Background: Delayed bottle weaning or prolonged bottle-feeding affects the child’s health. Many studies found the increased incidence of dental caries, obesity, and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) among these children. IDA is one of the health problems found in Thai children that reflects both poor health and malnutrition. The Royal College of Pediatricians of Thailand has recommended that parents wean bottle-feeding when children reach the age of 1 to 1½ years old. However, previous studies reported that only 8% of 1,038 Thai children aged 1-2 years successfully discontinued bottle-feeding. Therefore, we were interested to investigate parental knowledge and iron status in Thai children with prolonged bottle-feeding.
Objective: To evaluate parental knowledge of bottle weaning and iron status in Thai children aged 1½ to 2 years who were still bottle-fed.
Material and Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed in 30 children who were bottle-fed, aged 1½ to 2 years, at Well-Child Clinic, Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health during the period of February 3rd-October 9th, 2012. The parents were interviewed using questionnaires on the practices and knowledge of bottle-feeding. Blood samples were collected for ferritin levels and complete blood count.
Results: The average age of the 30 children, who were still bottle-fed, was 19.3+1.5 months old. The primary caregivers were parents living in Bangkok. All of the parents finished Bachelor’s degree or higher. Almost all of the caregivers (28/30) of unweaned children understood that bottle weaning was recommended for children aged 12-18 months old, and the food recommendation for a one-year-old child was 3 meals of food and 2-3 meals of milk per day. Blood samples showed iron deficiency in 43% of the children with delayed bottle weaning, which included 7% of IDA.
Conclusion: Delayed bottle weaning in young children was related to iron depletion.

Keywords: Delayed bottle weaning, Iron depletion, Iron deficiency anemia