Effect of a comprehensive nutritional program on the growth and ponderosity of infants.

One hundred eighty-two consecutive newborns from a university-based private practice were enrolled in a comprehensive nutritional program in an attempt to lower the incidence of ponderosity in the group. The program emphasized an individualized approach in which the feeding instructions given to parents varied with the growth pattern of their child. Whereas specific modalities of feeding, such as breast vs. bottle and early vs. late addition of baby foods, appeared not to modify growth, the group as a whole exhibited a trend to lower weight-for-length index (WLI) and less ponderosity than in previous published reports. We propose that the individualized nutritional program may have resulted in this improvement, and that such attention to detail will likely be more rewarding than an approach which emphasizes only general nutritional information to the group as a whole.