Original articleInfant Feeding and Weight in the First Year of Life in Babies of Women with Eating Disorders
Section snippets
Sample
The ALSPAC is a longitudinal, population-based, prospective study of women and their children.12 All pregnant women living in the geographical area of Avon, UK who were expected to give birth between April 1, 1991 and December 31, 1992 were invited to participate in the study. All of the women who agreed to participate gave informed and written consent. The sample has been shown to be representative of the British population. A total of 14 663 women were enrolled by the 9th week of pregnancy;
Sociodemographic Data
Maternal sociodemographic and infant data were compared across the groups. The women with a history of eating disorders were slightly older and less likely to be married than the controls. The women with other psychiatric disorders were less likely to be married, to be employed full time, and to be primiparous; their infants were slightly lighter at birth compared with those of the controls (Table I; available at www.jpeds.com).
Breast-Feeding
The women with a history of eating disorders were more likely to
Discussion
The present study compared breast-feeding rates and duration, feeding difficulties, and weight and growth in the first year of life in infants of women with a history of eating disorders and women with and without other severe psychiatric disorders.
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Funded by the National Alliance for Schizophrenia and Depression and the National Eating Disorders Association. The funding agencies had no involvement with study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the report; and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.