Weaning practice in the Glasgow longitudinal infant growth study
University
Department of Human Nutrition, Yorkhill Hospitals, Glasgow, G3 8SJ, UK
Correspondence to: Dr Reilly. e-mail: jjr2y{at}clinmed.gla.ac.uk
Accepted 9 March 1998
AIMS
To assess
compliance with Department of Health guidelines on weaning practice in
a representative sample of 127 infants from Glasgow, and to identify
factors influencing timing of weaning.
METHODSQuestionnaires
on feeding and weaning were completed during home visits. Ninety eight
mothers completed a further questionnaire on attitudes to weaning
RESULTSMedian
age at introduction of solid food was 11 weeks (range 4-35 weeks);
only 7% of infants had not been weaned before age 4 months. There was
no difference in timing of weaning between boys and girls. Younger
mothers (< 20 years old), those of lower socioeconomic status, and
those who formula fed their infants tended to introduce solids earlier.
Infants who were heaviest before weaning were weaned earlier. Seventy
three of 98 mothers reported that they weaned their babies because they
felt that they required more food. Sources of information influencing
time of weaning were previous experience (53/98), books and leaflets (43/98), advice from the health visitor (31/98), and family and friends
(15/98). Sixty five of 98 mothers reported receiving formal information
on weaning, in most cases (54) this was from the health visitor.
Mothers who received formal information tended to wean their infants
later. Two per cent of infants had been given cow's milk as a main
drink by age 6 months, 17% by 9 months, and 45% by the end of the
first year.
CONCLUSIONCompliance
with recommendations on timing of weaning (not before 4 months),
weaning foods, and cow's milk consumption in Glasgow is poor, although
no poorer than in many other areas of the UK as found by Office of
Population, Censuses and Surveys. Public health messages in relation to
weaning may not be reaching their target audience.
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Key messages
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© 1998 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
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