BACKGROUND Child under-nutrition is a leading factor underlying child mortality and morbidity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Several studies from Uganda have reported impaired growth, but there have been few if any community-based infant anthropometric studies from Eastern Uganda. The aim of this study was to describe current infant growth patterns using WHO Child Growth Standards and to determine the ...

BACKGROUND A number of risk factors are associated with the development of childhood obesity which can be identified during infancy. These include infant feeding practices, parental response to infant temperament and parental perception of infant growth and appetite. Parental beliefs and understanding are crucial determinants of infant feeding behaviour; therefore any intervention would need to...

OBJECTIVES We explore the complex factors associated with infant feeding by analyzing what mother, infant, and household factors are associated with the types of food given to infants. We seek to quantify associations in order to inform public health policy about the importance of target populations for infant feeding programs. METHODS We used data from the Demographic Health Survey in 20 dev...

The preparation and dissemination of policy statements are necessary but insufficient to prevent the inappropriate use of infant-feeding products in emergencies. The widespread failure of humanitarian agencies operating in the Balkan crisis to act in accordance with international policies and recommendations provides a recent example of the failure to translate infant-feeding policies into prac...

BACKGROUND Livelihoods strategies and food security experiences can positively and negatively affect infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices. This study contributes to this literature by exploring how variation in household economics among rural farmers in Tanzania relates to IYCF patterns over the first 8 months of an infant's life. METHODS These data were produced from a longitudina...

The Support of Oral Feeding for Fragile Infants (SOFFI) method of bottle-feeding rests on quality evidence along with implementation details drawn from clinical experience. To be clear, the SOFFI Method is not focused on the amount of food taken in but on the conduct of the feeding and the development of competent infant feeding behavior that, consequently, assures the intake of food necessary ...

BACKGROUND Identifying the determinants of child's liking for different foods may help to prevent future choices of unhealthy food. OBJECTIVE To study early-life food-related characteristics associated with child's liking for different foods at 5y with a longitudinal study. DESIGN 1142 5y- old children completed a liking test for "fruit and vegetables", "meat, fish and eggs", desserts and c...

OBJECTIVE To describe adherence with infant feeding and complementary feeding guidelines. DESIGN Prospective study of infant feeding and complementary feeding practices were collected as part of the Cork BASELINE Birth Cohort Study. SETTING Cork, Ireland. SUBJECTS Data are described for the 823 infants for whom a diary was completed. RESULTS Breast-feeding was initiated in 81 % of infan...

Intervention 44 infants were allocated to a semidemand feeding protocol. 10 minutes of non-nutritive sucking (NNS) were provided every 3 hours, followed up by an assessment of behavioural state (modified Anderson Behavioral State scale). If the infant was judged to be in a state of restlessness or wakefulness (scores >3), an oral feeding was offered. If the infant was in a sleep state, he was a...

The act of feeding an infant is extremely complex. Feeding requires the infant to coordinate five cranial nerves, multiple spinal segments in the chest wall, and 30 pairs of muscles across several physiological systems (oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal, and respiratory). In addition, successful feeding is dependent on optimal infant state and positive caregiver interactions. Recently, Goldfield, Per...