Growth of infants in relation to type of feeding in Jahrom, Islamic Republic of Iran.

We evaluated the growth of 597 infants < 24 months attending health centres in Jahrom according to type of infant feeding. We also compared our growth curves with those of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The infants were divided to 3 groups: exclusively breastfed, exclusively bottle-fed and both breast- and bottle-fed and were assessed monthly for the first year and every 2 months in the second year. There were no significant differences between the groups in height and weight in the first few months of birth; later, breastfed infants were significantly heavier and taller. The mean heights and weights of our infants were lower that those for NCHS.