusively breastfed Polish infants in the first 6 months of life gained weight better than formula fed infants. Independently of feeding mode, gender and age, the mean body mass was lower in the examined infants as compared with the current Warsaw data. A reference body mass data based on breastfed infants is needed in Poland.
Wojdan-Godek
Elzbieta
E
Zakład Zdrowia Publicznego, Instytut Matki i Dziecka, ul. Kasprzaka 17a, 01-211 Warszawa, Poland. zzp@imid.med.pl
Mikiel-Kostyra
Krystyna
K
Mazur
Joanna
J
D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001903:Bottle Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002657:Child Development; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012016:Reference Values; D015430:Weight Gain