Rearing of Swedish, Norwegian, and Norwegian Sami children.

A total of 362 3-yr-old Swedish, Norwegian, and Norwegian Sami (Lapp) children were examined, and their parents were asked about their children's present and previous sucking habits and how long they had been breast-fed and bottle-fed. They were also asked what the children's age was when porridge or puréed food or food with a soft chewing resistance was introduced, and when more ordinary foods such as well-diced meat and potatoes were introduced. The study revealed that breast-feeding has increased greatly both in prevalence and in duration in Sweden during the last decades. Despite this, Swedish children were breast-fed for a significantly shorter time than Norwegian children. The longest breast-feeding times were noted for Sami children. Swedish children were bottle-fed two to three times longer than Norwegian children. Sucking habits were correlated to breast-feeding only for Sami children.