Table 2.
Children’s characteristics including birth parameters and feeding methods according to the age of introducing complementary feeding into infant diet.
| Variable | Poland (n = 4065) Mean ± SD 1 Min–Max % (n) |
Austria (n = 1750) Mean ± SD Min–Max % (n) |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <4 mo | 4–6 mo | >6 mo | p-Value | <4 mo | 4–6 mo | >6 mo | p-Value | |
| Infant age: | 24.2 ± 7.6 | 22.1 ± 7.3 | 21.3 ± 7.1 | ≤0.01 | 25.1 ± 8.1 | 23.9 ± 7.7 | 23.7 ± 7.9 | 0.110 |
| 12.0–36.0 | 12.0–36.0 | 12.0–36.0 | 12.0–36.0 | 12.0–36.0 | 12.0–36.0 | |||
| Infant gender: | 0.085 | 0.468 | ||||||
| female | 52.0 (51) | 46.3 (1139) | 49.6 (748) | 44.7 (34) | 49.8 (656) | 52.4 (187) | ||
| male | 48.0 (47) | 53.7 (1321) | 50.4 (759) | 55.3 (42) | 50.2 (661) | 47.6 (170) | ||
| Pregnancy duration: | ||||||||
| <37 weeks | 79.6 (78) | 7.2 (178) | 0.3 (4) | ≤0.001 | 59.2 (45) | 4.4 (58) | 2.0 (7) | ≤0.001 |
| 37–42 weeks | 19.4 (19) | 92.2 (2268) | 99.3 (1497) | 39.5 (30) | 94.6 (1246) | 98.0 (350) | ||
| >42 weeks | 1.0 (1) | 0.6 (14) | 0.4 (6) | 1.3 (1) | 1.0 (13) | - | ||
| Birthweight to gestational age categories: | ||||||||
| SGA 2 | 7.1 (7) | 4.6 (113) | 3.1 (47) | 0.016 | 11.8 (9) | 6.2 (81) | 7.8 (28) | 0.293 |
| AGA 3 | 68.4 (67) | 75.9 (1866) | 79.0 (1190) | 73.7 (56) | 80.8 (1064) | 78.7 (281) | ||
| LGA 4 | 24.5 (24) | 19.5 (481) | 17.9 (270) | 14.5 (11) | 13.0 (172) | 13.5 (48) | ||
| Any breastfeeding: | ||||||||
| no | 22.5 (22) | 7.2 (178) | 1.0 (15) | ≤0.001 | 13.2 (10) | 7.7 (102) | 10.6 (38) | 0.076 |
| yes | 77.5 (76) | 92.8 (2282) | 99.0 (1492) | 86.8 (686) | 92.3 (1215) | 89.4 (319) | ||
| Infant formula use at maternity ward: | ||||||||
| no | 28.6 (28) | 36.9 (908) | 47.2 (711) | ≤0.001 | 36.8 (28) | 61.0 (804) | 67.8 (242) | ≤0.001 |
| don’t know | 3.1 (3) | 3.8 (94) | 4.1 (62) | 1.3 (1) | 0.5 (6) | 0.6 (2) | ||
| yes | 68.4 (67) | 59.3 (1458) | 48.7 (734) | 61.8 (47) | 38.5 (507) | 31.7 (113) | ||
| Infant formula use after discharge: | ||||||||
| no | 34.7 (34) | 61.5 (1512) | 80.9 (1219) | ≤0.001 | 38.2 (29) | 67.0 (882) | 78.2 (279) | ≤0.001 |
| yes | 65.3 (64) | 38.5 (948) | 19.1 (288) | 61.8 (47) | 33.0 (435) | 21.8 (78) | ||
| Complementary feeding method: | ||||||||
| TSF 5 | 60.2 (59) | 35.9 (884) | 13.3 (201) | ≤0.001 | 52.6 (40) | 39.5 (520) | 22.1 (79) | ≤0.001 |
| mixed | 35.7 (35) | 52.8 (1299) | 58.7 (884) | 39.5 (30) | 49.2 (648) | 52.4 (187) | ||
| BLW 6 | 4.1 (4) | 11.3 (277) | 28.0 (422) | 7.9 (6) | 11.3 (149) | 25.5 (91) | ||
1 SD—standard deviation; 2 SGA—small to gestational age; 3 AGA—appropriate to gestational age; 4 LGA—large to gestational age; 5 TSF—traditional spoonfeeding; 6 BLW—baby-led weaning.