What is it about?
Children fed more than 600 ml (22 fl oz) of cows' milk a day with solid foods at 8 months of age were heavier than children who had been fed breast milk and solid foods at the same age. This size difference continued until 10 years of age. This was true to a lesser extent for children fed more than 600 ml (22 fl oz) of formula milk a day. The size difference lasted up to 3 years of age.
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Why is it important?
Breastfed infants tend to find it slightly easier to regulate their own intake of foods than bottle-fed infants. Cows' milk is not adapted to a human infants needs whereas formula has been adjusted to try to mimic breast milk as far as possible. It is very easy for carers to override the appetite of an infant by encouraging bottle emptying.
Perspectives
It is relatively easy to over feed a bottle-fed infant without realising that it is happening.
Dr Pauline Marion Emmett
University of Bristol
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Effects on childhood body habitus of feeding large volumes of cow or formula milk compared with breastfeeding in the latter part of infancy, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, September 2015, Oxford University Press (OUP),
DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.114.100529.
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