SynthesisThe Journal of pediatrics2015
Age at Weaning and Infant Growth: Primary Analysis and Systematic Review.
Synthesis in The Journal of pediatrics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 66 citations in OpenAlex.
- Timing of Complementary Feeding, Growth, and Risk of Non-Communicable Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- The Long-Term Effects of Dietary Nutrient Intakes during the First 2 Years of Life in Healthy Infants from Developed Countries: An Umbrella Review.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2019Pooled it
- Early additional food and fluids for healthy breastfed full-term infants.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Following the World Health Organization's Recommendation of Exclusive Breastfeeding to 6 Months of Age Does Not Impact the Growth of Rural Gambian Infants.The Journal of nutrition · 2017Trial
- Infant gut microbiome reprogramming following introduction of solid foods (weaning).Gut microbes · 2025Review
- The Association Between the Early Introduction of Solid Food and Childhood Obesity Risk: A Systematic Review.Cureus · 2025Review
- The infant microbiota hopscotches between community states toward maturation-longitudinal stool parameters and microbiota development in a cohort of European toddlers.ISME communications · 2025Article
- Functional adaptation of the infant craniofacial system to mechanical loadings arising from masticatory forces.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Early weight gain influences duration of breast feeding: prospective cohort study.Archives of disease in childhood · 2022Article
- Infant feeding practices associated with adiposity peak and rebound in the EDEN mother-child cohort.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2022Article
- Article
- Relationship between caesarean section delivery and risk of overweight/obesity among children aged 6-23 months in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana.Journal of nutritional science · 2022Article
- Knowledge on the Complementary Feeding of Infants Older than Six Months among Mothers Following Vegetarian and Traditional Diets.Nutrients · 2021Article
- Infant Feeding and Ethnic Differences in Body Mass Index during Childhood: A Prospective Study.Nutrients · 2021Article
- Feeding patterns and BMI trajectories during infancy: a multi-ethnic, prospective birth cohort.BMC pediatrics · 2021Article
- Complementary Feeding: Pitfalls for Health Outcomes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Review
- The effect of preterm birth, recurrent laryngeal nerve lesion, and postnatal maturation on hyoid and thyroid movements, and their coordination in infant feeding.Journal of biomechanics · 2020Article
- Changes in the coordination between respiration and swallowing from suckling through weaning.Biology letters · 2020Article
- Appropriate age range for introduction of complementary feeding into an infant's diet.EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2019Article
- Factors associated with early introduction of complementary feeding and consumption of non-recommended foods among Dutch infants: the BeeBOFT study.BMC public health · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo test whether earlier age at weaning (age 3-6 months) may promote faster growth during infancy. STUDY
designWeaning at age 3.0-7.0 months was reported by 571 mothers of term singletons in a prospective birth cohort study conducted in Cambridge, UK. Infant weight and length were measured at birth and at age 3 months and 12 months. Anthropometric values were transformed into age- and sex-adjusted z-scores. Three linear regression models were performed, including adjustment for confounders in a stepwise manner. Measurements at age 3 months, before weaning, were used to consider reverse causality.
resultsAlmost three-quarters (72.9%) of infants were weaned before age 6 months. Age at weaning of 3.0-7.0 months was inversely associated with weight and length (but not with body mass index) at 12 months (both P ≤ .01, adjusted for maternal and demographic factors). These associations were attenuated after adjustment for type of milk feeding and weight or length at age 3 months (before weaning). Rapid weight gain between 0 and 3 months predicted subsequent earlier age at weaning (P = .01). Our systematic review identified 2 trials, both reporting null effects of age at weaning on growth, and 15 observational studies, with 10 reporting an inverse association between age at weaning and infant growth and 4 reporting evidence of reverse causality.
conclusionIn high-income countries, weaning between 3 and 6 months appears to have a neutral effect on infant growth. Inverse associations are likely related to reverse causality.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.