The effect of birth weight and time of first feed on the weight of Bantu babies in the first 10 days of life.

MATERIAL AND METHOD All full-term infants (excluding twins) born at McCord's Zulu Hospital, Durban, between June 1, 1950, and January 31, 1951, were weighed daily by one ofus (E.J.S.); 598 babies born by normal vertex delivery, who were well during their stay in hospital, were studied. All were breast-fed on an elastic 3-hourly schedule with a night feed. The babies shared their mothers' beds, day and night. The weighing was carried out on a beam scale, which was checked before the start of the experiment, several times during the course of it, and again at the end. Babies were weighed naked, except for the first few days when they wore a crepe binder of known weight, and weighing started at 9.30 every morning. As babies were born at all times of the day and night, it was impossible for us to weigh them at birth, and this was done by the Sister or staff-nurse in charge of the ward, or by a midwife under her supervision. The babies were washed before weighing. The daily gain or loss from birth weight was calculated, and means and standard deviations of these differences were worked out for each of the first ten days. The total initial loss was recorded, showing the amount lost until