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Babies who fail to thrive are just as likely to be from rich families as poor, according to new research. But babies whose parents are short, or who are born into large families, do gain weight more slowly than others.

The findings come from 11,700 infants who are part of the Bristol-based, longitudinal study Children of the 90s.

It had been suggested in the past that low socio-economic status was associated with poor growth in the first nine months of life, but this study found no such association.

Instead, there was a strong correlation between parental height and slow weight gain. A mother’s fourth child was twice as likely to fail to thrive as firstborn children.

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