Recall by mothers of the birth weights and feeding of their children

Abstract

We have tested mothers' abilities to remember at a later date, the birth weight, duration of breastfeeding and time of introduction of other milks to their previous children, by comparing their recall with the information recorded by the nursing sisters at maternal and child health clinics at the time. Data were available for 81 children with present ages from 1 to 10 years. Birth weight and the duration of breast feeding were generally remembered accurately, but there were large discrepancies on the time of starting other milk feeds. This could pose diagnostic difficulties in some paediatric conditions, particularly milk allergies and intolerance.