Factors related with infants' growth in the first 4 months of birth

Abstract

Introduction: One of the causes of infants mortality and morbidity is malnutrition. The most common time of growth failure of infants is 3-4 months after birth. The purpose of this study was to evaluate factors related with infants growth.

Methods: This research was a cross-sectional study and the samples included 188 breast feeding infants and their mothers selected through random sampling method. Data collected by questionnaires included mothers' age, body mass index (BMI), frame size, maternal parity, infants' sex and family socioeconomic status. Data were analyzed with multiple regression, covariance analysis and spearman correlations in SPSS software.

Results: Step by step multiple regression analysis showed that factors such as mothers post-partum BMI, birth order of infants, mothers parity, weight and head circumference at birth had significant correlation with infants growth in the first 4 months of birth (P<0.05) but other factors had no significant correlations.

Conclusions: Based on the findings of this study, it is important to properly supervise infants' primary health care and mothers nutrition during pregnancy