Infant Feeding Practice and its effect on the Growth and Development of babies

The present study was conducted among 150 healthy babies< 2 years of age attending the Paediatric OPD/ underfive clinic in JIPMER, a tertiary care hospital, with the aim of studying the feeding practice of babies and correlating it with their growth and development. Information about the feeding pattern and development were obtained from the mother/ the guardian using a graded questionnaire. The anthropometric parameters were measured and analysed with refined parameters like Z score of weight, Weight-for-Height percent etc using CDC2000 anthropometric charts as reference. Developmental progress was quantified using the Trivandrum Developmental Screening Chart (TDSC). The mean duration of exclusive breast feeding was 6.26 months (range 0 – 22). Presence of malnutrition was quite high (42.3% by Z score and 40% by Weight-for-Height), though overnutrition was present to a lesser extent (7.3% by Weight-for-Height). Significant differences in the Z score of weight were observed between babies exclusively breast fed for 4-6 months and for> 6 months (P value = 0.001) while significant differences in development were seen between babies exclusively breast fed for <3 months and the others (P value = 0.003 & 0.032). Though most of the babies were breast fed exclusively for 4-6 months, babies weaned after 6 months are likely to be malnourished, while babies exclusively breast fed for< 3 months are likely to have a delay in achieving milestones.