A prospective study of postpartum candy gift net weight: correlation with birth weight.

Abstract

This study assesses the widely held but previously untested hypothesis that the net weight of postpartum candy gifts from parents to delivery suite and postnatal ward staff is proportional to their neonates' birth weight. Midwives at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, Somerset, United Kingdom were requested to record the details of all candy gifts received over a 6-month period in 1992. Only 39 candy gifts from 1491 deliveries were documented, with a mean net weight of 416 g. The coefficient of correlation between candy weight and birth weight was 0.1477 (P = .2). The basis for the association is multifactorial. Socioeconomic and prematurity-related factors were responsible for poor candy giving following low birth weight deliveries. In contrast, factors related to the etiology and psychology of obesity and diabetes were implicated in generous candy giving by the high birth weight population.