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Another characteristics of the reference population that needs to be
considered is that the growth patterns of breast-fed infants differ from
those of formula-fed infants. Generally, breast-fed infants grow more
rapidly in the first 2 months of life and not as rapidly at 3 to 4 months.
Breast-fed infants continue to grow less rapidly up to 12 months compared
with the 1977 reference data, which were based on mainly formula-fed
infants.
The new reference represents the combined growth patterns of both
breast- and formula-fed infants in the United States. About 50 percent of
the infants born were reported to have been breastfed and about 33 percent
of those were breastfed 3 months or longer. Because the patterns of growth
for exclusively breast- and formula-fed infants differ, caution must be
used when interpreting growth of exclusively breast-fed infants. The
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends exclusively breastfeeding
for the first 6 months and continuing for at least 12 months. Currently, a
reference for exclusively breast-fed infants is not available.
However, CDC is collaborating with the World Health Organization (WHO)
to develop a set of international growth charts for infants and children
through 5 years of age based on the growth of infants and children fed
according to WHO recommendations (breast-fed at least 12 months and
complementary food introduced sometime between 4 and 6 months).
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