Growth of infants in relation to type of feeding in Jahrom, Islamic Republic of Iran

ABSTRACT

We evaluated the growth of 597 infants < 24 months attending health centres in Jahrom according to type of infant feeding. We also compared our growth curves with those of the National Center for Health Statistics [NCHS]. The infants were divided to 3 groups exclusively breastfed, exclusively bottle-fed and both breast- and bottle-fed and were assessed monthly for the first year and every 2 months in the second year. There were no significant differences between the groups in height and weight in the first few months of birth; later, breastfed infants were significantly heavier and taller. The mean heights and weights of our infants were lower that those for NCHS