Infant‐feeding practices and childhood stature in three ethnic groups

Inconsistencies in the literature on the relationship of infant feeding practices to stature were explored in a tri‐ethnic sample of 3‐ or 4‐year‐old children. Measures of child stature, maternal stature, child age, type of infant milk‐feeding, time of introduction of high fat and high carbohydrate foods, and social characteristics were analyzed with multivariate statistical techniques. No statistically significant bivariate or more complex relationships were detected between the modes of infant‐feeding and child stature. The best‐fitting regression equation accounted for 61% of the variance, revealing strong relationships with child age and maternal height, and weak relationships with child adiposity, gender, and ethnicity. The present results indicate that there is little likelihood that metabolic effects induced by methods of infant‐feeding affect stature, at least among 3‐ or 4‐year‐old children.