EVALUATION OF EFFECTS OF BREAST-FEEDING AND FORMULA-FEEDING ON GROWTH IN 1.5-4.5 MONTHS OLD INFANTS IN SHIRAZ HEALTH CENTERS AT 1377

This research is a descriptive analytic study and compares the effects of breast and formula feeding on the growth rate of infants during 1.5 to 4.5 months old in the Health Clinics of Shiraz.We studied 327 infants including 220 infants (67. 3 %) who were formula –fed and 107 (32.7%) infants who were breast fed. The infants had gestational ages of 38-42 weeks at birth and were healthy without any apparent abnormality. They wore fed with breast milk or formula since birth time. They came to the Health Centers for vaccination or routine examination. For gathering the information, we interviewed parents and measured weight, length and head circumference. Infants were visited three times during study at: 1. 5, 3 and 4.5 months of age.Our Results - showed that at birth there is no significant difference between mean weight, length and head circumference in both groups. The mean weight and length of infants in breast fed group were higher than formula fed infants, but there were no significant difference statistically. The mean head circumference of the breast fed infants in 1.5, 3 and 4.5 months old infants were significantly more than formula fed infants, (p<0.02, p<000, p<0.0003).We concluded that, head circumference growth rate of breast fed infants is higher than the formula fed infants.