Childhood gastroenteritis and malnutrition have been associated with a high bacterial contamination of weaning foods and bottle feeds in particular. We have cultured the bottle feeds of 90 well-nourished and 11 undernourished children aged 6–23 months. Four-fifths of the feeds had more than 10,000 viable faecal organisms/ml and two-thirds had more than 100,000. The level of contamination did not differ between milks and porridges or with different methods of sterilization. There was no relationship between the level of contamination and nutritional status of the children. Those who were being breast fed at the time of sampling had experienced fewer episodes of gastroenteritis. The results indicate that well-nourished children can ingest large numbers of viable faecal organisms with relative impunity, particularly if they are breastfed. The factors which dictate a child's response to a load of faecal bacteria should be explored to explain why some children do not succumb.
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Hibbert et al. (1981) studied this question.