A short history of infant feeding and growth.

Our modern understanding of infant nutrition and feeding arose out of a constellation of scientific discoveries made more than 100 years ago. With the emergence of chemistry and physiology in the late 18th century, the analysis of foods, metabolic and energy balance studies, calorimetry, cell theory and measurements of growth and digestive function, became integrated to provide a coherent model of how organisms grow and are nourished. The interaction, with clinicians and public health professionals, of those working in these 'new' areas of the biological science, led to the application of safe and effective ways of feeding babies and of monitoring their growth and development, in the face of, and in response to, high infant mortality and morbidity.