Impact of maternal fasting during Ramadan on growth parameters of exclusively breastfed infants in Shahroud, 2012

ABSTRACT

There are many advantages in breastfeeding of infants. The impact of fasting of breastfeeding mothers during Ramadan, on their exclusively breastfed infants' growth, is still unclear. The objective of this study is to determine the impact of maternal Ramadan fasting on growth parameters of exclusively breastfed infants. This cohort study was conducted on 55 healthy, exclusively breastfed infants, aged 1 to 6 months, during Ramadan and three months after it. 20 infants, whose mothers fasted throughout Ramadan [case group] and 35 infants, whose mothers did not fast [control group], were enrolled in the study. All infants underwent periodic physical examinations, twice in Ramadan and 3 times in the first, second and the third months after Ramadan. The data analyses were done using a repeated measure analysis of variance. Statistical significance was defined as P<0.05. Analyses were performed using SPSS statistical package and repeated measures ANOVA. The average age was 3.43 +/- 1.38 months in the case group and 2.31 +/- 1.45 months in the control group that presence no significant difference between. From the total number of infants, 23 cases [41.8%] were males and the rest were females. All growth parameters increased during the study period [P<0.05], with the same rate of increase for both groups [P=0.125]. Ramadan fasting by breastfeeding mothers did not adversely affect the growth parameters of exclusively breastfed infants in short-term