A comparative evaluation of the physical development of children depending on the kind of feeding
The article presents the results of a comparative evaluation of the physical development of 338 children depending on duration of breastfeeding, who were divided into 2 groups: group 1 - breastfeeding for no longer than 1 month and group 2 - breastfeeding for 12 months and longer. The study showed that gains of the body weight but not length during the first and second halves of life and for the whole 12 months were reliably higher in the group 1 children as compared with the group 2 children. An analysis of the distribution of centile values (weight by length) in children at 12 months of age showed a reliable difference in these indices among the children from the groups of comparison. Values above 97 centile were noted in 9.3% of children from group 1 and in 2.6% of children from group 2, and below 3 centile were observed in 2.7 and 0.9% of children from groups 1 and 2, respectively. Therefore, the results of the study confirm differences in the physical development of children who receive prolonged breastfeeding and those with early introduced formula feeding. The question to what degree these differences are indicative of the negative effect of an excessive intake of protein and energy in formula feeding, leading to acceleration of growth, or they are related to specificities of metabolism in children who receive formula feeding that realizes the potential of a child's development to the maximum, needs further research work.