• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.11
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• pp.1152-1157
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• 2008

Purpose : Since the infant formula milk has been produced in Korea, it has faced a low rate of breast milk feeding, though breast milk feeding is a little increasing. Therefore, the Korean Pediatric Society launched its website for breast-feeding consultation to provide information to the general public and enhance the health of growing infants. The consultation results were analyzed to identify the problems that mothers encounter during breast-feeding. Methods : From August 1, 2004 to July 31, 2007, 1001 mothers who visited the online consultation webpage (www. pediatrics.or.kr) of the Korean Pediatric Society asked 1,021 questions. The questions were divided into 3 major categories and 14 specific categories. Interesting questions asked more than 100 times were retrospectively analyzed. Results : The results for the major categories were as follows: 413 questions (40.3%) were on how to breast-feed, 315 (30.8%) on problems of feeding mothers, and 293 (28.8%) on problems of the fed babies. In the specific categories, 22.2% of the questions were on how to breast-feed. With the increasing number of working couples and working mothers, many questions were asked on the problems of breast-feeding after returning from work. Conclusion : The author expects that analyses of these consultations will contribute to the enhancement of information on the consultation website, thus enabling to provide clearer answers to people's increased interest in and concerns on breast-feeding. Furthermore, this research will help to establish correct breast-feeding practice.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.233-241
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was carried out to investigate the awareness of the weaning of food using questionnaires, and the relationship with the weight gain in young infants. Methods: From September 2005 to December 2005, we performed a survey on 141 guardians of young infants aged from 6 to 18 months, who visited the pediatric out-patient department at Dongguk University Medical Center. We calculated the total score for each responder from ten questions on the weaning of food and assessed the body weight percentile of each of the young infants. Results: The most commonly reported information source for weaning food was 'the friends around' by 62 respondents (44.0%); 54 (38.3%) responded that the definition of weaning food was the preparatory step before starting a solid diet. Most used a spoon (90.8%) to feed when weaning food with a thin gruel of rice (78.7%). The time for weaning of food was before breast or infant formula feeding (55.3%). Addition of cow's milk was around 12 months (77.3%). The mean score was 6.21; however this did not show a statistically significant correlation with weight gain in young infants. Conclusion: The overall awareness of weaning of food has improved; however, information from doctors has decreased. Although the relationship between the awareness of weaning of food and the growth of young infants was not statistically significant, further studies on weaning of food, with larger and controlled sample sizes may provide important information.