INFANT-FEEDING PRACTICES - ARE CPS GUIDELINES FOLLOWED

Study objective: To determine if infant feeding practices follow the C PS recommendations. Design: Questionnaire survey among 475 pediatricia ns in the province of Quebec. Results: The survey involved 288 childre n. In the nursery, 176/288 infants (61.1%) were breastfed. Weaning to formula occurred at a mean age of 2.31 +/- 1.44 months for 127/176 (72 %), not iron fortified in 53% of cases. At six months, only 29/176 wer e exclusively breastfed. In the nursery, 112/288 infants (38.9%) recei ved formula, not iron fortified in 55% of cases. 16/112 infants receiv ed cow's milk before six months. At six months, 39/112 infants were fe d a milk without iron. Conclusions: Guidelines from the Canadian Pedia tric Society concerning breastfeeding and iron-fortified formulas are not generally followed in our sample. Efforts should be made to mobili ze physicians in order to improve infant feeding practices and to prev ent iron deficiency.