American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 56, 1012-1018, Copyright © 1992 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Growth patterns of breast-fed infants in affluent (United States) and poor (Peru) communities: implications for timing of complementary feeding

KG Dewey, JM Peerson, MJ Heinig, LA Nommsen, B Lonnerdal, G Lopez de Romana, HC de Kanashiro, RE Black and KH Brown
Program in International Nutrition, University of California, Davis 95616-8669.

We compared growth, dietary intake, and morbidity of infants breast-fed for > or = 12 mo from two populations: Davis, CA (n = 46) and Huascar, Peru (n = 52). When compared against WHO reference data (based primarily on formula-fed infants), Huascar infants appeared to falter as early as 3-4 mo, but when compared with Davis breast-fed infants, the curves for weight and length were very similar in girls until 10-12 mo and in boys until 6-9 mo. Thereafter, Huascar infants grew less rapidly than did Davis infants. Breast milk intake was very similar between groups, but in Huascar the amount and nutrient density of complementary foods consumed after 6 mo were lower and morbidity rates were much higher than in Davis. These results indicate that growth faltering of Huascar infants, when judged against breast-fed infants in the United States, occurs primarily after the first 6 mo of life and is not due to poor lactation performance.

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