Feeding and growth characteristics of human milk-fed infants.

Anthropometric measurements, milk intake, and nursing frequency data of 50 exclusively breast-fed infants were analyzed to determine the existence, extent, and nature of relationships among nursing frequency, quantity of milk consumed, and growth characteristics. In comparison with the National Center for Health Statistics growth standards, anthropometric measures for all infants fell within the 10th and 95th standard percentiles for the following growth parameters: Mean lengths ranged from 54 +/- 2.5 cm at 2 weeks to 64 +/- 1.6 cm at 16 weeks; mean weights ranged from 3,735 +/- 526 gm to 6,326 +/- 633 gm; mean head circumferences ranged from 36 +/- 1.2 cm to 41 +/- 1.0 cm. Significant associations were observed for milk intake with weight and length measures. Strength of association, however, was highly variable across age categories, ranging from 0.32 to 0.71 for weight and 0.16 to 0.70 for length. The coefficients indicate that 10% to 50% of the total variance in weight and 3% to 49% of total variance in length could be ascribable to milk intake. Average milk intakes were significantly correlated with infant length and weight at 2, 6, and 12 weeks. Average frequency of nursing was positively associated with infant weight at 12 weeks. Increases in average milk intakes between 2 and 4 weeks were significantly related to increases in length for the same period. Likewise, an increase in average milk intake between 8 and 12 weeks was associated with a corresponding change in mean length.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)