| 4 Weeks | 12 Weeks | 16 Weeks | 24 Weeks | 36 Weeks | 52 Weeks |
| 900 | 797 | 725 | 594 | 410 | 241 |
Feeding characteristics
89% of study mothers started breastfeeding with 38.7% exclusively breastfeeding for 1 month; this fell to 24.8% by 4 months and 0.8% by 6 months.
Median breastfeeding length was 20 weeks and median exclusive breastfeeding length was 7 weeks.
The average age of solid introduction was 20 weeks. 37% of study infants had received solids by 17 weeks and by 26 weeks 98% had received solids.
The food most commonly given as a first food was ‘baby rice’ closely followed by carrot, apple and banana
Infant feeding and food allergy development
Detailed analysis of the food diaries for infants diagnosed with food allergy and their two control infants showed that:
- Not introducing solids into the infant diet before 17 weeks of age may be protective against allergy development up to the age of two years.
- A diet in the first year of life which follows current infant feeding recommendations (i.e. is predominantly home-made incorporating fruit and vegetables and lean meat, poultry and fish) may be protective against allergy development up to the age of two years.
- Breastfeeding whilst the infant is first introduced to allergenic foods may be protective against allergy development up to the age of two years (at least for cows’ milk).
