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Breast-feeding and the nutritional status of nursing children in Chile
C Castillo1, E Atalah, J Riumalló
1Department of Nutrition, Medical School, University of Chile, Santiago.
Insights
Exclusive breastfeeding benefits Chilean infants up to 18 months, improving nutritional status. Introducing solids after six months and continued breastfeeding are recommended for optimal child health.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Nutrition Science
- Public Health
Background:
- Feeding patterns significantly influence infant and child nutritional status.
- Understanding these patterns is crucial for developing effective public health interventions.
- Chile's National Health Service System provides care for a large proportion of children under six.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe feeding patterns in Chilean children up to 18 months.
- To examine the relationship between feeding practices and nutritional status.
- To inform public health strategies for child nutrition in Chile.
Main Methods:
- A 1993 survey of 9330 Chilean children under 18 months.
- Interviews with mothers/caretakers to identify feeding types and assess nutritional status.
- Utilized US National Center for Health Statistics and World Health Organization growth standards.
Main Results:
- Exclusive breastfeeding prevalence decreased with age: 86.5% at 1 month, 66.7% at 3 months, 25.3% at 6 months.
- 12.1% had weight-for-age deficiency, 30.7% height-for-age deficiency, and 35.7% were overweight.
- Bottle-fed children showed higher rates of weight-for-age and height-for-age deficiencies compared to breast-fed children.
Conclusions:
- Exclusive breastfeeding is beneficial through the first six months of life.
- Complementing breastfeeding with solid foods after six months is necessary.
- Breastfed children demonstrated superior nutritional status across the studied age groups.
Abstract:
The work reported here sought to describe the feeding patterns of Chilean children up to 18 months old and their relation to nutritional status. To this end, a survey was conducted in 1993 of 9330 Chilean children under 18 months old who were receiving care through the National Health Service System-which provides care for 75% of all children under age 6. The children, whose mothers or caretakers were interviewed, constituted 94% of a sample selected at random from 102 of the 320 urban health clinics located throughout the country. The interview served to identify the type of feeding (exclusive breast-feeding, breast-feeding plus bottle-feeding, breast-feeding plus solid food, exclusive bottle-feeding, or bottle-feeding plus solid food) and to determine the nutritional status of the participants in terms of standards used by the United States National Center for Health Statistics and the World Health Organization. Children were deemed at risk of malnutrition if they had z scores on the weight-for-age distribution between 1.0 and 2.0 standard deviations below the US/WHO standard and as actually malnourished if they had z scores of over 2.0 standard deviations below the standard. The survey found exclusive breast-feeding prevalences of 86.5%, 66.7%, and 25.3% among infants 1, 3, and 6 months old. Some 12.1% of the participants were found to have a weight-for-age deficiency, 30.7% exhibited a height-for-age deficiency, and 35.7% were found to be over-weight. The prevalence of weight-for-age and height-for-age deficiencies were found to be considerably higher among bottle-fed children than among breast-fed children. In general, the results demonstrated the benefits of exclusive breast-feeding through the first 6 months of life, the need to complement exclusive breast-feeding with solid food after that time, and the superior nutritional status of breast-fed children within the age groups studied.