Demographic and socioeconomic correlates of infant growth in Guatemala

After a review of the pertinent literature and a description of the study"s design and of the characteristics of the sample, study results are presented. Differences were found among factors significant for infant growth during the child"s first year. During the 0-6 month period, important factors included mother"s weight and height, number of live pregnancies, short birth interval, number of 15+ year-olds, number of rooms in the house, and child"s sex and birth weight. Infant growth during the 6-12 month period, however, related significantly to number of 15+ year-olds, number of preschoolers, calories from the protein supplement, length of breastfeeding, mother"s height, child"s sex, and child"s 6-month weight. This suggests that during the 0-6 month period, when the child is immobile and highly dependent on the mother, maternal characteristics play an important role in infant growth. After 6 months, the child becomes more mobile and less physically dependent on the mother and must begin competing with others for scarce time and food resources. Policy implications are that family size should be seen as a cluster of mechanisms including maternal health, available child care time, food resources, and crowding; and that nutrition interventions should focus on maternal health during first 6-month period and on household conditions during the second. The author recommends several other interventions, e.g., family planning and breastfeeding, but cautions that these are not causally linked to the data. She also recommends that, to resolve some of the model-building limitations and data problems encountered in this study, future researchers sample a wider range of more favorable infant growth (not just the malnourished) with greater heterogeneity of such crucial factors as income, environmental sanitation, and access to potable water. Appended is a 73-item bibliography (1965-79).