Water consumption and nursing characteristics of infants by race and ethnicity

Objectives: The purpose of this project was to determine racial/ethnic differences in water consumption levels and nursing habits of children younger than 2 years old. Methods: Data from the 1994-96 Continuing Survey of Food intakes by Individuals (CSFII) were used for these analyses. Water consumption and breast-feeding data on 946 children younger than 2 years old were used. Results: For black non-Hispanic children younger than 2 years old (n=121), 5.3 percent of the children were currently being breast fed. This percentage was less than that seen in other racial/ethnic groups. For white non-Hispanic children (n=620), this percentage was 10.8 percent; for Hispanic children (n=146), 12.2 percent; for "other" children, 18.5 percent (n=59). Black non-Hispanic children had the highest fetal wafer consumption (128.6 ml/kg/day) among all groups, white non-Hispanic had the lowest (113.2 ml/kg/day). These differences were not statistically significant in multivariate regression modeling. Black non-Hispanic children also drank more tap wafer (21.3 ml/kg/day) than white non-Hispanic children (12.7ml/kg/day) and Hispanic children (14.9 ml/kg/day). The difference was statistically significant in multivariate regression modeling. Conclusions: The differences in breast feeding and water consumption observed among black children younger than 2 years of age could be a factor in the observed higher levels of fluorosis in black children compared to other children.