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The growth of healthy Australian infants in relation to infant feeding and social group
Author(s) -
Hitchcock Nancy E.,
Coy Johanna F.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1989.tb136490.x
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , breast feeding , birth weight , demography , pediatrics , medicine , infant feeding , social class , population , pregnancy , environmental health , biology , sociology , political science , law , genetics
A joint survey of infant‐feeding practices and infant growth was carried out in Western Australia and Tasmania in 1984‐1985. Birth‐weights and growth from birth to one year of age were similar in both States and to the international growth references. Infants who were never breastfed or who were breast‐fed for only a short time gained significantly more weight over the year (most of it after the age of three months) than did infants who were breast‐fed for six months or longer. Infants from families of a lower socioeconomic group gained more weight after six months of age than did those infants from higher socioeconomic families. Analysis showed that the growth differences between the social groups was a result of differences in feeding practices. Linear growth was similar among infants of all social groups, irrespective of the feeding method.