Measuring and Evaluating the Adherence to and Effectiveness of Formula Milk Use in Healthy Infants in Türkiye

Abstract

Objective: Formula milk aims to mimic breast milk or can serve as a complementary diet, thus reducing the risk of developing nutritional deficiencies. In this study, we evaluated the factors affecting compliance with the use of prebiotic formula milk with a galacto-oligosaccharides/fructo-oligosaccharides ratio of 9: 1. Methods: The study included 63 healthy girls and 58 healthy boys who consumed formula milk for 4-12 months. A brief survey was conducted among the parents of these children at the end of the first and third months. Height, weight for age, and weight for height z-scores were compared between the first and follow-up visits. Perceived symptoms, frequency of infections, complementary food intake, and frequency of stool movements were also discussed. Results: The anthropometrics significantly increased over the three months. Intolerability negatively affected compliance with formula use (p<0.001). The infection rate decreased in 13.3% of the infants, and 65.3% experienced no change in complementary food intake. The parent's opinion about the benefits of formula milk, the parent's forgetfulness, and the thought that formula milk reduces the intake of complementary foods were the factors that negatively affected compliance with formula milk use. The mothers of infants who were introduced to a complementary diet <17 weeks were 2.4 years younger (p=0.006). Conclusion: Parents should be educated regarding the benefits of formula milk. Formula milk used led to an anthropometrical z-score increase and a significant decrease in the rate of infection, which should be emphasized to the parents to maximize compliance.

Keywords

• formula milk
• adherence
• nutritional deficiency
• growth