Feeding Practices and Growth in a Healthy Population of Cuban Infants

Abstract

The feeding practices for a selected sample of 100 infants and the infants’ growth were followed from hospital discharge until one year of age. Normal, full-term newborn infants weighing more than 2,500 g whose mothers were 20–30 years old, literate, and married and had received regular prenatal care were selected for the study. The mode of feeding and the infant's weight, length, and body muss index were recorded every 15 days up to 360 days of age. A low prevalence of breast-feeding and early weaning, with early introduction of solid foods, were found. Infants who were bottle-fed from birth were heavier at 90 and 360 days but did not differ in length from those who were breast-fed. This difference was probably due to a higher energy intake in the infants who were never breast-fed.