Abstract

PIP: A retrospective study comparing the weight gains achieved by breast fed and bottle fed infants during the 1st 6 weeks of life was conducted using data derived from hospital records for 1610 Fiji-Indian infants born to mothers who used the services of the Ba Methodist Mission Hospital in the Fiji Islands. The findings of previous investigations suggested that bottle feeding had an adverse effect on the health status of infants; however, these investigations used univariate statisitcal techniques, and these techniques frequently produce spurious and inflated correlations. In the current investigation a multivariate technique was used. The findings failed to support the claim of a causal relationship between feeding practices and infant weight gains. Theses findings may not be applicable to other 3rd World countries. The population served at the Ba Methodist Mission Hospital tends to reside in urban or semi-urban environments and to have access to a sanitary water supply and to prenatal and postnatal care. Hygiene standards are also relatively high. These conditions may contribute toward the proper use of breast milk substitutes. In other developing countries these favorable conditions are often lacking. Variables included in the current investigation's multivariate model were 1) the sex of the infant, 2) maternal parity, 3) prenatal and postnatal care, 4) prenatal and postnatal maternal hemoglobin levels, 5) delivery characteristics, 6) birth weight, 7) the type of feeding pattern (breast-fed, bottle-fed, and mixed-fed), 8) the type of infant food (breast milk, cow's milk, goat's milk, and formula) and 9) infant weight gain by the 6th week. The average weight gain was 125 +or- 50 gm. Path analysis revealed that infant feeding practices accounted for only an insignificant proportion (9.2%) of the observed variation in the infants' weight gains at 6 weeks. Studies, using a multivariate model and extending over a longer period of infant development, need to be conducted in a number of developing countries in order to settle to current breast-feeding and bottle-feeding controversy.