Objective: To investigate whether aspects of infant energy intake are related to fatness in early childhood.
Design: Longitudinal investigation of infants studied at 12 weeks and 2-3.5 y.
Subjects: 20 healthy infants, breast-fed or formula-fed, from the general population.
Measurements: Milk volume intake (MVI) by deuterium turnover, estimated energy intake, weaning status and body composition in infancy, body composition in childhood.
Results: MVI was not related to infant skinfolds or percentage fat. Weaning was inversely related to MVI (P < 0.04) at 12 weeks, and inversely related to skinfolds (P = 0.055) and fat mass (P = 0.020) in childhood. MVI and total energy intake were not related to childhood fatness.
Conclusions: Early weaning was associated with a moderate reduction in childhood fatness. Two possible mechanisms are discussed. However, early infant energy intake was not an important determinant of later fatness in this population.