A longitudinal study of vietnamese children born in Australia: Infant feeding, growth in infancy and after five years

Feeding practices and growth were studied longitudinally from birth to 12 months in a group of Vietnamese infants (25 boys, 23 girls) born in Perth, Western Australia. Weight and height data were recorded for 38 of these children at five years of age. Eighty one per cent of the infants were breast fed on leaving hospital; this rate decreased throughout infancy to 23% at 12 months. The incidence of breast feeding, its duration, and the age at which solids were introduced by immigrant mothers reflected local practices. However, the kinds of solids introduced, and the practice of giving infants extra fluids at a very early age (water, 42% of infants at one week; orange juice, 25% at one month) appear to reflect practices in their country of origin. Median (50th centile) weights of the Vietnamese at birth approximated 10th centile values and median length, between 10th and 25th centile values for Australian (Perth) infants of the same sex. Growth rates in the first three months of life exceeded the rates of Australian infants but subsequently a fall-off in rate of weight gain resulted in the 50th centile weights of the Vietnamese again approximating 10th centile Australian values at 12 months. The data at five years suggest that some small enhancement of growth may have occurred in these children: their 50th centile values for weight at that age fell between the 10th and 25th Australian values, and for height approximated the 25th Australian centiles.