Related Experiment Videos
Child growth during weaning depends on whether mother is pregnant again
1Department of International Health, Oslo, Norway.
Few longitudinal studies are available which relate data on breastfeeding and growth of the last-born child to data on the mother's subsequent pregnancy. The purpose of the present prospective study from Bhutan was to compare growth rate of children weaned during a subsequent pregnancy, with those of children weaned at the same age, but from non-pregnant mothers. Measurements of weight of 113 children and interviews with their mothers were done monthly through 32 months during the children's first 3 years of life. The period of overlap between lactation and pregnancy had a median duration of 5 months, and increased with an average of one week for each month reduction in the subsequent birth interval (P< 0.01). Children who stopped breastfeeding during their mothers' subsequent pregnancy showed a reduced growth rate during the last months before termination of breastfeeding when compared to children weaned at the same age, but from non-pregnant mothers (P = 0.04), and when compared to children who continued breastfeeding (P = 0.06).
Few longitudinal studies are available which relate data on breastfeeding and growth of the last-born child to data on the mother's subsequent pregnancy. The purpose of the present prospective study from Bhutan was to compare growth rate of children weaned during a subsequent pregnancy, with those of children weaned at the same age, but from non-pregnant mothers. Measurements of weight of 113 children and interviews with their mothers were done monthly through 32 months during the children's first 3 years of life. The period of overlap between lactation and pregnancy had a median duration of 5 months, and increased with an average of one week for each month reduction in the subsequent birth interval (P< 0.01). Children who stopped breastfeeding during their mothers' subsequent pregnancy showed a reduced growth rate during the last months before termination of breastfeeding when compared to children weaned at the same age, but from non-pregnant mothers (P = 0.04), and when compared to children who continued breastfeeding (P = 0.06).