Table 7.
Faecal consistency and frequency of defaecation in both feeding groups up to 12 months of age
| 3 months | 4 months | 6 months | 9 months | 12 months | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | GOS | Control | GOS | Control | GOS | Control | GOS | Control | GOS | |
| Consistency number of cases (%) | ||||||||||
| Watery | 18 (3.3) | 10 (1.8) | 8 (1.2) | 29 (4.6)* | 7 (1.1) | 10 (1.5) | 9 (1.4) | 18 (2.8) | 8 (1.5) | 3 (0.5) |
| Loose | 73 (13.5) | 99 (17.7) | 60 (8.7) | 116 (18.4)* | 39 (6.0) | 62 (9.1)* | 34 (5.5) | 70 (10.9)* | 27 (5.0) | 29 (5.2) |
| Lumpy | 119 (21.9) | 199 (35.7)* | 117 (17.1) | 211 (33.5)* | 98 (15.1) | 140 (20.6)* | 86 (13.9) | 82 (12.8) | 61 (11.2) | 81 (14.5) |
| Soft | 293 (54.1) | 274 (49.2) | 306 (44.6) | 291 (46.2)* | 388 (54.7) | 395 (58.0) | 393 (63.5) | 381 (59.7) | 338 (62.6) | 355 (63.5) |
| Hard | 35 (6.4) | 11 (1.97)* | 53 (7.7) | 32 (5.1)* | 196 (30.2) | 156 (23.3)* | 198 (31.9) | 184 (28.8) | 167 (30.9) | 151 (27.0) |
|
No. of depositions/day Mean ± SD |
1.26 ± 0.83 | 1.45 ± 0.97* | 1.26 ± 0.94 | 1.50 ± 0.99* | 1.62 ± 0.96 | 1.64 ± 0.98 | 1.82 ± 0.92 | 1.84 ± 0.99 | 1.65 ± 0.88 | 1.73 ± 0.89 |
* P < 0.05 differences between the feeding groups tested with an unpaired Student’s t test for frequency of defaecation, and a Pearson Chi-squared test for faecal consistency